Scientific Method Flashcards
What did Bacon contribute to the scientific method?
State-sponsored science and producing beneficial techology
What did Galileo contribute to the scientific method?
Experimentation and Independent Confirmation
What did Descartes contribute to the scientific method?
Skepticism (not trusting your senses alone) and systematic doubting (questioning
What does empirical mean?
Verifiable and tangible
What kind of thinking does science use to explore the universe around us?
Rational/logical
In order to conduct a good experiment, you must ________ your variables.
Control your variables!
What is the order of the steps of the scientific method?
- Observe and question
- Do some background research
- Make a Hypothesis (a prediction)
- Experiment! Test your hypothesis.
- Collect results and draw a conclusion.
What quality must a hypothesis have in order to be a good hypothesis?
It must be testable!
What is the independent variable in an experiment?
It is the one thing you intentionally change
What is the dependent variable in an experiment?
It is the change that you measure that comes from the independent variable
What is the difference between correlation and causation?
Correlation is when two things are connected, but one does not make the other happen directly. Causation is when one thing directly makes the other happen?
Is correlation good evidence?
Sometimes. Really strong correlation can help scientists ask better questions, but most correlation is not reliable evidence.
Is causation good evidence?
Yes. That’s the whole reason we do experiments, to find how one thing causes another.
