The Nature of Science

Science is often sub-divided into 3 main categories, these are as follows; Physics- About the physical properties of things Chemistry- Substances found in nature and their relationships Biology- Is the study of living things  Scientific ideas are ideas that are backed up with research and lead to many experiments and a lot of testing. Science, in general, may be described as information that is received through the channels of the scientific method which can be described briefly in 6 steps.   Identifying the research question Carrying out background research based on the research question Construction of a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a proposition of explanation as to why certain events take place Experiment to test the hypothesis Analysis and review of the data and drawing of a conclusion Communication of results

During the Junior Cycle science course, there will be various types of investigations and experiments, there will be some experiments with rigid instructions and expected results others there will be no instructions and it will be up to you to get the right answers to the research questions.  A variable that you can change in an investigation is an independent variable and the one that you are focusing on to notice a change in is a dependent variable. You must conduct fair testing which means that only one variable is changed at a time and all other conditions are kept constant.

In order to succeed in science you must be able to;  Carry out a relevant investigation into a given topic Gather information from both primary and secondary sources and know the difference between the two Identify unfair and unreliable sources whilst doing research or investigation including in media sources Communicate your ideas and findings  Primary information is information that you collect yourself and secondary information is research that you do and reference work done previously by others.

Science has played a huge role in society for a very long time some examples of where science is needed in our society include; In hospital and in healthcare laboratories testing for disease e. doing blood tests Treatment of water making it safe to drink and use for washing and irrigation Generating electricity to give to homes and businesses