What does "science" actually mean?

[science_spot]

Science.

We see the word on occasion, used in different ways or with some variation (scientists, scientific), but rarely defined by the context.  We see the word all around - homework, news, magazines, but intermittently.  Much of the media discussing science is very technical, which oftens leaves the meaning of the term 'science' assumed.

 

Science - knowledge of the world around us gathered by observation.

Knowledge of the world around us gathered by observation. Knowledge is a collection of facts.  We have a preference for arranging these facts in a way to understand how they relate to each other so we can build on them in great detail.  Our overwhelming body of current scientific knowledge is owed to to both current scientists and those that laid foundations in the past.  In order to gain scientific knowledge as an individual, you can read the known facts about science topics and/or perform activities to demonstrate these facts or acquire new ones.

Knowledge of the world around us gathered by observation.  The world around us is an enormous place, but it doesn't have to be.  Describing the world around you can be specific to places in your home (in the ketchup bottle?) or town (the river).  The world around you reaches far out to the moon and beyond into outer space.  Any tangible space is the world around you.

Knowledge of the world around us gathered by observation.  Making observations is the key to gathering knowledge. The process of data collection is merely documenting your observations.  Your observations generally take place with your five senses or equipment that can enhance these senses.  Something as simple as observing the birds at your feeders and keeping a log of the number of birds each day is data collection.  The official process of data collection is the Scientific Method; this method is well-defined and extremely useful in organizing the process of data collection.

 

Having an understanding of what science is, we can break this knowledge up into two broad categories: Basic (pure or hard) Science and Social (soft) Science.  Social Science is associated with human behavior and emotions.  Basic Science is associated with everything else (tangible) in the world around us - objects, animals, glalaxies, water, etc.

Basic Science is further divided into two broad categories: Natural Science and Applied Science.  Natural Science is descriptive of the world around us, while Applied Science is using that knowledge in our lives.  Both Natural Sciences and Applied Sciences are further broken down into the various fields of science, such as biology, chemistry and physics (Natural Sciences) or applied chemistry, military science and engineering (Applied Sciences).

If you haven't noticed from my blog, I write excludsively in the Basic Sciences, which is a really big topic!  It encompasses biology, chemistry, earth science and physics.  When I hear the word SCIENCE, these are the fields that come to MY mind.  What comes to yours?

 

Understanding what science is NOT should be just as well understood as what science is.  Science, being the knowledge of the world around us gathered by observation, does not provide:

• Any information about the supernatural.  By definition, the super-natural is that which exists outside our natural world.  Science does not make claims about the possible existance of the super-natural, but rather does not address it at all.  It is possible that in the future we will have more knowledge and tools about these super-natural occurances we cannot describe using the scientific information we have at the current time.  There are certainly groups working toward doing this.  It will be exciting to see if our knowledge can be expanded so far as to include another dimension in our understanding of the world around us.
• Any information about religion.  Religion is a system of beliefs built on faith.  Often these beliefs are concerning the origin of man and the world around us.  Science describes what we can observe, while religion describes what we cannot observe (we take on faith).  Asking which is right - science or religion - is like asking "which is better to blow my nose - a cell phone or a tissue?".  Hey, a cell phone is great, but it was not designed to blow your nose.  Science is great - but it does not describe that which cannot be observed in the natural world.
• Absolute proof of anything.

The definition of science is really not that complex.  It is the breakdown of the many types of science that starts to get confusing.  The details of our knowledge can be complicated, as can the many applications of that knowledge.  The really cool thing about science is that everyone can make observations about the world around us, and that's what science really comes down to.

 

Tonya

The Science Spot