Show Misconception: Scientific ideas are absolute and unchanging. Misconception: Because scientific ideas are tentative and subject to change, they can’t be trusted. Correction: Accepted scientific ideas are well-supported and reliable, but could be revised if warranted by the evidence. Read more about it. Accepted theories are the best explanations available so far for how the world works. They have been thoroughly tested, are supported by multiple lines of evidence, and have proved useful in generating explanations and opening up new areas for research. However, science is always a work in progress, and even theories change. How? We’ll look at some over-arching theories in physics as examples:
All the theories described above worked — that is, they generated accurate expectations, were supported by evidence, opened up new avenues of research, and offered satisfying explanations. Classical mechanics, by the way, is still what engineers use to design airplanes and bridges, since it is so accurate in explaining how large (i.e., macroscopic) and slow (i.e., substantially slower than light) objects interact. Nevertheless, the theories described above did change. How? A well-supported theory may be accepted by scientists, even if the theory has some problems. In fact, few theories fit our observations of the world perfectly. There is usually some anomalous observation that doesn’t seem to fit with our current understanding. Scientists assume that by working to understand such anomalies, they’ll either disentangle them to see how they fit with the current theory or they’ll make progress towards a new theory. And eventually that does happen: a new or modified theory is proposed that explains everything that the old theory explained plus other observations that didn’t quite fit with the old theory. When that new or modified theory is proposed to the scientific community, scientists come to understand the new theory, see why it is a superior explanation to the old theory, and eventually, accept the new theory – though this process can take many years. SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY: TRUE OR FALSE?Here, we’ve discussed true scientific controversy — a debate within the scientific community over which scientific idea is more accurate and should be used as the basis of future research. True scientific controversy involves competing scientific ideas that are evaluated according to the standards of science — i.e., fitting the evidence, generating accurate expectations, offering satisfying explanations, inspiring research, etc. However, occasionally, special interest groups try to misrepresent a non-scientific idea, which meets none of these standards, as inspiring scientific controversy. To learn to identify these false controversies, visit:
Which characteristic would a lesson exhibit so that it is reasonable to consider it a science lesson?What characteristics would a lesson exhibit so that it is reasonable to consider it a "science lesson?" Focuses on explaining the natural world, relies on evidence, involves testable ideas, and utilizes scientific behaviors.
Which of the following best defines a scientific theory?A theory is a carefully thought-out explanation for observations of the natural world that has been constructed using the scientific method, and which brings together many facts and hypotheses.
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