Mago Bill Science: Fundamentals, no mathematics yet, a new look at some vocabulary, scientific method (the way science is done), and observation of natural phenomena.
Science! We benefit from what we know about it. We have found it useful in our thinking and in our doing. Our understanding of science is an aid to our understanding of our world. Science can be a way of approaching realty.
Too many of us lack a grounding in it's fundamentals. Without this grounding we lack an important way of understanding others and of being understood by them. By the time you have read to the end of this post you will know more about the basics of science than do most individuals in the world. Perhaps you already do; you are likely to learn more here.
You have already begun. An old aunt of mind used to repeat, "By beginning you are half way there." You will benefit by increasing your knowledge of a very few of the words I will use. Most of the individual sciences have a lot of new word meanings to learn. Here at the heart of the fundamentals of science, there are very few. "Science" could be among those few. Science still means knowledge. Now it more refers more to a special way of getting knowledge. We will go on to learn more of the "what" and the "how of science an perhaps a bit more.
Some people tell me that mathematics, math, is vital to understanding and doing science. They have a point, but it is not completely true. In some fields of science it is now very, even extremely, important. In most of the science of physics its close enough to true to be called true. For many others a bit of arithmetic will do. I see no need for math, or even, arithmetic in this discussion of fundamentals.
As a reminder, there is still some vocabulary to learn. For practice you could check out the difference between scientific fact and and scientific theory on line. It might be interesting to check the definitions of "fact" and "theory" in a dictionary. If you could even check out the meaning of "Hypothesis" and tell us some of your findings in the "comments" just below this post. Oh, I can tell you that both scientific fact and theory are both, correctly, subject to change.
I'll say something about "theory" right now. A theory is a useful explanation. At least that is the usual intention. A theory may even be predictive. Kind of tell the future. For example it could tell us the probability of a specific happening when a specific action is taken. Check it out.
Its about time for us to take a first look at the scientific method. The method or methods can be extensive, but this important method has a small powerful heart. We will check out that heart. We can know science as a doing, a process. The method is the way science is done. We will look a the heart of how science is done.
There is more power in checking out the meaning of words in science. You develop your word power. you make your understanding of science stronger.
Onward! Many can agree that observation is the beginning of science, scientific investigation and the scientific method. It probably ought to be part of your attitude toward science and in science.
If I were a master scientist and you my disciple, we could review some a case of scientific investigation as is often in the teaching of law.. Or as sometimes is done in a school of engineering, we might move through a flowchart of a piece of scientific work. The flow might follow a winding trail from ,say, from discovery, to hypothesis, and on to research and revision. But I am not a scientist, and you would have to check out the scientific meaning of more words.
It is up to us and to scientists to communicate coherently. If I am not doing my part you can tell me and part of humanity about it in the "comments' section below.
When you know what "knowledge" means you understand much about science. You are already learning that science is a effective way to knowledge.
Science is practiced in many particular fields. Biology is one of those fields. A biologist works and learns in the field of biology. There are many other such fields of knowledge.
So, a science can be a particular branch or field of study, research, and practice. Examples of fields of science; astronomy. barology, chemistry, and, perhaps dermatology. I think that your understanding of science has gone beyond the a,b,c, of science.
Modern science has been and still is much about the study of natural stuff, matter, and material often in a technical or mathematical way. It also often includes search, research, and experimentation.
I imagine that I seem slow in getting to the "how?" of science. It seems to me that there is a lot of "what?" to science. I'll try to speed up. I think that I can satisfy my preoccupation with "what" in about two short paragraphs.
A science is usually a department of systematized knowledge as an object of study. By "systematized" is meant, arranged for ease of understanding, communication, and use. Science in general may include knowledge so arranged that an understanding of it may be more easily communicated from one person to another. I'm not a scientist, remember.
"Science" may refer to the possession of a particular knowledge as distinguished from not knowing or from misunderstanding. That knowledge is gained through study, practice, and the use of the scientific method.
Lets get to that method; that way to knowledge.
We know that each individual science has it's individual ways. However, we also learn that at the center and heart of science is a small set of individual steps which combined form a powerful method.
Science may sad to be the practiced of a method of understanding, the central steps of which are:
~ Observation
~ Identification including discovery, and description
~ Experimental investigation
~ Theoretical explanation of natural phenomena
There are a variety of ways to write and word these steps. They are all designed to express the same method. The steps or processes above are most often done in the order given.
You can learn to carry out these steps. it can be done. We can do them. You can do them. When we learn to complete them well, you may do better than some scientists. Your general knowledge is growing.
Right now I feel unsure of my understanding of "discovery" in this context. I am pretty sure that it is simply the finding and reporting of something new in your observation or in the process of reviewing your observation. Click on "comments" when you have questions, answers, or comments.
When I know that you are interested I'll posts more about the use of the method.
May you stay well and participate a bit more.
bye for now
RCS