The Nature of Science

LESSON 1.1
What were you curious
about the world around
you were younger?
Science has a particular way of understanding the world,
trying to connect the past with the present. It is based
on the premise that we can understand things by
receiving accurate information about the world around
us through our senses.
When we do science, we ask ourselves three basic
questions: (1) What is this?, (2) How does it work?, and
(3) How did it become like this?
SCIENCE
From the Latin “Scientia” meaning
Knowledge.

A system of acquiring knowledge based on the

scientific method
• Any system of knowledge that is concerned with the
physical world and its phenomena and the entails
unbiased observations and systematic Observation.
• Science is the knowledge gained from using
observations and experiments to describe and explain
the world around us.
Science works in specific ways. We have to remember that:

1. Science relies on evidence from the natural world. This

evidence is logically examined and interpreted by scientists
using reasoning.

2. Although we must be flexible in our thinking, we should still

follow the scientific process guided by some parameters.
Science works in specific ways. We have to remember that:

3. Science is embedded within the times, so that as man continuously

develops technology and instruments for discovering the nature of the
world around us, so does our understanding of the world improve.
Therefore, there is no conclusion to science.
Science has the following principles

1. Science assumes that we can learn about the world by gathering

evidence using our senses and the extensions of our senses, such as
tools or equipment.

2. Science uses and tests evidence from the natural world in order
to explain science concepts or phenomena substantially.
Science has the following principles

3. Science is a process of continuously learning about the world around us.

Just like knowing about the existence of an atom even if no one has ever seen
one. Or knowing that creatures have lived in the past, thousands of years ago,
even if no person has seen these creatures in their own lifetime.

4. Scientific claims are tested and accepted based on observations and

rejected if these fail the test. In other words, scientific claims are subject to
peer review and replication, from which scientific theories may be developed.
 This is a process where one carefully gathers and
examines evidence by doing experiments, running
tests, and exploring observations in an effort to
answer some questions in a logical manner.
1. Make an observation - A good observation can help you create
great questions.
What if you tried to cook rice in a rice cooker and plugged it, but your
rice is not cooking?
2. Ask a question - Once you observe something and are curious about
it, you start asking questions about it.
The questions usually start with who, what, where, when, why, and
how. In the case of the rice cooker situation on the previous page, you
may ask: "Why is my rice not cooking?"
3. Do some background research - Find out if other people
have asked the same question before. Read as much as you can
about your topic.

4. Make a hypothesis -it refers to an educated guess about how

things work. This hypothesis may not necessarily be the correct
answer, but a potential explanation or answer that can be tested.
5. Make a prediction - You can make a prediction of what might happen if
you do something to the thing you are curious about. We predict what
might happen if we do something.

6. Do an Experiment - This is to test your prediction . You start doing

experiment, then collect data, gather measurements and analyze the
results of your experiment. This step can be done as many time as
possible until you have the rights hypothesis and test method.

In case of the rice cooker situation on the previous page, you go ahead
and plug the rice cooker to a different outlet and check if it will work.
7. Analyze your data- You may put the results of your experiment in tables or
graphs to make it easier to analyze. The results of your experiment may prove
that your hypothesis is correct or wrong. You may decide to repeat your
experiment to make sure your results are the same.

8. Draw your conclusion – after analyzing your data and presenting it in the
tables, charts, or graphs you can state a conclusion based on evidence. You
cannot conclude that your experimental reults are 100% correct all the time.
9. Tell people about what you found out - Communicating the results
of your experiment in an oral presentation and/or in written form in a
poster or a journal helps other people who are interested in the same
topic to interact with you, so that you can all form a good conversation
about the topic you are curious about.
 Many of the steps here you may be doing automatically.
So, this list can actually be shortened to: (1) observe and ask
questions, (2) research, (3) formulate a hypothesis and
predict, (4) test your hypothesis, (5) analyze and conclude,
and (6) share the results.
Do you have any Questions?
1. Which part of the scientific method did you find quite
difficult? Which part was the easiest ?

2. Why should we go through these steps?

3. Are these step done one after the other or are there times
when the sequence may change?
 Assess:
Write your philosophy in teaching children about science?
1. What is the teacher’s role in teaching Science ?
2. What is the student’s role in learning about science?
3. What should you and your future students know about
science scientific process?
4. How do science investigate the world?
Teaching about The Six Basic
Science Process Skills
LESSON 1.2
In collecting evidence or data about things around us, one must
have these basis science process skills:

1. Observation
2. Communication
3. Measurement
4. Classification
5. Inference
6. prediction
 What is Science Process Skills?
• Process skills is described as the logical way of breaking down the
steps in our thinking to find out how to answer our questions about
how the world works.
• These skills are defined as a set of broadly transferable abilities,
appropriate to many science disciplines and reflective of the behavior
of scientists.
• Observation is the acquisition of information from the
environment.

