UNIVERSIDAD DE LOS ANDES

BACHILLERATO EN CIENCIAS

LECTURAS CIENTÍFICAS
PROF. AUGUSTO SALINAS, Ph.D.

LECTURA No 1

McCain & Segal, The Game of Science, 1988

Basic scientists. Basic scientists are engaged in the task of articulating, deriving, and
generating principles that they hope will have general explanatory power. Their particular
field of research may be rather narrow, and their work may consist of attempting to fill in
more specific detail within an already existing conceptual schema. That is, their work may
depend on a set of interconnected ideas and propositions that provides a framework for
consideration of theories. The conceptual schema contains both the explicit and the
implicit ideas that govern a scientist's thinking about a set of natural phenomena. For
example, the conceptual schema may be those ideas associated with the assumption that
complex organisms evolved from simpler ones. "Mopping up" -investigating a part of
nature in depth and detail within a conceptual schema- absorbs more scientific effort that
any other single activity. Although this activity is not the sort of work that ordinarily results
in a breakthrough, it does add clarity and precision to existing principles. For example, a
great portion of the work of geologists over many years has been locating, plotting,
identifying, and dating various formations. Techniques have improved vastly, but the
greatest result has been a rather detailed determination of the structure of the earth's outer
crust. The basic principles guiding this work were developed largely in the l9th century by
Willíam Smith and Sir Charles Lyell. Only when the idea of continental drift or plate
tectonics was accepted, did geological rules, efforts, and subject matter go in new
directions.
Basic scientists also engage in the sport of hypothesis testing. They make a prediction
from some set of assumption and then test that prediction. For example, scientists have
known for years that Cambrian formations (rock formations assumed to be 500 to 600
million years old) contained rather highly developed fossil forms. From our knowledge of
evolution it was predicted that Pre-Cambrian formations shouId contain simpler fossil
forms. Unfortunately, for a long time Pre-Cambrian rocks did not yield any indications of
prior life. But in 1957 fossil traces of simple form were found in Pre-Cambrian formations in
Australia. Once the identification was made, other finds followed. The theory of evolution
had once again survived examination by some of its most demanding critics
Another aspect of scientific work is the attempt to discover some basic structure or
function that is known to exist but whose nature is unknown.. A good example of scientific
investigation here concems the search of the structure of DNA molecules. Discovering
ways of holding the molecules and taking radiographic pictures, interpreting the pictures in
terms of recursive molecular structure, and figuring out the particular helical form of those
structures is one of the most important scientific discoveries of . the 20th century. Rosalind
Franklin's spectrographic pictures and interpretations and James Watson and Francis
Crick's models gave us the double helix and laid the foundation for much modern.
biological and medical research.
The most exciting and confusing -but rarest- of scientific activities is the creation of
new principles or conceptual schemata. These successful revolutions are not overnight
affairs. The general pattem of revolution often begins with mounting evidence that a
current schema is not adequate. However, the inadequacy of a conceptual schema in and
of itself does not necessarily produce a change. Rather, an evolution has to wait for
someone to create a new conceptual schema. It is impossible to operate effectively
without some framework. Better a rickety, worn-out conceptual schema than none at all.
To summarize, the work of a basics scientist is to organize natural processes through
conceptual schemata and to collect data that test and give depth and detail to the schema.
The basic scientist’s primary task is to develop the concepts or principles that become
more and more abstract as the science develops.