WORKING SCIENTIFICALLY Flashcards
what’s a hypothesis?
a possible explanation for an observation
what’s peer review?
other scientists check results/explanations to ensure they’re scientific before publication to detect false claims
what’s a theory?
an accepted hypothesis
never totally factual -> new evidence can be discovered
what’s a representational model?
simplified description or picture of what’s going on in real life
e.g. Bohr’s atomic model
what’s a computational model?
using a computer to make simulations of complex, real-life processes
e.g. Climate Change
what’s a limitation?
something a model can’t explain or predict
e.g. Big Bang Theory doesn’t explain what happened before the Big Bang
what’s a hazard?
something that could potentially cause harm
e.g. risk of Acid Rain due to Pollution
what do investigations do?
produce evidence to support or disprove a hypothesis
by checking patterns/relations between 2 variables
what must evidence be?
Repeatable - can get the same results with the same method/person
Reproducible - if someone else does the experiment they’ll get similar results
Valid - answers original question, fair test
how can a test become fair?
by controlling variables
what’s the independent variable?
the one you change
what’s the dependent variable?
the one you measure
what’s the controlled variable?
the one you control/keep the same
what do control experiments do?
let you see what happens when you don’t change anything in an eperiment
why is a small sample size bad?
it’s harder to spot anomalies