• We observe when we use one or more of our senses to find

out about objects, events or living things. An observation is a
fact learned directly though the senses.

Qualitative Observation Quantitative Observation

 Sense of Sight

Sense of Smell

Sense of Taste

Sense of Hearing

Sense of Touch
 Sense of Sight

Sense of Smell

Sense of Taste

Sense of Hearing

Sense of Touch
 Qualitative Observation

• Qualitative observation pays attention to how the context

of research influences information, outcomes, and
findings.

• Qualitative observations are describing the

characteristics of something with the use of words like
red, soft o r sour.
 Characteristics of Qualitative Observation

• In qualitative observation, there is no right, wrong or

definite answer.

• Qualitative observation pays attention to how the context

of research influences information, outcomes, and
findings.

• It is subjective in nature.
 Quantitative Observation
• A quantitative observation is an objective method of data
analysis that measures research variables using
numerical and statistical parameters.

• Quantitative Observations are those that provide some

type of measurement or comparison. It is composed of
numbers and a label.
 Characteristics of Quantitative Observation

• It is definite.
• Quantitative observations give fixed findings.
• Research sample size is large to be more
effective.
• Research bias is reduced.
Why is observing important
in daily life or in
experiments/science
investigations?
"To acquire knowledge, one must
study. To acquire wisdom, one
must observe."

-Marilyn von Savant

Why is it important
to classify things?
 When there are so many objects, events, and living things
around us, it is easier to study these when we classify them
based on similarities, differences, and interrelationships that
we observe.

How about yourself? What classification

schemes are you a member of?
• One way to classify things is by placing a rank or order based on one property,
like falling in line from the shortest to longest foot size or height.

• Another form of classification is by binary classification or multistage

classification.

Example: In a binary classification, one property is mentioned, and the object is

divided into two groups. For example, given a basket of fruits, you can classify them
as round fruits (like guava) and fruits that are not round (like banana). Another
property is fruits with one big seed inside (like mango or avocado) and fruits with
many seeds inside (like guava and orange). Further along the way, you can classify
the remaining fruits until you identify all fruits in the basket.
 Answer the following
1. How are books classified in a library?
2. how are telephone numbers classified in a
telephone book?
• Communicating is the process of letting other people know what
we are doing and thinking.

• We communicate in science by speaking, reading, and writing.

Observing and communicating go hand in hand.

• This is because a person must communicate in order to share

one's observations. It is important to use clear, accurate, and
complete descriptions in communicating, including descriptions of
color, size, temperature, texture, and others.
Making an early conclusion of an event
 What is the difference between observing and
inferring?

We infer when we try to figure out why and how an event

happened, but were not able to observe the event directly as it
happened in the past.

When we make inferences, we are trying to offer explanations or

interpretations of what pieces of evidence we see, but we did not
really observe the event as it was happening.
1. You saw a boy wearing a cast around his right arm. What can you
infer?

2. You saw an old coin with a dent at one part. What can you infer?

3. You found a pair of broken eyeglasses on the ground. What can you
infer?

4. You found a wet kitten on the sidewalk. What can you infer?

5. Along the road, you saw a house without a roof, with some parts of
its walls all black and some broken windows. What can you infer?
Making quantitative observations using suitable
apparatus and unit
 When you measure things, you are actually being more precise in
observing ang communicating. We measure height, weight, length,
volume, temperature, and density.
Remember that in measuring, it is important not just to mention the
number that tells us how long, how heavy, how big, how much, or how
many, but we should always include the unit of measure that we used.
 Isolation of Stimulus

When teaching very young learners about measurement, it is enough to

talk about "big and small" or "heavy and light." However, we should consider using
the same material, same object and/or same color of an object, so that the only
thing changing is its size, if we are comparing "big and small." in the same way, if
we are talking about "heavy and light," everything else should remain the same.
This is known as isolation of stimulus. This is to make sure we do not confuse the
little children about size, weight, or length with other properties such as color,
texture, or kind of material or object.
 Unconventional Ways of Measuring

Children can use unconventional ways of measuring, also known

as "nonstandard measurement," like measuring something by using
one's hand, one's feet, or any object such as coins, paper clips, or a
piece of string for measuring.
 Conventional Ways of Measuring

Children can start with using "inch blocks" when learning how to measure how
long an object is as a concrete representation of what "one inch" really is. Older
children can start learning about the use of inch rulers. Other units of measurement
can be introduced to children as they get older. Other instruments such as
metersticks, measuring cups, measuring spoons, weighing scales, and platform
balances can eventually be introduced to children by doing activities using these
instruments that range from simple to complex.
 we offer our best guess on what might happen in the future
based on facts or pieces of evidence. We are making a forecast
of what we might observe in the future.

