Download How Do Scientists Know What They Know?

How Do Scientists Know
What They Know?
Kottie Christie-Blick
Cottage Lane School
South Orangetown Central School District
Blauvelt, New York
How Do Scientists Understand
How the World Works?
 Research Reliable Sources
 Observe
 Test
 Discuss with Reliable Sources
 Create Models
Give an example of how each action helps understand the world.
How Do Scientists Think?
 Wonder
 Question
 Look for Patterns
 Make Connections
 Consider Scale & Proportion
 Understand Cause and Effect
 Want the truth (from facts)
How would each type of thinking help you understand the world?
How Do Scientists Learn About the
Unknown (Black Box)?
Proxy – physical evidence that stands in for events we can’t see,
feel, hear, or measure directly
Engineers help scientists learn about the unknown by designing
tools for research. Engineers help scientists, and society, by
designing solutions to problems.
Models: Scientists and engineers use models to communicate their
ideas to each other.
Geologists
Geologists – scientists who read the earth. They look at past patterns to understand the earth.
“The earth’s crust is moving! Large plates of earth are shifting. They moved in the
past. They’re moving now. They’ll continue to move in the future.”
Is this true? How would they know?
Model
Models help us understand.
By drawing this map of the world, scientists are showing evidence of plate movement.
What’s the evidence? Is it direct evidence or proxy evidence? Explain. at the plate
boundaries?
Let’s
On Some Evidence!
“The earth’s crust is moving! Large plates of earth are shifting. They moved in the
past. They’re moving now. They’ll continue to move in the future.”
Is this true? How would they know?
What do you notice about Iceland’s location?
Iceland
What Does It Look Like at a Plate
Boundary?
Iceland
What Does It Feel Like When Pieces of
the Earth Move Apart?
Iceland
Models Help Us Understand
Iceland
Bardarbunga Volcano
is currently erupting!
The red dots on the model above show the location
of volcanoes in Iceland.
When the earth moves, friction causes
heat. It gets so hot, the rocks inside the
earth melt.
What’s the evidence that this is true?
When the earth moves, friction causes heat. It gets so hot, the rocks inside the earth melt…..
Sometimes you see it in action!
Scientists recognize cause-and-effect relationships.
Recognizing Cause and Effect
CAUSE
Earth moves
EFFECT
Friction causes heat
Heat inside the earth
Rocks melt
Melted rocks and gases form
It erupts creating a
volcano
Move to reveal answer.
Move to reveal answer.
Move to reveal answer.
Living at a Plate Boundary
What happened at this beautiful farm in 2010? Why did it happen?
Write in Science Notebook:
Scientists know what they know by…..
• __________________
• Example:
Create a bulleted list. Begin each with a verb. Give an
example of each.
How Do Scientists Know
What They Know?
They observe.
How do they know large plates of land are
moving?
They observe the evidence!
Where is the evidence of rocks heating up
and melting underground due to friction?
Look at rocks above ground!
A geologist examines the contents of the rocks with a hand lens.
A Geologist Looks at the Big Picture.
The surrounding area holds many clues as to what’s happening
in the earth.
What clues can you find?
• Chirpy helps by finding an excellent example of ropy lava that
came out of a volcano.
• Chirpy and the backpack give you a sense of scale. They help you
understand that this lava field is very big.
• A geologist shows Chirpy which way the lava was flowing as it came
out of the volcano. The lava is evidence of rocks being melted under
the ground.
• Where is the volcano located? In which direction did the lava flow?
• Where is the volcano in this photo?
• Where are the lava flows?
• How do the people in the photo give you a sense of scale?
On top of a volcano!
Flying over a chain of volcanoes.
Where did this chain of volcanoes come from?
Why is it here?
Although it’s a cold day, the ground is HOT! Why?
What evidence did I find of the plates moving?
Hot pools of water dot the country.
What’s heating them up? This is more evidence of________.
Click to view video.
Some hot pools have explosive gases mixing with the water.
This causes a geyser.
The moving earth causes many earthquakes in Iceland.
What evidence of this do you find in the photo?
What is the geologist showing you?
What evidence is there in this photo that the earth has shifted?
How do the people in the photo help you understand scale?
What evidence is there in this photo that the earth has shifted?
Note people for scale.
Models Help Us Understand
What are these models showing you?
Between Two Plates
This valley was created by the earth pulling apart. Where did this land
used to be?
Models Help Us Understand
What are these models showing you?
How Do Scientists Know
What They Know?
How do geologists know that large plates of the earth are moving?
 They see the evidence:
 v______________________
 g ______________________
 h ______________________
 e ______________________
They look for patterns in the earth’s behavior and understand cause
and effect.
Terms and Definitions
to Add to Science
Notebook
 Model
 Scale
 Engineer
How do they help you understand the world around you?
Terms and Definitions
to Add to Science
Notebook
 Proxy
 Cause & Effect
 Patterns
How do they help you understand the world around you?