NATURE & SCOPE OF SCIENCE

WHAT IS SCIENCE?

Humans are curious by nature. This curiosity has driven them since time immemorial to explore the world around them. Initially the pace of exploration was slow. But with the availability of better tools of exploration in the last few hundred years and also as a result of industrial revolution in the west, the pace of exploration has increased manifold. Humans’ exploratory activities have resulted in the accumulation of a vast source of knowledge called natural science. In natural science, we study about nature which means the entire universe. The knowledge is now organized in several disciplines for the convenience of study. This knowledge is based on inquiry, observations and logical extensions, and is testable by experiment or has logically convincing explanation. It is this organized knowledge with inquiry, logical reasoning and experimentation as its central themes, that we call science. Science may rightly be said to be a domain of inquiry.

NATURE OF SCIENCE

Science has certain characteristics which distinguish it from other spheres of human endeavor. These characteristics define the nature of science. These also set the terms on which you can engage with science. These are discussed below.

·         Science is a particular way of looking at nature

·         Science is a rapidly expanding body of knowledge

·         Science is an interdisciplinary area of learning

·         Science is a truly international enterprise

·         Science is always tentative

·         Science promotes scepticism; scientists are highly sceptic people

·         Science demands perseverance from its practitioners

·         Science as an approach to investigation and as a process of constructing knowledge

DEFINITIONS

Science is defined in several ways by different individuals. Let us examine a few definitions.

According to Fitzpatrick: Science is a cumulative endless series of empirical observations which result in the formation of concepts & theories, with both concepts & theories being subject to modification in the light of further empirical observations. Science is both a body of knowledge & the process of acquiring it.

Conant defined science as: An interconnected series of concepts & conceptual schemes that have developed as a result of experimentation & observation & are fruitful of further experimentation & observation.

The Columbia Encyclopedia: Science is an accumulated & systematized learning in general usage restricted to natural phenomenon. The progress of science is marked not only by an accumulation of fact, but by the emergence of scientific method & of the scientific attitude. 

Gilbert Archey: Science is knowledge acquired in a particular way. It becomes a human activity, an attitude & an exercise of the mind that put us it where in a state of familiarity with nature.

B.F.Skinner: Science is first of all a set of attitudes. It is disposition to deal with facts rather than with what someone has said about them.

Tennyson: Science moves but slowly, steadily, creeping on from one point to another but actually the progress has been rapid.

From the various definitions, the three fold nature of science is explained as:

·         Science is a body of knowledge

·         Science is a method of inquiry, a way of investigating

·         Science is an attitude towards life: a way of thinking.

a. Science as a body of knowledge – science has been characterized as a body of knowledge obtained by scientists. Various types of scientific knowledge exist in the form of facts, concepts, principles, laws, hypothesis & theories.

- Science as a process – In science, the ways of gathering information, thinking, measuring, problem solving are called process of science. Basic processes of science are observation, comparison, classification, communication, measurement, estimation & prediction. The quality of knowledge acquired in science depends on the quality of process skills applied. The various processes of science can be classified into five categories:

·         Collection of data

·         Analysis of data

·         Synthesis of data

·         Evaluation of data

·         Application of generalizations to new situations

- Science as a product – Whatever information or ideas we acquire through various processes of science form the product of science. The basic components of the product of science are facts, concepts, principles, theories & laws.

- Science as both a process and a product – Science is both a body of knowledge & the process of acquiring it. Science is both a verb & a noun. These two aspects are interdependent & inseparable.      

b. Science viewed as a method of inquiry – according to Karl Pearson the scientific method involves the following six steps:

·         Identification of the problem

·         Gathering observations relevant to the problem on hand

·         Statement of a hypothesis based on observations gathered

·         Testable predictions of other related observable phenomena are developed from the hypothesis

·         The hypothesis is tested through observations

·         As a result of empirical observations, the hypothesis is supported, rejected or modified.

