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Sekas Chapter 0
Nature of Science
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Observation | the act of using one or more of your senses to gather information and take note of what occurs |
| Inference | a logical explanation of an observation that is drawn from prior knowledge or experience |
| Hypothesis | a possible explanation for an observation that can be tested by scientific investigations |
| Independent Variable | the factor that is changed by the investigator to observe how it affects a dependent variable |
| Dependent Variable | the factor measured or observed during an experiment |
| Constants | the factors in an experiment that remain the same |
| Control Group | the part of an experiment that contains the same factors as the experimental group, but the independent variable is not changed |
| Model | a representation of a phenomenon, a system, a process, or a solution to an engineering problem that helps people visualize or understand the concept |
| Scientific Theory | an explanation of observations or events based on knowledge gained from many observations and investigations |
| Scientific Law | a rule that describes a pattern in nature |
| Earth Science | the study of Earth, its parts, and its surroundings |
| Life Science | the study of living things |
| Physical Science | the study of matter and energy |
| Quantitative Data | the use of numbers to describe what is observed in an experiment |
| Qualitative Data | the use of words to describe what is observed in an experiment |