The Scientific Method

Worksheet 1: The Scientific Method

Note: if a website is unavailable, try it again later. If it does not work after trying for more than 2 or 3 days, and you are an FSCJ student, E-mail

A) Web site name: University of Georgia

Web URL: http://www.physast.uga.edu/~jss/SETI/skeptic.html

Read “The Scientific Method” particularly sections 1.1 to 1.6

1) What is the difference between the common definition of a “theory” and

the scientific definition of a “theory” ?

_____________________________________________________________

2) What is a “hypothesis”? _____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

3) Why is the “Snorg hypothesis” not scientific ? _____________________

_____________________________________________________________

4) Why is Einstein’s theory of relativity an improvement on Newton’s theory of gravity? ______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

5) What is “Occum’s Razor”? _____________________________________

______________________________________________________________

6) If Occum’s razor does not tell you about the truth of a hypothesis, what does

it tell you? ___________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

B) Web site: University of Miami

Web URL: http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/dox/scientific_method.html

Read the section “Solving problems in Biology”

7) Explain what is meant by “inductive reasoning”: ________________________ _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

8) In the example of hymenopterans, what do “All hymenopterans have”? ______

9) What is the “inductive leap” ? ______________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

10) Explain “deductive reasoning”. ____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

11) Give your own example of deductive reasoning:

_________________________________________________________________

12) Explain in your own words the meaning of a theory in science.

________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________

C) Web page: NASA

Web URL: https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/15may_maggrav

Read “Sowing seeds in a magnetic field”

13) Why must there be “more to it” than the idea that plants grow towards light?

14) Give your own example of a plant behavior that is affected by gravity:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

15) What are the two possibilities for how plants detect gravity?

16) Explain why the shuttle experiment will use “artificial gravity” produced by magnets.

17) Why is this experiment conducted in the dark?

To test different explanations, or hypotheses, scientists do an experiment.

D) Web page: McGraw-Hill

Web URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hubXqPrslR4

Watch the section on the Hershey and Chase Experiment

18) What are bacterial viruses called? __________________

19) What does a “phage” consist of? ______________________________

20) In the animation, how many phages infect one bacterial cell ? _____________

21) Does the protein coat of a phage get injected inside a bacterial cell? ________

22) Which radioactive chemical was used to label amino acids? ___________

23) In the first part of the experiment, with radioactive protein, how many new

phages are formed inside the bacterial cell? _____________________

24) How were the protein coats removed from the surface of the bacteria?

__________________________________________________________

25) Is 32P used to radioactively label amino acids or DNA ? _______________

26) What did this experiment demonstrate? ___________________________

___________________________________________________________

E) Web page: State University of New York, Buffalo

Web URL: http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/coots.pdf

27) What is the hypothesis here? ____________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Click on “Go to Parts II-V”

28) Why did dyeing the plumage of the chicks not work well? ______________

_____________________________________________________________

29) What three data did the scientists decide to compare?

_____________________________________________________________

30) Click on “Go to Figure 2” and summarize the results: __________________

_____________________________________________________________

31) Do the results support the original hypothesis? Explain your answer:

_____________________________________________________________

F) Web page: University of Colorado

Web URL: http://www.colorado.edu/today/2015/07/21/know-its-placebo-medicine-could-still-work

Read “Know it’s a placebo? The ‘medicine’ could still work”

32) Why is the “morphine for pain” an example of the placebo effect, rather than

the real action of morphine as a painkiller?

________________________________________________________________

33) How many sessions do the subjects need to be conditioned to believe the placebo

works? ______________

34) How did the scientists conduct the research? _____________________________

35) Why did some subjects have a high pain tolerance?

________________________________________________________________

36) What, in fact, was the “treatment”? _____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

37) Do you think it is ethical to wean a child off a drug and switch the drug to a

placebo? Explain your answer.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________