dm8156 Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 My Geo440 class needs help coming up with a definition for Science. So far we have come up with "Science is the reproducable effort to understand the universe and how it works. Such efforts must be based on phycial observations (evidence). Just looking for some feed back. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwagen Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 While science already has a definition, is the assignment to come up with a definition "in your own words"? If so, could you explain "reproducable effort"? It might be due to me not being a native English speaker, but I'm not sure I understand that particular wording. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm8156 Posted May 22, 2014 Author Share Posted May 22, 2014 While science already has a definition, is the assignment to come up with a definition "in your own words"? If so, could you explain "reproducable effort"? It might be due to me not being a native English speaker, but I'm not sure I understand that particular wording. We are looking to come up with a definition that is accepted/understood by both the general population and scientist. Basically the Professor would like us to become more familiar and comfortable with this term. By reproducible effort we mean it can be done more then one time. In other words repeatable effort. Meaning that your efforts can be mimicked by others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 While science already has a definition, is the assignment to come up with a definition "in your own words"? If so, could you explain "reproducable effort"? It might be due to me not being a native English speaker, but I'm not sure I understand that particular wording. I think this is to reflect that my experimental results should match your experimental results if we follow the same test, every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm8156 Posted May 22, 2014 Author Share Posted May 22, 2014 I think this is to reflect that my experimental results should match your experimental results if we follow the same test, every time. precisicely precisicely well you might not get the same results, but the experiment should be repeatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 You might want to note that science incorporates the things we know as well as how we come to know these things. It's a process, but it's also a body of knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwagen Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Ah yes, I see what you mean now. While I'm all clear about the importance of repeatable experiments in science, I was a bit unclear on the use of "effort" in that context, so thanks for clearing that up. However, that said (and my non-native self wouldn't want to act like an expert on the English language), I do have a little issue with the word effort. To me, as a lay person, it sounds more like "we're trying again and again to make science" rather than "we're devising experiments which can be repeated by others. Do you see what I'm getting at? It's got the feeling of science consisting of brawns rather than brains. Or is that a way too silly objection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm8156 Posted May 22, 2014 Author Share Posted May 22, 2014 I see what you mean, we will have to take this into consideration Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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