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ch1 what is science
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| science | Away of learning about the natural world through observation and logical reasoning. |
| observing | The process of using one or more of your senses to gather information |
| quantitative observing | an observation that deals with a number or amount |
| qualitative observing | an observation that cannot be expressed in numbers |
| inferring | The process of making an inference and interpretation based on observations and prior knowledge |
| predicting | The process of forecasting what will happen in the future based on past experience or evidence |
| classifying | the process of grouping together items that are alike in some way |
| evaluating | comparing observations and data to reach a conclusion about them |
| making models | the process of creating representations of complex objects or processes |
| skepticism | an attitude of doubt |
| ethics | the rules that enable people to know right from wrong |
| personal bias | an outlook influenced by a persons likes or dislikes |
| cultural bias | an outlook influenced by the beliefs social forms and traits of a group |
| experimental bias | a mistake in the design of an experiment that makes a particular result more likely |
| objective | describes the act of decision making or drawing conclusions based on a available evidence |
| subjective | describes the influence of persona; feelings on a decision or conclusion |
| deductive reasoning | a way to explain things by starting with a general idea and then applying the idea to a specific observation |
| inductive reasoning | using specific observations to make generalizations |
| scientific inquiry | the ongoing process of discovery in science; the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on evidence they gather. |
| hypothesis | a possible explanation for a set of observations or answer to a scientific question; must be testable |
| variable | a factor that can change in a experiment |
| manipulated variable | the one factor that a scientist changes during an experiment ; also called independent variable |
| responding variable | the factor that changes as a result of changes to the manipulated, or independent, variable in a experiment; also called the dependent variable |
| controlled experiment | an experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time |
| data | fact, figures and other evidence gathered through observations |
| scientific theory | a well tested explanation for a wide range of observations or experimental results. |
| scientific law | A statement that describes what scientists expect to happen every time under a particular set of conditions. |