❑ Foretelling or forecasting future events

❑ Fortune teller
➢ Find a pair
➢ Choose what gummy do you like.
➢ Describe to your partner which gummy is your favorite
➢ Be very clear with your description
➢ Try to make your partner pick out which gummy you are
describing
Teaching about Six Integrated
Science and Process Skills
LESSON 1.3
Students in science should be able to develop these skills
in order for them to learn how to pursue searching for
knowledge by themselves. All scientific inquiries rest upon
one's ability to use these skills carefully, accurately, and
appropriately.
 Identifying and Controlling variables

Formulating and Testing hypotheses

The six Defining Operationally
integrated science
Interpreting Data
process skills are:
Experimenting

Constructing Models.
 Identifying and Controlling
Variables

• When making experiments, we try to identify variables, control

variables, and check the effect of changing certain variables one
by one.

• These will know which one works and which one does not. We try
to brainstorm ideas about what might affect how something
happens or what could affect some phenomena.
 Identifying and Controlling Variables

❑ RESPONDING VARIABLE

The result (outcome) what you want to know

❑ CONSTANT VARIABLE

Stays the same, no change

❑ MANIPULATED VARIABLES

Changes throughout the experiment

 Identifying and Controlling
Variables

For example someone gets sick, people who care about that sick
person would give advice. Someone might advise: "Take this
medicine (tablet/pill/capsule)." Another person would say, "Take this
cough syrup." Another would say, "Use these herbs." Yet another
would say, "Drink plenty of water." And another person would suggest
to "rest in bed."
 Answer the following

1. What do you mean by identifying and controlling

variables?
2. Why is it important to do?
 Formulating the Hypothesis

✓ In formulating and testing hypothesis, you must keep in mind that a

hypothesis is only like pieces of scaffolding, which are put around a
building while it is being constructed.

✓ Formulating a hypothesis means you predict or make a guess of what

might happen if you manipulate one variable. Your guess is not just a wild
guess out of nowhere. First, you might observe something around you.
Example: Let us say that you had the experience of tasting a green apple,
which happened to be sour. If you tasted another green apple, which was also
sour, you might ask yourself if there is a pattern in what you observed.

• Using inductive reasoning, you might make a generalization that all

green apples are sour. Your hypothesis might be, "All green apples are
sour."
• Using deductive reasoning, when you see another green apple in
another store, you might predict that that green apple will have a sour
taste also.
 Defining Operationally

❑ give a precise meaning or a specific procedure for measuring

the variable. This is to make sure that our investigation is
consistent. This also makes communicating with other
people more accurate. So, before you make any
measurements when you do an experiment, you must
decide how exactly you will measure each variable.
For example, when investigating the effects of vitamin E on the
endurance of a person, what do you mean by "endurance"? Your
operational definition can be any of the following:

✓ the number of hours a person can stay awake;

✓ the distance a person can run without stopping; or
✓ the number of jumping jacks a person can take before getting
tired and stopping.
 Interpreting Data

When we interpret data, we give meaning to all data we

collect. We first decide how to gather the data we need,
organize it in the table, make chars or graphs about the data we
collect then analyze it to make valid conclusions.
 Experimenting
Do you want to know what effects how fast a seed will sprout? How
about the factors that can affect how fast a person breathes? We can
find out the answers to these questions by doing experiment.
❑ It try to investigate the effect of changing one variable on the change
of another variable . In experimenting we use all the processes that we
studied earlier: observing, classifying what we observe, identifying
what variables to study and controlling variables that we will keep as
constant. We also write a hypothesis, gather and analyze our data,
infer conclusion and use all other science process skills needed.
 Constructing Models
When we construct model, we are trying to make a
visual representation of an object or concept that
may be too small or too big to observe in the
classroom, or that cannot be measured directly.
We want to show how something looks like and/or
how something moves.
 Conclusion
These are needed on order for us to learn how to pursue knowledge by ourselves.
These are together with the basic science process skill for all inquiries in science.
When a teachers create a lesson plan, especially when giving students an
opportunity to do ands-on experiments, the teacher should make sure to encourage
and harness all the integrated science process skills, including all the basic science
process skills.
All the science process skills are automatically integrated in any science lesson
plan that has experiments because these are a natural part of inquiry-based
learning. Recall the scientific method itself uses all the science process skills, so
these are normally and naturally part of any science lesson plan
 Creating Instructional Materials
Create an instructional material showing future students how to do the
scientific method.

• Do it with pair
• Be creative as you are Deadline:
• Content: Scientific method September 2024
4th week
 Criteria Score
Content 30
Alignment 15
Time and effort 15
Presentation 40
Total 100