What do you know?What do you think?

fact of the day:

To avoid predators, a mother Slow Loris licks its offspring with poison before sending them off to search for food.

GET STARTED:

Get a copy of the bell ringer. It is a primary source. Read it, and respond with a page in section 5 of your notebook.

quote of the day: “Your imagination, my dear fellow, is worth more than you imagine.”Louis Aragon

homework

1. Finish bioglyph.2. Finish binder cover.3. Do SM packet – today’s station4. Do lab safety poster – today’s station5. Do pendulum lab write up – follow template.

- today’s station6. Do page 20 – analyzing data.7. Continue notes and book work.

Why do leaves change color in fall?1.state the problem or question

1.new problem or question stated

- Why do leaves change color in fall?

2. research the problem or question

- What is already known?

3. form a hypothesis (if I do this, then I expect this to happen.)

Example HYPOTHESIS:

If my assumption is that leaves change color in fall because of the lower temperatures - If I have two maple trees under the same conditions with the exception that one is kept at a lower temperature, then the tree in the lower temperature environment will have more leaves change color.

variable – the factor being tested in an experiment – 1 only

independent variable – IV – manipulated variable

dependent variable – DV – responding variable

constants – the factors that stay the same between the control and the experiment

controlled setup – the portion of the experiment without the variable

experimental setup – the portion of the experiment with the variable

4. experiment to test the hypothesis

IV – the factor that the experimenter changes or puts into the experiment, WHAT THE EXPERIMENT IS ABOUT

usually found in the “if” portion of the hypothesis

DV – the factor being measured to determine the effect of the IV

usually found in the “then” portion of the hypothesis

Example: IV – lower temperature

DV – number of leaves changed

1. What is the variable in this experiment?

2. In which setup do you find the variable?

3. What might be some constants?

qualitative data – tells “what kind” or quality

- subjective, can’t be measured

- fast, slow, red, blue, hard, soft

“the scar appears old” and “the animal seems healthy and alert.”

quantitative data - tells “how much” or quantity

- objective, can be measured

- 10.5 meters, 5 miles per hour

5. gather and analyze data to draw a conclusion

- recorded scientific facts gathered in an experiment

From this data, would you

revise, accept or reject the hypothesis?

What should be done if you accept it?

Are hypotheses ever proven?

- repeated observations lead to a general conclusion

- uses known principles to draw a conclusion

An inference is a logical interpretation based on prior knowledge or experience.

Together, these two forms of reasoning continually develop and confirm theories.

inductive reasoning

inductive reasoning

inductive reasoning

inductive reasoning

• a researcher might be testing water in a reservoir. Because she cannot test all the water, she collects water samples from several different parts of the reservoir.

• If all the samples are clean enough to drink, she may infer that all the water is safe to drink.

6.publish results

- allows others to see results

- Some publications are more reputable than others.

- Today’s widely held beliefs may be abandoned in the future.

When Experiments Are Not Possible• to learn how animals in the wild interact

with others in their group, researchers carry out field studies– observe the animals without disturbing them– study large groups of subjects so that small

differences do not produce misleading resultsAn alternative to a controlled experiment would be a field study.

True False

What is your thought process when you come home and your entry light doesn’t work?

a car won’t start

– possible explanations

(new battery starts it – was that all that was wrong?)

EXAMPLES:

You observe vines growing on trees. Why? Do they harm the tree like a parasite or just use the tree to get to the sun?

If the vines use trees only for support, then the vines growing on fake trees should grow just as well as vines on real trees.

IV –

DV –

control –

constants –

1. state the problem or question

2. research the problem or question

3. form a hypothesis

4. experiment to test the hypothesis

5. gather and analyze data to draw a conclusion

6. replicate and publish results

- first credited to Galileo in his investigation of falling objects

SCIENCE IS TESTABLE. IT USES AN ORDERLY WAY OF FINDING ANSWERS!

The ability to replicate work is necessary to go to the next level.

*Many times the results of an experiment lead to more questions.

OTHER TOPICS TO DISCUSS:

non-bias – no predetermined outcome

representative sample – all parts of the population are involved in proportion

placebos – “sugar pills”Latin for “I shall please”

-a medication or treatment believed by the administrator of the treatment to be inert or innocuous.

Placebos may be sugar pills or starch pills.

Even “fake” surgery and “fake” psychotherapy are considered placebos.

Alexander Fleming – penicillin

-Luck can also play an important role in the scientific method

EXAMPLE: 1928 - Alexander Fleming was investigating bacterial growth and noticed that green mold interfered with bacteria. Instead of throwing away the spoiled plate, he tried to find out what the mold was producing and discovered penicillin.

OTHER EXAMPLES:

Hole in stomach

Louis Pasteur – spontaneous generation

Cow pox-small pox

 ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

PROBLEM/QUESTION 1700’s

- smallpox occurred more often in city dwellers.- Farmers who worked with cows, rarely got the disease, but they did get a milder disease called cowpox.- Edward Jenner wondered if cowpox was somehow giving them protection against smallpox.

HYPOTHESIS

- If someone recovers from cowpox, then they are protected from smallpox.

EXPERIMENT

- Jenner infected a boy with cowpox, let him recover, and then exposed the boy to smallpox. The boy stayed healthy.

- He tried it on many people with the same results.

Latin vacca = cow (vaccination)

When Scientists Have a Conflict of Interest

• A conflict of interest exists when a person's work can be influenced by personal factors such as financial gain, fame, future work, or favoritism. – suppose scientists have received funds to test a

potential anti-cancer drug - If experiments show that the drug is not very effective, the researchers may be tempted to conceal the results in order to avoid losing their funding.

-Curious

-Observant

-Creative

-Analytical

-Detail oriented

-Unbiased

-Skeptical

Good scientists are skeptics, which means that they question both existing ideas and new hypotheses.