Myths of Science Quiz

http://www.nsta.org/Chiappetta & Koballa (Nov. 2004). Quizzing students on the myths of science. Science

Teacher.

“Myths of Science Quiz”

Science is a system of beliefs.

Most scientists are men as males are better at scientific thinking.

Scientists rely heavily upon imagination to carry out their work.

Scientists are totally objective in their work.

The scientific method is the accepted guide for conducting research.

Experiments are carried out to prove cause and effect relationships

All scientific ideas are discovered and tested by controlled experiments

A hypothesis is an educated guess

When a theory has been supported by a great deal of scientific evidence it becomes a law.

Scientific ideas are tentative and can be modified or disproved, but never proved.

In time, science can solve most of society’s problems.

“Myths of Science Quiz”

Science is a system of beliefs. F

Most scientists are men as males are better at scientific thinking. F

Scientists rely heavily upon imagination to carry out their work. T

Scientists are totally objective in their work. F

The scientific method is the accepted guide for conducting research. F

Experiments are carried out to prove cause and effect relationships. F

All scientific ideas are discovered and tested by controlled experiments. F

A hypothesis is an educated guess. F

When a theory has been supported by a great deal of scientific evidence it becomes a law. F

Scientific ideas are tentative and can be modified or disproved, but never proved. T

In time, science can solve most of society’s problems. F

How did you do?

• Mean, median, mode...outliers?• This comes from the idea that there is more to

science and science instruction than the impressive body of content knowledge.

• In addition to viewing science as a body of knowledge, it is also worth noting that it is a way of thinking and investigating (i.e., empirical criteria, logical argument and sceptical review)

Quiz Items

Beliefs• Science is a continuing

search for evidence in natural phenomena.

• Rather than a belief system, science is based on empirical evidence provided by observations of the natural world

• Astrology vs. astronomy?

Male domain

Quiz Items

Imagination• There is enough to suggest

that creativity is responsible for many crowning achievements in science (Benzene and Kekule’s background in design)

Objectivity• Gould

Quiz Items

Method• Iridium layer at the K-T

boundary• http://undsci.berkeley.edu/i

ndex.php

Controlled experiments and the gold standard

• Evolutionary theory, Continental drift

• Not the only way to create support for theories

Quiz Items

Hypothesis• Educated guess ~ a little

more rigorous than that

Laws and theories• Distinct• One predict events and the

other seeks to explain the behaviour

Quiz Items

Theories• Tentative and can be

supported and modified but never proved

Society• Some problems in the world

are not within the realm of science

• Political for example• We can feed about 16

billion at the moment ~ the challenge is delivery and spoilage