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Me The Cure Lab Essay

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Of the multitude of labs and experiments performed in this class, each and every one of them exemplifies at least one aspect of the Nature of Science. One particular facet of the Nature of Science is that “Science is data driven (empirical), but also inferential.” This statement simply means that science consists of data that is obtained through mere observation and experimentation, but science also consists of inferences made from existing data. One example of an experiment conducted in this class in which the science was data driven was the Measure Twice, Cut Once lab. In this lab, plant diversity in a lawn ecosystem was measured using diversity indices such as species richness, percent cover, and species frequency just to name a few. In order to calculate and analyze the various diversity indices, empirical data was collected by dividing the lawn ecosystem into sixteen quadrats and physically observing the plants present in each quadrat. …show more content…

This lab demonstrated that science is in indeed driven by empirical data. An example that supports the fact that science can be inferentially driven is the Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the Cure Lab. The purpose of this lab was to determine the bacteria that infected Pond 22 so that the spread of the infection could be prevented. In order to do so, bacteria cultures from the diseased pond (Pond 22) and the healthy pond (Pond 16) were grown and an inference was made as to what bacteria was causing the disease in Pond 22. The inference was made by observing which particular bacterial culture existed in Pond 22 that was not present in Pond 16; that particular bacterium was inferred to cause the disease. Inferential science was again used when testing for successful antibiotics against the disease. This lab is a lucid example of how science can sometimes be inferentially

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