What is Science? (6-8 Version)

The goal of science is to learn about the natural world, specifically to describe and explain patterns in nature.

Science is based on evidence collected from nature.

Many scientists carry out experiments to test ideas, but that is not always possible. Scientists can also gather evidence through careful observation.

Most scientists work in teams, but even if a scientist works alone, his or her ideas can be accepted only after being reviewed by other scientists. Scientists spend much of their time reading about, sharing, defending, and critiquing ideas from each other.

Scientists often collect numerical data. To make sense of this data, scientists need to be able to graph it, manipulate it with formulas, or analyze it with mathematical models. Calculating statistics can also help scientists determine how strong their evidence is.

Science can help us treat and prevent disease, predict weather and natural disasters, develop technology such as the internet, learn about how Earth and the universe have changed over time, and predict the effects of human activities.

All scientists work to answer questions about how and why things happen in the natural world through observation and experimentation. Scientists use the eight science and engineering practices, although they might use them in different orders and combinations.

Laws and theories are both statements about patterns or phenomena in nature. Laws describe the patterns, or state what happens. Theories explain how and why those patterns exist.

Data is a collection of measurements or observations. Evidence is data that has been analyzed and interpreted to support a scientific claim.

Scientists often study processes that cannot be seen with the naked eye because they are too large, too small, too complex, or simply invisible. Models provide simplified representations that help scientists explain and make predictions about these processes. Because they are simplified, models never have all the same features as the real processes they represent.

A good scientific question asks how or why something happens in the natural world and is answerable based on evidence that can be collected through observation or experimentation.

Scientific explanations must be based on evidence. If new evidence is collected that contradicts an existing explanation, then the explanation must be revised or replaced. Scientists’ interpretation of existing evidence can also change as they learn more over time.