MODULE TEACHING SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

CHAPTER 1: DEFINING SCIENCE

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
a.) define science using own interpretation;
b.) identify the four major branches of science;
c.) discuss the importance of science.

SCIENCE

ETYMOLOGY –the term science

comes from the Latin word
'scientia' which means
"knowledge".

The SCIENCE is an
intellectual action carried on
by human beings i.e.
planned to discover data about the natural
universe in which human beings live and to
discover the methods in which this data can
be organized into meaningful forms. Primary
aim of science is to collect truths (information). A simple purpose of science is to
distinguish the order that exists amongst and between information.

SCIENCE is defined as a regular observation of happenings and circumstances in order

to discover realities about them and to develop laws and rules based on this
information. It is also defined as the organized physical structure (body) of knowledge
i.e. derived from such notices and that can be tested or verified by further research.

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SCIENCE is valued by society because the application of scientific knowledge helps to

satisfy many basic human needs and improve living standards. Finding a cure for
cancer and a clean form of energy are just two topical examples.

Science is often justified to the public as driving economic growth, which is seen as a
return-on-investment for public funding. During the past few decades, however, another
goal of science has emerged: to find a way to rationally use natural resources to
guarantee their continuity and the continuity of humanity itself; an endeavor that is
currently referred to as “sustainability”.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE
BY: BRITANNICA

On the simplest level, science is

knowledge of the world of nature.
There is much regularity in nature
that humankind has had to
recognize for survival since the
emergence of Homo sapiens as a
species. The Sun and the Moon
periodically repeat their
movements. Some motions, like the daily “motion” of the Sun, are simple to observe,
while others, like the annual “motion” of the Sun, are far more difficult. Both motions
correlate with important terrestrial events. Day and night provide the basic rhythm of
human existence. The seasons determine the migration of animals upon which humans
have depended for millennia for survival. With the invention of agriculture, the seasons
became even more crucial, for failure to recognize the proper time for planting could
lead to starvation. Science defined simply as knowledge of natural processes is
universal among humankind, and it has existed since the dawn of human existence.

The mere recognition of regularities does not exhaust the full meaning of science,
however. In the first place, regularities may be simply constructs of the human mind.

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Humans leap to conclusions. The

mind cannot tolerate chaos, so it
constructs regularities even when
none objectively exists. Thus, for
example, one of the astronomical
“laws” of the Middle Ages was that
the appearance of comets
presaged a great upheaval, as the
Norman Conquest of Britain
followed the comet of 1066. True
regularities must be established by
detached examination of data. Science, therefore, must employ a certain degree of
skepticism to prevent premature generalization.

Regularities, even when expressed mathematically as laws of nature, are not fully
satisfactory to everyone. Some insist that genuine understanding demands explanations
of the causes of the laws, but it is in the realm of causation that there is the greatest
disagreement. Modern quantum mechanics, for example, has given up the quest for
causation and today rests only on mathematical description. Modern biology, on the
other hand, thrives on causal chains that permit the understanding of physiological and
evolutionary processes in terms of the physical activities of entities such as molecules,
cells, and organisms. But even if causation and explanation are admitted as necessary,
there is little agreement on the kinds of causes that are permissible, or possible, in
science. If the history of science is to make any sense whatsoever, it is necessary to
deal with the past on its own terms, and the fact is that for most of the history of science
natural philosophers appealed to causes that would be summarily rejected by modern
scientists. Spiritual and divine forces were accepted as both real and necessary until the
end of the 18th century and, in areas such as biology, deep into the 19th century as
well.

