Geog 101 8/16/16
Instructor: Pesses 1
02| Defining Science
Part I – Introducing GeographyGeography 101
Physical Geography: Earth’s Surface LandscapesM. Pesses, Antelope Valley College
Today
õ Definitionofscienceõ Geographycareers
Science
Thesystematicstudyofthenaturalworldaroundusô Verifiableô Repeatable
What Science Isn’t
Science
“Science”coversarangeoftopicsô Physicalsciences,lifesciences,earthsciences,socialsciences
Geographyisseenasbothanearthscience&asocialscience
The Earth Sciences
SciencesrelatedtounderstandingthematerialnatureoftheEarth
ô physicalgeographyô geologyô geophysics
Geog 101 8/16/16
Instructor: Pesses 2
The Social Sciences
Concernedwithhumanityinawaynotpurelybiological
ô geographyô anthropologyô sociology
Mapping the Earth
Geographersrequiremapsforspatialanalysisô Cartographyô Geodesyô GeographicInformationSystems(GIS)
GIS Scientific Reasoning
Deductivereasoningô Workingfromthegeneraltothespecific
Inductivereasoningô Workingfromthespecifictothegeneral
The Scientific Method
Anorderly,inductivewaytounderstandthepropertiesofourenvironment.ô DevelopedbySirFrancisBacon&SirIsaacNewtonô Stillusedtodaytodescribephenomena
Geog 101 8/16/16
Instructor: Pesses 3
The Scientific Method
Theoriesarenotguesses!ô Inscience,theoryisanexplanationbasedonobservation,experimentation,andreasoning.ó Itorganizesacollectionofknownfacts.
ô Lawstelluswhat happensinnatureundercertainconditions
ô Lawofgravityvs.Theoryofgravity
The Scientific Method
õ Newscientifictheoriesaren’tdiscoveredwitheveryexperiment.ô Usuallycontributinglittlepiecestoagreateranswer
The Scientific Method
FinalStep– Publishing
Peer Review Process
õ Ascientistsubmitshis/herarticletoeditorsofajournal
õ Scientist’snameremoved fromthearticle&editorssenditto3expertsinthatfield forreview
Peer Review Processõ Reviewersarekeptanonymous
õ Theycanrecommendô Publicationasisô Publicationwithsignificantchanges
ô Rejectionofthearticle
õ Editorsofjournaltaketheconsensusandmakeafinaldecision
Geog 101 8/16/16
Instructor: Pesses 4
Problems
õ Slowõ Conflictingtheoreticalviews
õ Personalviewsô Objectivevs.personaledits
õ Fraud
The Scientific Method
Biasô Theideaofscienceistobeunbiasedô Thisdoesn’talwaysworkô Shouldgeographybeunbiased?
Careers
AcademiaGraduateschool
óMasters,DoctorateóResearch,teachingóEarthscienceresearchisimportant!
K-12Teaching
CareersProfessional
ô EnvironmentalPlanning&conservation
ô CityPlannersô USCensusBureauô EmergencyServices
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Usedinô Govt.ô Crim.Justiceô Businessô Conservationô PublicSafetyô Computerscience
Science Careers in General