SCI 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Environmentalism, Paradigm Shift, Industrial Revolution
Document Summary
Lecture 1-the scientific approach: introduction to environmental science. Science: a systematic process for learning about the world and testing our understanding of it. The accumulated body of knowledge arising from the dynamic process of observation, testing, and discovery. Science tries to understand the world and steer a safe course. Science is essential to sort fact from fiction and develop solutions to the problems we face. It must be accessible and understandable to the public. Science is an incremental approach to the truth. Scientists do not simply accept conventional wisdom. They judge ideas by the strength of their evidence: approaches in science. Observational (descriptive) science: information is gathered about organisms, systems, processes, etc. Experiments test hypothesis using the scientific method: the scientific method is a traditional approach to research. Scientists in different fields approach problems differently. A scientist makes an observation and asks questions about some phenomenon. Observation questions hypothesis prediction test results.
