Constructing Scientific Understandings 4.5 Torres_05

“It could be, John,” explained Mr. Hansen. “You may have faith or a belief that the bag holds a million dollars. And it may indeed be so. My job is to help you think like a scientist and use evidence to make decisions. All the evidence we have found in today’s exercise points to one conclusion. That’s the limits of science. We can only use evidence collected in a way to explain the natural world. We can only come to understandings based on evidence, with the assumption that only natural forces are involved.”

As the bell rang, Dottie and John gathered their belongings. Then they headed for the door.

“So where is the wealth? All I saw were pennies,” John said. “We didn’t even get to keep those!”

“Mr. Hansen does not tell us what to think. He teaches us how scientific knowledge is formed. In other words, he teaches us how to think in a certain way. That’s the wealth,” Dottie explained.

“It doesn’t help me,” John said, in a somber tone.

“It will help you. One day, you will need to make decisions using information gained scientifically. Knowing the process used to gather that information will help you better understand those claims. Scientific understandings, such as theories, are not based on opinion. These understandings are used to explain nature based on ideas. Ideas that have been evaluated by observations and experimentation,” Dottie remarked, as the two headed down the hallway.

“I’m pretty sure you are an alien,” said John. He then  rammed his bony elbow into Dottie’s ribs. “And that’s for earlier.”