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7 Nature of Science
Scientific Explantions Unit Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
---|---|
biology | study of all living things; life science |
critical thinking | comparing what you already know with the information you are given to decide whether you agree with it |
ethics | rules of conduct or moral principles |
hypothesis | possible explanation about an observation that can be tested by scientific investigations; educated guess; usually written if, then, because format; must be tested |
inference | logical explanation of an observation that is drawn from prior knowledge or experience; EXPLAIN what happened |
observation | using one or more of your senses to gather information and take note of what occurs |
prediction | statement about what will happen next in a sequence of events; |
science | the investigation and exploration of natural evens and of the new information that results from those investigations |
scientific theory | explanation of observations or events based on knowledge gained from many observations and investigations; not proven |
scientific law | describes a pattern or an event in nature that is always true; tested and proven many times |
technology | practical use of scientific knowledge, especially for industrial or commercial use |
accuracy | description of how close a measurement is to an accepted or true value; hitting the bulls eye is an example |
description | spoken or written summary of observations |
digital | of, pertaining to, or using numbers (numerical digits) |
explanation | interpretation of observations; "Why" or "How" |
International System of Units (SI) | internationally accepted system of measurement |
precision | description of how similar or close measurements are to each other; "close together in one proximity" is an example |
significant digits | number of digits in a measurement that are known with a certain degree of reliability |
constants | factors in an experiment that remain the same |
dependent variable | factor that is measured or observed during an experiment |
independent variable | factor being tested in an experiment that is changed by the investigator to observe how it affects a dependent variable |
variable | any factor in an experiment that can have more than one value |
control | factor that remains constant, or the same |