Definitions
A Form – An Outline of Powers and Limits - Mathematics
A System – A decision made before the question arises – A method used to answer a question
A Principle – A basic truth or law or assumption – Natural Laws
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What is religion? a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers
Science is about Cosmic Order: Religion is about Cosmic Purpose
What is physics? The study of matter and energy.
What is chemistry? The science of matter; how is matter put together? The branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions.
What is biology? The study of living organisms. A much more complex science. It is dealing with matter that is alive!
What is mathematics? The study of patterns of structure, change, and space
Physics is the foundation of all the other sciences. An understanding of science begins with an understanding of physics.
Scientists answer questions:
Who?
What?
When?
Where? (90% populace & media focus on these)
How? Engineers – Take theory and put it into practice
Why? Scientists – Theoretical and Experimental arenas
Scientific Method
- Recognize a problem
- Make an educated guess (hypothesis)
- Predict consequences
- Perform experiments to test predictions
- Formulate summary of results and retest if necessary
Final Exam
Why teach notebook keeping?
- A scientist records every experiment
- A student learns clear expression
- A scholar learns to create and connect ideas
Experimental Science is a descriptive science. Written descriptions are very different from spoken descriptions. As a statesman you will have to talk/write/demonstrate your purpose.
Your opinion on a topic is not enough, nor is the opinion of others. What are the facts that gave rise to your ideas? What research have you done that led you to that conclusion? Why is path A better than path B?
Goals of this exercise:
- To make notebook keeping a habit.
- That no matter your occupation, record keeping saves your bacon! CYA
- If it isn’t documented, it never happened.
- Keep a Journal/Notebook – writing up a notebook- must be a bound notebook
- What are your expectations (assumptions)
- What are your methods
- What are your experiences
- What are your results
- Repeat until you have success
- Proper Journal Entries
- Entry is written immediately after the work is performed
- Author dates and signs entry
- Each section has a clear, descriptive heading
- The writing is legible and grammatical.
- The use of the active voice in the first person tells the story and clearly indicated who did the work
- The entry is read by a witness, who signed and dated the page
- Organizing the Notebook
- Table of Contents
- Preface
i. Who is the author
ii. What is the goal of the work
iii. Where is the work being performed
iv. Who is funding or sponsoring the work
- Table of Abbreviations
- Numbering the pages
- The Body of the Notebook
- List of outside resources
- Daily Experiments
- Start a New page for each new experiment
- Date, Project number or a title
- Introduction/Purpose (short term goal of the work) (a look backward)
i. Explanation and support of proposed work
ii. What related work has been done by others or yourself
iii. Results of previous work – Cite literature
iv. Why was the current experiment chosen?
- The Experimental Plan/Methods ( a look forward)
- Observations and Data (the present) look for unexpected, novel happenings
- Discussion of Results/Interpretation/Evaluation of Data/Results
- Summary/Conclusion – one or two sentences for routine work and pages for a long project
i. Summarize the goal of your work, what was done and what you found
ii. Index it in your table of contents
iii. What was the goal?
iv. Was the hypothesis substantiated or disproved?
v. How well did the experimental design work toward achieving the goal?
vi. What should have been done differently?
vii. What should be done next?
- Formats/Style
- Page formats…no blank pages
- Write the date on each page
- Page numbers – circle the numbers on the outer edge of page to keep it from being confused with the data
- Getting the details-book citation, page 69
- Drawings – a good drawing can save you several pages of writing. Robots!
- Making corrections – “Nobel Laureate Sir Peter Medawar wrote: “If an experiment does not hold out the possibility of causing one to revise one’s views, it is hard to see why it should be done at all.”
- Recording Ideas
i. Tape the piece of paper or napkin in your notebook
- Literature Surveys
i. Others have gone before you and have tips and tricks for you to incorporate into your work. Give them the credit where it is due.
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