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S&T CHAPTER 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| SCIENCE | A way of learning about the natural world through observation and logical reasoning ; leads to a body of knowledge |
| OBSERVING | The process of using one or more of your senses to gather information |
| QUANTITATIVE OBSERVATION | An observation that deals with a number or amount |
| QUALITATIVE OBSERVATION | An observation that deals with characteristics that can not be expressed in numbers |
| INFERRING | The process of making an inference, an interpretation based on observation and prior knowledge |
| PREDICTING | The process of forecasting that will happen in the future based on past experience or evidence |
| CLASSIFYING | The process of grouping together items that look 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 and 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 of drawing conclusions based on available evidence. |
| SUBJECTIVE | Describes the influence of personal 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 scientist 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 an experiment. |
| manipulated variable | The one factor that a scientist changes during a experiment; also called independent variable. |
| responding variable | The factor that changes as a result of changes to the manipulated , or independent variable in an experiment; also called dependant variable. |
| controlled experiment | An experiment in which only one variable is manipulated at a time |
| data | Facts, figures and other evidence gathered through observations. |
| scientific theory | A well - tested explanation for a wide range of observations and experimental results |
| scientific law | A statement that describes what scientists expect to happen every time under a particular set of conditions. |