Assignments

What Is Science

A million things come to mind when I think of the word science. However, I do not think I have ever put much thought into what science is. When I was young, I thought that science was reading about things in a book and then filling out a worksheet with the information I found in the book. As I got older, science became about things that were either far away, like planets, or super small, like cells. In college is when the world of science really opened, and I learned that science is everything; and that everything is a science, for example, the science of underwater welding. As my perception of science has changed over the years, so has my depth of science knowledge. The biggest thing that I have learned, is that no matter how much I have learned about science, I still know very little about science.

I do know that an essential component of science is order. This starts with the scientific method. This is comprised of asking a question, forming a hypothesis, conducting experiments and gathering data, then coming up with some form of conclusion that either nullifies your hypothesis or proves it. With each step in the process having its own series of steps, or order. This order is the difference between “well let’s try and see what happens,” and knowing the conclusions that you have drawn are accurate and complete. However, there is more to science than just a predictable progression of steps.

Another essential component of science is curiosity. The science field, and the scientists who work in it, has given us so much knowledge about everything around us. From the smallest atom to the largest stars in the galaxy. The drive to compile all that information comes from curiosity. We would not know anything about astronomy, the study of space, if some person a long time ago hadn’t said, “I wonder what those lights in the sky are.” We would not know anything about paleontology, the study of animal and plant fossils, if some guy hadn’t decided he was curious to see the complete skeleton of the bones that he found. Human beings are curious by nature, and that has spurred the scientific conquest of our world and everything in it, on it, and around it.

I believe collaboration is also a vital component of science. As social creatures, we are made to work together and learn from one another. When we work together to learn and achieve, we accomplish so much more. Through collaboration little discoveries, like the discovery of chlorophyll, can lead to much larger discoveries like photosynthesis. Scientist have been around for a long time. They have worked off what others have discovered to make new discoveries. This has led to an abundance of information that will go on to spur future scientific discovery.

Science is the study of everything around us. It is comprised of at least three essential components: order, curiosity, and collaboration. These components have allowed for amazing advances in the past and will continue to spur advancement in all areas of discovery, long into the future.