Certain conventions governed the appeal to God or the gods or to spirits. Gods and
spirits, it was held, could not be completely arbitrary in their actions. Otherwise, the

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proper response would be

propitiation, not rational
investigation. But, since the deity
or deities were themselves
rational or bound by rational
principles, it was possible for
humans to uncover the rational
order of the world. Faith in the
ultimate rationality of the creator
or governor of the world could
actually stimulate original
scientific work. Kepler’s laws, Newton’s absolute space, and Einstein’s rejection of the
probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics were all based on theological, not scientific,
assumptions. For sensitive interpreters of phenomena, the ultimate intelligibility of
nature has seemed to demand some rational guiding spirit. A notable expression of this
idea is Einstein’s statement that the wonder is not that humankind comprehends the
world but that the world is comprehensible. Science, then, is to be considered in this
article as knowledge of natural regularities that is subjected to some degree of skeptical
rigour and explained by rational causes. One final caution is necessary. Nature is
known only through the senses, of which sight, touch, and hearing are the dominant
ones, and the human notion of reality is skewed toward the objects of these senses.
The invention of such instruments as the telescope, the microscope, and the Geiger
counter enabled an ever-increasing range of phenomena within the scope of the
senses. Thus, scientific knowledge of the world is only partial, and the progress of
science follows the ability of humans to make phenomena perceivable. This article
provides a broad survey of the development of science as a way of studying and
understanding the world, from the primitive stage of noting important regularities in
nature to the epochal revolution in the notion of what constitutes reality that occurred in
20th-century physics. More-detailed treatments of the histories of specific sciences,
including developments of the later 20th and early 21st centuries, may be found in the
articles biology; Earth science; and physical science.

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THE MAJOR BRANCHES OF SCIENCE

Science is a systematic study of the nature and

manners of an object and the natural universe
that is established around measurement,
experiment, observation and formulation of laws.
There are four major branches of science; each
branch is categorized in different type of subjects
that covers different areas of studies such us
chemistry, physics, math, astronomy etc. The four
major branches of science are, Mathematics and
logic, biological science, physical science and
social science.

The first branch is MATHEMATICS & LOGIC.

Mathematics and logic deal with abstract concepts. It
goes hand in hand as both are needed in relation to
finding out how social sciences and natural sciences
work. They are also both needed in forming laws,
theories and hypothesis. Even scientist needs this branch of
science, as they would not come to a conclusion without any
formulation.

Another branch of science is BIOLOGICAL

SCIENCE. This on the other hand deals with the
study of living things. Biological science is divided
into different sub topics. One of them is Zoology. It
is a category under biology that focuses on the
study of animal life. The study includes, and are not
limited to, evolution, classification of both extinct and the
living, structure and habits. Zoology also deals with
embryology, which is the study of the animals' development

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of the embryo, from fertilization to fetus.

Another category is Botany. This category is

the scientific study of plants and its life cycle.
Including in this study are the plants
diseases, reproduction, growth, chemical
properties, structure and relationship.
Ecology on the other hand deals with the
study of the environment and its relationship
to living organisms. The last category of
biological science is Paleontology. This category of biology deals with the study of
prehistoric era. Fossils are not just the main concern in paleontology, it can include any
subject that is related with the past, and in other words it can be a study of the whole
history of mankind and its life on earth.

SOCIAL SCIENCE is one of the four major

branches of science. This on the other hand is the
study of the society and man's relationship to it.
This study includes Anthropology, which is the
study of human behavior and human development
that considers cultural, social and physical
aspects. Economics is another category under social
science; this science studies goods and services, how
they are being manufactured, distributed and consumed.
Sociology meanwhile is the study of human society; it is
more concerned in group activities and urban studies. This
study is part of the social science branch, although synonymous
when it comes to the name, sociology is more compound since
it uses different methods of critical analysis and investigation to
come up with a conclusion.

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The study of earth's phenomena, its land and features is what Geology is all about.
Another category of social science, it can be divided into two parts, which are the
physical geography that deals with the land and human geography that deals with the
land's inhabitants. Philosophy on the other hand is the pursuit of knowledge by means
of moral, intellectual and self-discipline. Studying human behavior according to its
principles is what psychology is all about.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE, the last in four major branches of

science, has geology, physics, chemistry and astronomy as
its categories. Astronomy is the study of the heavenly
bodies, like the stars, galaxies, comets and planets, while
chemistry is the study of different substances, the changes
they undergo and their compositions. It can be
divided as well into two, which are the organic and
inorganic chemistry. Physics is the study of matter
and geology is the study of the physical property and
composition of the earth.

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https://youtu.be/L3Fubd7ULWY

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