Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Five features of scientific knowledge....

Windschitl et al. (2008) have discussed the features of scientific knowledge. There are:
1)testable-
that scientific knowledge, in the form of models or theories, is advanced by proposing new hypotheses, that express possible relationships between event, processes, or properties within these models or theories.

2) revisable-
that scientific ideas can change in response to new evidence or because a phenomenon is concpetualized in an entirely different way.

3) explanatory-
the goal of science is to provide casual accounts of events and processes, as opposed to accumulating descriptive detail about phenomenona or merely seeking patterns.

4) conjectural-
causal accounts often involve theoretical or unobservable proceses that can only be inferred from empirical based on these inferences account most adequately for the observations.

5) generative-
scientific knowledge in the forms of models and theories are the prime catalysts for new predictions, insights about phenomenon, and hypotheses for testing, theyare not simply 'end-products' of inquiry.

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