The Scientific Approach(or why Chymistry outlasted Magick)

Lab 2

2

Futures• Seen CSI? House? Numbers? Myth busters?• Wonder about global warming? Best ways

to create jobs?– Have views about anything at all?

• Want to be the one that solves problems?

Science isn’t facts. Facts fuel science. What can you do with information?

3

Experimentation: asking questions

• It’s how we verify important things about the world

• Good experimentation: baby monkey• Poor experimentation: kitten

4

Definitions

• “Science is the human endeavor to achieve a better understanding of the world by observation, comparison, experiment, analysis, synthesis, and conceptualization”

• “Science is a body of facts (‘knowledge’) and the concepts that permit explaining these facts.”– Both from Ernst Mayr, What makes biology unique p. 140 (Kindle version)

Albert Einstein Sez...“The whole of science is nothing more

than a refinement of everyday thinking.”

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You already do this• You stumble out of your room at 4 a.m. and

turn on a lamp• Nothing happens• Now what? Curse the darkness?• Notes to self: What elements are you

employing? What’s your process?**Your notes today will be your material for a graded exercise at day’s endTake a blank sheet of paper out to start

7

Gonna Science you up• “The light’s not turning on!” = observation• ‘Possible explanations’ = models• “If I ______, it should _____” = prediction• Execution of prediction = test• “Gotta catch ‘em all”: goal is to whittle away

possibilities until only one is left standing– If only looking at one, challenge it to fail

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Ways of knowing• Empirical--you saw it, touched it, etc.• Reasoned argument from documented/identified

assumptions & previous knowledge• Repeatedly established by others that you ‘trust’• ‘Intuition’ arises from experience & mental

participation• Never: assertions by authority regardless of the

nature (or volume) of that authority. No, really--never!

Hypothesis testing (a more detailed explanation of science)

Read, Observe, Consider, Intuit

Create/Embrace an explanation (model)

Derive predictions

Create tests to which you ‘know’ the answer**Because of insights from your model

Execute tests

Reject/modify modelGain confidence

Repeat

Do results make sense?

The answer, my friend, ain’t blowin’ in the wind

Questions

• What do you think that was a graph of?• You’re probably wrong… I’ll just tell you

It was a Cholera outbreak in the UK• Is this an effective means of displaying the

data?

12

Thinking with your nose

• Two paper towels will be passed around

• Give your nose a pass at each– What do you notice?– What does the fact of smelling tell

you about involvement of molecules?– What does smelling different things

tell you?

The Question(s)

C10H14O

The formula for both smells. What can you conclude about how its bonded?

This is the structural drawing for both smells. What can you conclude?

The Answer(s)

• One form of carvone (L-carvone) = spearmint; the other (D-carvone) is caraway oil

• The only difference is the teal-circled carbon. In one, the Hydrogen goes down into the board (and the -CHCH2CH3 group out), in the other, vice versa. See StructViewer

• Even with just your nose, you can figure out a lot…

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PatternMaster

A quest for the rules that order a system

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Rule Quest

*NEIGHBOR definitions are clockwise, counterclockwise

Given 1-step clockwise*, it could be...

•Perimeter to top inner color

•Top inner color to lower left color

•Lower right color to lower left color

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Take a look

Bio181M_Go => PatternMaster for FunEnter a random # Select ‘Demo’

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Solver

After exposure, ask: which is easier to figure out--WHAT is making a given block happy, or WHO

P’Master, written part• Description clearly explains underlying rule– supplemented with examples– sufficient to guide someone who doesn’t know the

game• If proposed solution is wrong or

incomprehensible, points taken OFF & max possible score 40 no matter what

• Easy => 90; Medium => 95; Hard => 100 (if perfect write-up)

22

Quantum Mine

Scientifically exploring a black box

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Rules of the Mine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Box_(game)

or...

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Ordering the unknown• In PatternMaster, you conjecture

from a ‘standing start’, then test resulting hypotheses

• Next exercise, you’ll investigate building of knowledge, = creation of simplifying view from initially disparate information

• Or: Indicator 1-6; Substance A & B

Molecular Detecting

• You have 2 samples and 6 chemicals to test them with

• Use the same number of drops for each one (consistency is kind of a big deal in science…)

• Record your data in a chart (template is in your lab manual (appendix I)

• Tell me what you learned (i.e. what behaves similarly, can the reaction be reversed with the other sample, etc.)

Homework

•Quantum Mine: Solution & (written) approach

•Pattern Master: Solution & (written) description•Next week: write-up of today’s work (see rubric)

Assessor: Logic of disproof

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Some definitions• “Science is the human endeavor to achieve a better

understanding of the world by observation, comparison, experiment, analysis, synthesis, and conceptualization”

• “Science is a body of facts (‘knowledge’) and the concepts that permit explaining these facts.”

• Both from Ernst Mayr, What makes biology unique p. 140 (Kindle version)

28

Consider...How do you know:

• The world isn’t flat?• What trees are made of?• Earth circles the sun?• Where you were born?

How NOT to Represent your Data

Do you know what the hell this is telling us? Because I don’t.

How to Represent your Data (in a good way)