Science Discovery Exploring, Describing, & Explaining the Natural World

Science Discovery Objectives

List examples of science fields.
Explain how science fields are distinguished from other fields of study.
Describe the process of science discovery, including examples of exploration, description, and explanation.

The two types of weekly assessments in this course are media pieces and quizzes. Material from online guides and corresponding lectures are assessed on quizzes. Typically material from laboratories and recitations are assessed in media pieces. The first week, the two media pieces are introduced along with the lecture material.

Quizzes

Online guide and corresponding lecture material is assessed on the quizzes.

Short-answer questions on each quiz; that match the learning objectives.

Open notes and individual effort; do not work on quizzes with another person.

Quiz answers can be added to the final Animal Biology Portfolio (introduced next week in Module 2)

Media Pieces

Media pieces typically correspond with a laboratory or recitation, except weeks 0 and 9 when they are introduced with lecture.

Media pieces vary and include captioned photos, reflective writing, field sketches, and more.

Media pieces assignments can be completed with commonly available items.

Media Pieces can be added to the final Animal Biology Portfolio (introduced next week in Module 2)

Start your Guide Notes Media Piece assignment here

There are two media pieces this week, the other is the Field Kit introduced in the Research Lecture Guide.

Course Notes

In this section and the next three sections (webpages) of this online Knowledge Guide, you will be taking notes on the concepts that are covered. This content complements the first lecture, so you can bring these notes to lecture and add to or modify your notes as desired. After attending the corresponding lecture, you will upload these notes to Canvas as one of this week’s two media pieces. You can take notes digitally on a device or on a piece of paper that you digitally photograph and upload: your choice.

You are able (and recommended) to use your personal notes during each week’s quiz. This will be the only time you turn in your notes for grading, but most people continue to take detailed notes, since they can be used to jog memory during each quiz and can be added as personal work to the final Portfolio (introduced next week). You do not need to take notes on this week’s second Research Lecture guide for this media piece, but you may want to take the notes for use on the quiz and in the final portfolio.

Include in your notes and upload to Canvas:

concepts from all four sections (web pages) in this guide, and any additional modifications made during lecture.
a combination of text, images, and icons. Your notes may be mostly text, but some type of image and use of icons needs to be included.

Sample Notes

This is a photo of notes Charles Darwin (who we meet in the next section) made about barnacles, marine organisms with jointed feeding appendages. There are images, text, and icons, in this case lines pointing to structures.

Your notes on this course may be more text or images, depending on your style. For this assignment you will try to use all three notes components.

Start your notes here

What is science?

Take a moment and write down the names of three different science fields in your notes.

hint: you may have taken a few of these courses in high school.

What did you come up with? Common responses include: physics, chemistry, geology, and of course what we are here for, biology. Less common, but correct responses would also include: mathematics, logic, social sciences, environmental sciences, and more.

Some of the sciences are shown here in roughly chronological order from logic and mathematics through a few of the newest fields that integrate multiple disciplines.

Why are these sciences and not something else? How are science fields different from other fields of study?

Science involves a specific process to gather knowledge about observable natural phenomena.

Let’s dissect this.

“Science involves a specific process…” This is science discovery, more on this in a moment.

“…to gather knowledge…” Science knowledge includes facts, laws, and theories, covered in the next section.

“…about observable natural phenomena.” We have to see it, smell it, touch it, or somehow observe something in nature directly or indirectly. More on this in the section on observation.

The process of science discovery includes exploration, description, and explanation.

Exploration

Investigating new (to you) natural phenomena. Can be a new location, or a new way of viewing familiar surroundings.

Description

Providing accurate details about a natural phenomenon. Can include a portrait of an organism, or the steps of a process, like a bud opening on a tree.

Explanation

Providing information on how or why something happens. Can be a simple cause and effect, or a much more detailed process of steps with complex variables.

Let’s see science discovery in action with a trip to the pacific coast.

We (Lesley & Mark) live in Corvallis Oregon. If we take highway 20 due west for 50 miles (about an hour), it ends in Newport, directly on the coast.

Nye beach in Newport, Oregon is a popular tourist destination

There is a habitat that many people just walk past instead of exploring…

This gives you an idea of scale, Mark is taking a photo.

Exploration is investigating new phenomena, in this case, organisms on a micro (small) habitat, a rock that is exposed at low tide.

On the rock are numerous organisms. The next step is to accurately describe what is observed.

Barnacles

Some of the organisms are barnacles. There are small (less than 1″ diameter) cone-shaped mineral structures with animals inside.

Different Species

The different shapes of the mineral cones, different sizes, and groupings suggest that there may be two or more different species on the rock.

The next step is to explain what you are describing.

There is a lot to explain. For example:

How do two species of barnacles coexist on the same rock? (more on this in a later section on competition)
Where did the barnacles come from, not just these organisms (later section on reproduction), but also the species themselves (section on speciation).

Explanation may take more detailed examination and description, for example, viewing the barnacles underwater. Experimentation may be necessary to determine whether explanations accurately predict what is occurring in nature.

In this course you will explore, describe, and explain, as well as learn from others who have gained knowledge through science discovery.

The next section introduces the work of Charles Darwin, a naturalist who explored, described, and came up with an explanation that has changed the way scientists view the natural world.

Keep taking notes through the next three sections.

Check your knowledge. Can you:

list examples of science fields?
explain how science fields are distinguished from other fields of study?
describe the process of science discovery, including examples of exploration, description, and explanation?

Go back to the Knowledge Guide Overview

Go forward to the Natural Selection Page

Knowledge Lecture Guide Contents

The material from this guide and corresponding lecture is assessed on the weekly quiz.

Science Discovery - YOU ARE HERE