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S&T: Chapter 1
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Science | A way of learning about the natural world through observations and logical reasoning. |
| 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 cannot be expressed through numbers. |
| inferring | the process of making an interpretation based on observations and prior knowledge. |
| predicting | the process of forecasting what will happen in the future based on the 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 conclutionabout 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 out 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 a decision making or 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 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 discovering science |
| scientific theroy | a well tested explanation for a wide range of observations or experimental results |
| scientific law | a statement that describes what scientist expect to happen under a particular set of conditions |
| responding variable | the factor that changes as a result of changes to the minipulated, or independant, variable in a experiment, also called dependant variable. |
| variable | a factor that can change in a experiment. |
| data | facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations. |
| controlled experiment | an experiement in which only one variable is manipulated at a time. |
| manipulated variable | the one factor that a scientist changes during a experiment, also called independent variable. |