Science teachers should emphasize to their students that scientists do approach the solution of any specific problem in an organized manner.

c. Science as an attitude towards life – a person with scientific attitude will have the following characteristics:

·         Open mindedness

·         Objectivity

·         Freedom from belief in superstitions

·         Belief in cause – effect relationship

·         Accuracy & truthfulness in reporting observations

·         Methodical way of solving problem on hand

·         Up-to-dateness

·         Respect for other people's opinion, though he may not agree with them

·         Ability to distinguish between scientific evidence & scientific proof

·         Ability to discern between fact & fiction

A science teacher can, by her example, help develop these characteristics in her students.

ROLE OF A SCIENCE TEACHER

Science teachers face a challenging task to inculcate the essence of the scientific enterprise among students. Students should be made conversant with scientific way of knowing and thus constructing their knowledge in science. Teacher should structure the learning experiences in such a way that the nature of science becomes an inherent part of all teaching-learning situations. Historical aspects of the development of scientific concepts should be emphasised. It would help students to appreciate how science evolved by human endeavour and resulted in the development of various technologies. It is important to simultaneously reduce the overload of memorising facts which often cause a disinclination towards science. Laboratory work in science, infused with the spirit of inquiry, provides students with hands-on experiences and develops a scientific attitude which is one of the important aims of teaching learning of science.

The role of the science teacher is crucial to the development of scientific temper among students. It goes without saying that the teacher should herself be competent in the area she teaches; she must be familiar with all the aspects of the nature of science; and she must have imbibed scientific temper herself. Such a teacher can exemplify the content of scientific temper from her everyday conduct. From time to time, she can engage her students in discussions to develop scientific temper among them, and foster the values hidden in scientific method like truth, honesty and open-mindedness. She can help her students retain and sharpen further the sense of inquiry by allowing them to explore their environment and encouraging them to ask questions, even if sometimes these questions appear trivial. By her own enthusiasm for science she can transmit the excitement of doing science. During teaching- learning she can convey that science is tentative and nothing is fixed or final and the quest for progressive refinement of theories and explanations continues in which the students can participate at that time and later when they grow old.

Activities such as projects, field work, paper reading along with laboratory work and discussion would encourage students to do science. This in turn, would help them to learn the skills associated with the inquiry and processes of science such as observing, measuring, hypothesising, predicting, analysing and communicating.

While assigning projects the science teacher can remind her students of honesty of reporting their observations. She must herself be ready to appreciate if students report their findings honestly even if they lead to wrong results. We have discussed above that people from all over the world contribute to the progress of science. As a science teacher you must instil confidence in your students that they can also contribute in this process. Understanding the nature of science is a valuable goal of science education and must be reflected in the process of assessment. It is not enough to merely examine students’ learning of facts and principles of science. It is necessary to assess their spirit of inquiry, sceptic attitude towards existing ideas, and tendency to try out new ideas.

SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE

An attitude is a condition of mind that brings in imagination & emotional states which are the outcome of previous experiences. It is the sum total of man’s inclinations & feelings, prejudices & biases, preconceived notions, ideas, threats & convictions about any specific topic.

According to NSSE (National Society of the Study of Education)- Scientific attitudes can be defined as open mindedness, a desire for accurate knowledge & the expectation that the solution of the problem will come through the use of verified knowledge.

Characteristics of a person who possess scientific attitude

·         Open mindedness

·         Objectivity

·         Freedom from belief in superstitions

·         Belief in cause – effect relationship

·         Accuracy & truthfulness in reporting observations

·         Methodical way of solving problem on hand

·         Up-to-dateness

·         Respect for other people's opinion, though he may not agree with them

·         Ability to distinguish between scientific evidence & scientific proof

·         Ability to discern between fact & fiction

Techniques for developing scientific attitude

·         Use of wide reading

·         Use of planned exercises

·         Proper use of laboratory period

·         Co-curricular activities in science

·         The atmosphere of the class

·         The personal example of the teacher

SCIENTIFIC APTITUDE

Aptitude refers to those qualities characterizing person’s way of behavior which serve to indicate how well he can learn to meet & solve certain specified kind of problems. (Bingham). Aptitudes have future reference & tries to predict the degree of attainment, ability concerns with present condition, while achievement is past oriented.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Most investigations in science involve some form of scientific method. It shows creativity of humankind in seeking solution to its problems. The approach used by the scientists in the study of astronomy and ecology is observation and prediction. In microbiology they rely on laboratory experiment focused on cause and effect relationship. This is a glimpse of the process by which science works. The essential elements of this process have been collected in what is known as scientific method. These elements are discussed below.

