Nature of Science Flashcards
Fact
Objective, verifiable observation
Principle
Statement based on repeated experimental observations that describe aspects of the world
Law
Broad concept or principle that describes patterns in nature, they are often accepted as facts
Theory
Explanation of an observed phenomenon that organizes facts and research to explain why, they never become fact or law
Investigative process
Ask a question, do background research, devise a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, analyze the results, make conclusions and share them
Observation
Description of something you can perceive, is objective and is where questions come from
Inference
Guess from observations, you can have many from one observation
Qualitative observation
Describes qualities
Quantitative observation
Uses numbers to describe things
Precise
How close measurements are to each other, how consistent they are
Accurate
How close your measurement is to the correct value
Purpose/Objective
Statement that clearly shows what question you are trying to answer
Hypothesis
Testable prediction based on observations that describes a cause-and-effect relationship between variables
Independent variable
What the experimenter will change or manipulate in the investigation. On graphs it is the x axis, and it is the only thing changing
Dependent variable
What changes because of the independent variable. On graphs it is the y axis, and it is what is measured
