SIA "Science" Quiz
Physical Sciences
Physics, Chemistry, Geology, and Astronomy.
Science vs. Technology
Science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding for its own sake whereas technology is the creation of artifacts and systems to meet people's needs.
Social Science
Study of human behavior and society
Natural Science
Study of the natural world
Knowledge of what science is, what it can and cannot do, and how is works, is important for all educated people.
True
Science can be done poorly.
True
Science can be influenced by the race, gender, nationality, or religion of the scientists.
True
Science can study and explain events that happened millions of years ago.
True
Science is primarily concerned with understanding how the natural world works.
True
Science requires a lot of creative activity.
True
Science typically provides only temporary answers to questions.
True
Scientists can believe in God or a supernatural being and still do good science.
True
Scientists have observed that nature apparently follows the same "rules" throughout the universe.
True
Scientists often try to test or disprove possible explanations.
True
Scientific Theory
An integrated conceptual framework for reasoning about a class of phenomena, which is able to coordinate existing facts and laws and sometimes provide predictions of new ones. In contrast to a law, it tells you why something happens.
Life Sciences
Biology and Ecology
A "hypothesis" is just an educated guess about anything.
False
A scientific fact is absolute, fixed, permanent.
False
A scientific theory is merely guess.
False
All scientific problems must be studied with The Scientific Method.
False
Any study done carefully and based on observation is scientific.
False
Anything done scientifically is always accurate and reliable.
False
Astrology (predicting your future from the arrangement of stars and planets) is a science.
False
Disagreement between scientists is one of the weaknesses of science.
False
Modern scientific experiments usually involve trying something just to see what will happen, without predicting a likely result.
False
Most engineers and medical doctors are actually scientists.
False
Science can solve any problem or answer any question.
False
Science can use supernatural explanations if necessary.
False
Science is most concerned with collecting facts.
False
Science is primarily a search for truth.
False
Scientists have solved most of the major mysteries of nature.
False
Examples of Natural Science
- Biology - Chemistry - Physics - Earth Science (breaks into Geology and Ecology) - Astronomy
Examples of Social Science
- Psychology - Sociology - Anthropology - Behavioral Science - Political Science - Economics
Scientific Fact
A controlled, repeatable and/or rigorously verified observation.
Scientific Law
A descriptive generalization about how some aspect of the natural world behaves under stated circumstances. It is something you can observe time after time. Furthermore, it describes things (usually through equations), but it does not explain why they occur.