Nature of Science

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Nature of Science

• Science 1101

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Nature of Science

• Environmental Science
• Outline
• Science As a Way of Knowing
• Scientific Design
• Reasoning
• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science

• Environmental Science
• Outline
• Approaches to Thinking
• History of Environmentalism
• Human Dimensions
• Rich and Poor

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Nature of Science

• Environmental Science
• Science of the Environment Circumstances and
  conditions that surround an organism or group of
  organisms.
• Social and cultural conditions that affect an
  individual or community man

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Nature of Science

• Environmental Science

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Environmental Science
• is the systematic study of our environment and
  our place in it.
• Highly Interdisciplinary
• Inclusive
• Holistic
• Mission-Oriented

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• SCIENCE AS A WAY OF KNOWING
• Science rests on the assumptions the world is
  knowable through empirical study and logical
  analysis.
• Reduces tendency to rely on emotional reactions
  and unexamined assumptions.
• Searches for testable evidence.
• Explanations are considered provisional.
• Additional evidence may disprove current
  theories.

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• SCIENCE AS A WAY OF KNOWING
• Scientists collaborate in a cumulative,
  self-correcting process.
• Many people often work on many different aspects
  of a problem.
• Creativity, insight, aesthetics and even luck
  play important roles in scientific research

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Design
• Reproducibility
• Experiments must be designed and recorded such
  that other researchers can exactly reproduce
  them.
• Controlled Studies
• Comparisons are made between experimental and
  control populations.
• Every factor except the one being studied is held
  constant

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Hypotheses and Theories
• Hypothesis
• Conditional explanations that can be tested by
  further observation or experiment.
• Logically, a hypothesis based on inductive
  reasoning can be shown to be wrong, but can
  almost never be shown to be unquestionably true.
• Evidence is always provisional

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Scientific Theory

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.SCIENCE
AS A WAY OF KNOWING

• Statistics and Probability
• Probability
• An attempt to measure and predict the likelihood
  of an event.
• Sample Size
• A critical experimental variable is the number of
  observations necessary in order to have a
  reliable representation of a population.

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Approaches to Knowledge and Thinking
• Analytical Thinking
• How can I break this problem into parts?
• Creative Thinking
• How can I approach this differently?
• Logical Thinking
• How can deductive reasoning help?

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Approaches to Knowledge and Thinking
• Critical Thinking
• What am I trying to do?
• Reflective Thinking
• What does it all mean?

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Approaches to Knowledge and Thinking

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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Approaches to Knowledge and Thinking
• Identify and evaluate premises and conclusions in
  an argument.
• Acknowledge and clarify uncertainties, vagueness,
  equivocation, and contradictions.
• Distinguish between facts and values.
• Recognize and assess assumptions.
• Distinguish source reliability or unreliability.
• Recognize and understand conceptual frameworks.

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Nature of Science Environmental Science
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Nature of Science Environmental Science
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Nature of Science Environmental Science

• Global Concerns
• An increased travel and communication enables
  person to know about daily events in places
  unknown in previous generations.
• Common environment shared on a global scale.

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.

• CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS
• Causes of Environmental Degradation
• More than 6 billion people now occupy the earth,
  and we add about 85 million more each year.
• Most growth will be in poorer countries where
  present populations already strain resources and
  services

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.

• Rich and Poor Countries
• Causes of Environmental Degradation
• About 20 of the world's population live in the
  twenty richest countries.
• Average per capita income above 25,000

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Nature of Science Environmental Science.

• Rich and Poor Countries
• Causes of Environmental Degradation
• Other 80 live in middle or low-income countries.
• Ten poorest countries each have average per
  capita income of less than 200.00
• Richest 200 people in the world have a combined
  wealth of 1 trillion.
• More than total owned by poorest half of the
  world population (3 billion)