1 class period

[1-1] Science Not Just For Scientists

The purpose of this section is to introduce students to the study of science. They will learn that scientists uncover truths about nature called facts. Then scientists use facts to solve larger mysteries of nature. In the last part of the section, students will be introduced to the three main branches of science life science, earth science, and physical science.

The themes that can be focused on in this section are evolution and scale and structure.

Evolution: The patterns that occur when organisms or their environments change or when physical objects are affected by forces are among the most significant of the patterns that scientists analyze.

Scale and structure: The questions that interest scientists occur at a wide variety of levels from microscopic organisms that can only be studied with the aid of scientific instruments to problems concerned with the behavior of matter in the entire universe.

Performance Objectives 1-1

1. Explain what is meant by a fact.
2. Explain the difference between a theory and a law.
3. Identify the main branches of science.

Science Terms 1-1

Theory, p.8

Law, p.9

• Observations are important to everyone. In what way or ways are observations also important to physical scientists?
• In what other ways is your behavior like the behavior of physical scientists?
• Why is it difficult to infer specific properties such as mass, weight, density, and volume from your observations?
• Why do you think science allows us to come up with the new answers for old ideas?
• What is the goal of science?