WEEK 6 - WHAT IS SCIENCE?

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        Science studies about our world. It involves the physical universe elements that surround us, such as stars, organisms, habitats, humans, civilizations and galaxies, as well as the natural forces at work on certain objects. But, science cannot research the causes and interpretations of the supernatural forces such as the afterlife. The idea of the existence of a supernatural afterlife is not part of science since the afterlife operates outside the rules governing the natural world.

     Nature of science is the characteristics of science. It enhances a student's understanding of the concept of science to enable them to make a decision that is scientifically personal or social issues. The characteristics of nature of science are tentativeness, observation and inference, empirical evidence, and scientific laws and theories. Firstly, tentativeness is where scientific knowledge may change in the future because of the new evidence and new ways of thinking. But we still accept the old scientific knowledge while accepting the new knowledge. Secondly, observation includes the gathering of information using the five senses, while inferences are observation-based interpretations and prior knowledge. Thirdly, empirical evidence is where the scientific knowledge obtained from data and evidence collected through observation or experiment. Lastly is scientific laws and theories. A scientific law is the description of an observed phenomenon while scientific theory explains why the phenomenon exists or what causes it.

        Then, there are several concepts of the nature of science. Firstly, is objectivity and subjectivity. Objectivity is where the information is fact-based, measurable and observable. While, subjectivity is the information from intuition, personal beliefs or opinions. Thus, scientists must be objective and use peer review to observe and comment on their experiment. The second concept is scientific methods. A scientist can apply various ways in generating scientific knowledge if it follows the scientific methods. Lastly is creativity. One of the characteristics of a scientist is creative because, in science, creativity is a source of innovation and inspiration in science. Scientists use their creativity and imaginations during their experiment.