Beneski Museum of Natural History Teaching the Nature of Science

Creativity - Being creative is necessary to understand scientific research in novel and interesting ways. The sciences and humanities interact more than most people think. Science is not possible without imagination. In every stage of the process, from idea to experiment, creativity drives inspiration and innovation. Science is also often abstract, and thinking outside the box helps us wrap our heads around complex concepts. When science and arts intersect, we achieve the most progress.

Curiosity - Beginners and long-time scientists must remain curious to understand science. 

Derived from the concept “tentativeness,” curiosity describes both the drive for and inherent skepticism of scientific discovery. Scientists are constantly building upon each other’s work, using solutions derived by peers to ask new questions. Some generally accepted ideas have lasted for hundreds of years, so it is reasonable to have confidence in their validity, but new innovations are always approached with some apprehension. We are always learning, and there is always more out there. Curiosity keeps us going. 

Observation and Inference - Taking in the world around you, you can learn so much. 

Observations involve the five senses. Using physical information, we draw conclusions we can all agree on. Inferences often rely on information not directly available to the senses; we find explanations for what we observe. Science is much more than just a collection of observations, it also requires inferred interpretations.

Scientific Laws and Theories - Research is based on laws and theories to discover new horizons. 

In science, laws are descriptions of observable phenomena. They are often expressed in empirical terms. Theories, conversely, refer to inferred explanations that have been widely accepted by the scientific community. Laws and theories are importantly distinct from one another, and are not interchangeable. They both require substantial supporting evidence, but can be adapted in light of new information or discoveries.

Objectivity and Subjectivity - Science may be based on objective laws, but interpretations are subjective. 

There are infinite factors that can affect a scientist's biases. From institutional affiliation to religious belief, from race to gender, from societal values to personal ones, scientists must always be aware of external influences affecting their practices and conclusions. Though scientists are tentative of new developments and employ measures to hold themselves accountable and improve objectivity (like peer-review), subjectivity can never be fully disregarded.

Empirical Evidence - Discoveries must be based in evidence, and new evidence revises existing scientific knowledge. 

Empirical Evidence is evidence that can be directly observed and obtained using our senses or through experimental procedure. Some scientific concepts lean toward the theoretical, but they must be rooted in observational or experimental data to be accepted. Challenging existing conceptions is only possible when supported by qualitative or quantitative empirical evidence.

Scientific Methods - All scientific research is based on the process of asking a question, designing an experiment, and coming to a conclusion. 

Though there are many different ways scientists practice their work and develop bodies of information, observations and experiments must be replicable. Scientists have to outline their methods so that another scientist could try the same thing and draw the same conclusions. This way, we check each other's work and have more faith in new developments. The scientific method is often viewed as an independent practice, but it is intrinsically collaborative.