Unit 1 lesson 1 What is Science

Unit 1 Lesson 1 What Is Science?
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

What All Scientists Do
• Science is the study of the natural world through
careful observation and investigation. There are
many branches of science.
• Scientists use investigations to try to explain how
and why things in the natural world happen.
• Investigations are procedures carried out to
observe, study, or test something.

What All Scientists Do
• All scientists observe by using their five senses to
collect information.
• All scientists compare by finding ways objects
and events are similar and different.
• Scientists must think critically about the results of
their investigations to learn more about the
natural world.

Prove It!
• Scientists collect evidence, or information, to
explain observations during a scientific
investigation.
• Evidence can be direct. A fossil of a dinosaur skull
is direct evidence that dinosaurs once lived.
• Evidence can be indirect. A fossil of a dinosaur
footprint is indirect evidence of dinosaurs.

Prove It!
• Here is an example of a scientist collecting
evidence:
• In the 1660s, a scientist named Dr. Francesco
Redi designed an experiment on maggots.
• At that time, most people thought maggots grew
out of rotting meat.

Prove It!
• Redi put fresh meat in two jars. He covered one
jar with cloth and left the other jar uncovered.

Prove It!
• He observed the meat over many days.
• He saw that flies landed on the meat in the
uncovered jar. No flies landed on the meat in the
covered jar.

Prove It!
• Soon, there were maggots on the meat in the
uncovered jar. There were no maggots on the
meat in the covered jar.

Prove It!
• Redi repeated the experiment many times.
• Each time, he observed the same thing: Maggots
grew on meat that flies landed on, but no maggots
appeared on meat with no flies.
• He concluded that maggots come from eggs that
flies lay.

Prove It!
• Which jar would the meat in the image below have
been in?

A Sticky Trap
How to Draw Conclusions
• Scientists repeat investigations over and over to
draw conclusions. The conclusions are always
based on evidence.
• A scientist uses inferences to draw conclusions
based on evidence.
• Scientists do not use feelings or opinions to draw
conclusions.

Opinion or Evidence?
• Opinions are beliefs or judgments. Scientists do
not use opinions to draw conclusions.
• Personal feelings and opinions should not affect
how you do investigations or your conclusions.
• You should not ignore evidence, even if you do not
like what it means.

Knowledge Grows
• Scientists communicate, or share, the results of
investigations.
• Other scientists can repeat the investigations and
compare the results.
• Scientific knowledge grows as scientists expand on
one another’s ideas.

Meet Scientists
• Many people work as many different types of
scientists.
• Astronomers: study how the universe works, using
time and space relationships to investigate it
• Botanists: investigate questions about plants, such as
how environmental conditions impact the plant cycle
• Taxonomists: identify and classify living things into
categories based on specific characteristics

Meet Scientists
• Scientists may need to place objects or events in
order. They may also need to classify objects or
events based on specific characteristics.
• How do you know the order, or correct sequence,
for the images below?

Unit 1 lesson 1 What is Science

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