Notes On Module 5 – Scientific Investigations

Resource Description

Scientific Investigations: A process
1. Observer ponders a question about a phenomenon or event
2. Creates hypothesis
3. Collects evidence from primary or secondary data
4. Reports the analysis and conclusion for peer review
● Does not have to follow this protocol but must be structured in a format that the scientific
community understands
● Scientists can build on existing ideas, theories and knowledge in an orderly manner.
● However, ideas thought to be true for hundreds or thousands of years can be overturned by
brand-new ideas. Scientific discoveries can be made by accident or by extraordinary
methods
Scientific investigation – an organised approach to solving a scientific question i.e. a cycle of
findings, refining, questioning and analysing data
Investigation investigated in many ways:
● Asking questions
● Sudden flash of inspiration pushing new ways of thinking about a problem
● Taking risks
Scientific theory – an explanation of an aspect of the world that can be tested
Discoveries:
● Come from taking ideas and discoveries made in the past
● Exploring new aspects of these ideas
● Develop new ideas when technological advances allow more accurate or fresh observations
● E.g. atomic theory developed because new technology was able to show an aspect of the
structure of the atom that could not be previously observed.