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Understanding Science 101: Contents

  1. I. Understanding Science 101: An overview

    2.  A quick overview of Understanding Science 101 that offers a definition of science and how it affects our lives.

  2. II. What is science?

     This section describes what makes science science.
    1. Discovery: The spark for science
    2. A science checklist
    3. Science aims to explain and understand
    4. Science works with testable ideas
    5. Science relies on evidence
    6. Science is embedded in the scientific community
    7. Scientific ideas lead to ongoing research
    8. Participants in science behave scientifically
    9. Beyond physics, chemistry, and biology
    10. Science in disguise
    11. Science has limits: A few things that science does not do
    12. Science in sum

  3. III. How science works

    The Scientific Method, as presented in many textbooks, is oversimplified. See how science really works.
    1. The real process of science
    2. A blueprint for scientific investigations
    3. Exploration and discovery
    4. Observation beyond our eyes
    5. Testing scientific ideas
    6. The logic of scientific arguments
    7. Tactics for testing ideas
    8. Digging into data
    9. Reviewing test results
    10. Competing ideas: A perfect fit for the evidence
    11. Competing ideas: Other considerations
    12. Making assumptions
    13. Analysis within the scientific community
    14. Publish or perish?
    15. Scrutinizing science: Peer review
    16. Copycats in science: The role of replication
    17. Benefits of science
    18. Science at multiple levels
    19. Even theories change
    20. Summing up the process

  4. IV. The core of science: Relating evidence and ideas

     See how scientific testing works and how a scientific argument is built.
    1. Putting the pieces together: The hard work of building arguments
    2. Predicting the past
    3. Arguments with legs to stand on
    4. Summing up scientific arguments

  5. V. The social side of science: A human and community endeavor

     Science is a community endeavor.
    1. The scientific community: Diversity makes the difference
    2. Science: A community enterprise
    3. Scientific scrutiny
    4. Scientific culture: Great expectations
    5. The scientific community and misconduct
    6. Not getting away with it
    7. Summing up the social side of science

  6. VI. Science and society

     Science is embedded in, and influenced by, the broader society.
    1. Supporting science
    2. Meeting society's needs
    3. Shaping scientists
    4. Summing up science and society

  7. VII. What has science done for you lately?

     Science affects our everyday lives in many ways.
    1. Fueling technology
    2. Science and technology on fast forward
    3. Making strides in medicine
    4. Getting personal
    5. Shaping society
    6. What science has done for you lately

  8. VIII. A scientific approach to life: A science toolkit

     Uncover the real meaning of media messages about science and evaluate the science behind policies.
    1. Untangling media messages and public policies
    2. Who dunnit: Where does the information come from?
    3. Beware of false balance: Are the views of the scientific community accurately portrayed?
    4. Too tentative: Are well-supported scientific ideas portrayed as overly tentative?
    5. What controversy: Is a controversy misrepresented or blown out of proportion?
    6. Getting to the source: Where can I get more information?
    7. Convince me: How strong is the evidence?
    8. Summing up the science toolkit