(i) Observations: Scientists usually have to find cause and effect relationship. Suppose a scientist needs to explain a phenomenon, or may be a problem has been posed to him which he needs to solve. For this purpose the scientist carries out observations of the phenomenon that is to be explained. Observations are properly recorded and studied to discover if there are any hidden patterns. We interact with the world outside through our sense organs. Whatever we observe through our sense organs (see, listen, smell, taste, feel) is information. Besides senses, we have mind which processes this information by registering, classifying, generalising, etc. and converts it to knowledge. Our mind sorts out the information on the basis of differences and places them into various categories on the basis of similarities, which later on can be recalled for use in different situations, thus becoming a part of knowledge.

(ii) Hypothesis: The observations of a phenomenon, or facts, raise certain questions, such as, ‘what caused it to happen?’ Or, ‘why did it happen this way and not in any other way?’ On the basis of the answers to these questions, the scientist thinks of a tentative explanation or formulates a hypothesis. In science, all hypothesis are testable. One of the most important features of science is that it requires hypotheses to cast into a form that can not only be verified but also significantly proved wrong.

(iii) Prediction from a hypothesis and its testing by experimentation: Prediction of science does not mean telling something about the future which has not occurred in the past. It is about foretelling results of an experiment which might be obtained and have remained or not remained unnoticed to throw some light on the scientific phenomena. The hypothesis is analysed to make predictions which are verifiable by experimentation. If experiments show that the hypothesis formulated is not correct, a new hypothesis is formulated and subjected to experimental verification. It is possible that a hypothesis can make more than one predictions. Such a hypothesis is accepted only when all the predictions made by it have been confirmed by experimentation.

(iv) Scientific Theory: The process of formulating and verifying hypotheses continues till all the predictions of a hypothesis (or a group of related hypotheses) are found to be correct by experimentation. At this stage possible generalisations of the hypothesis are looked for. The results are communicated to the scientific community through publications in scientific journals. The results are then open to experimental scrutiny by scientists all over the world. If the results pass the test of reproducibility, the hypothesis along with generalisations is then promoted to the status of a theory.

SCIENTIFIC METHOD- A CRITICAL VIEW

·         Scientific method is not a prescribed pathway for making discoveries in science. Very rarely the method has remained a key to a discovery in science. It is the attitude of inquiry, investigation and experimentation rather than following a set steps of a particular method that leads to discoveries and advancement in science.

·         Sometimes a theory may suggest a new experiment; at other times an experiment may suggest a new theoretical model. Scientists do not always go through all the steps of the method and not necessarily in the order we have outlined above.

·         The validity of a hypothesis depends solely on the experimental test and not on the prestige, stature, faith, nationality or any other attribute of the personality of the person who proposes the hypothesis.

·         A scientific method with its linear steps makes us feel that science is a ‘closed box approach’ of thinking. However, in practice science is more about thinking ‘out of the box’. There is tremendous scope of creativity in science.

·         The scientific method imposes operational limitation on science. It does not help us to make aesthetic or value judgment.

·         Following scientific method does not ensure that a discovery can be made. However, the skills learnt in making observation, analysis, hypothesis, prediction from a hypothesis and its testing by experimentation help us in developing scientific attitude.

·         All of us will benefit immensely if we imbibe the spirit of scientific method in our personal lives. The scientific method tells us to be honest in reporting our observations or experimental results, keep an open mind and be ready to accept other points of view if our own view is proved wrong. These values form what is called the scientific temper or scientific attitude, or rational thinking. The adoption of these values is very important for an individual as well as for a society to get rid of superstition and prejudice.