Begin by reading the draft chapter How Scientists Know What They Know from the upcoming book Teaching High School Physics by C. Wenning & R. Vieyra. Then and only then continue with the following:
Any good scientist generally should be able to state the empirical basis for any sort of scientific belief. Knowing how one knows something is the basis of scientific epistemology, and is just as important as what one knows. In this essay project you will describe the nature of scientific epistemology, distinguishing between faith and knowledge.
While scientific knowledge is durable, it is also tentative. Scientists cannot and do not claim to know all things. Science does not deal with incontrovertible"truth." It cannot be relied upon to make all sorts of judgments as even scientific knowledge has its own scope and limitations.
In your paper you should answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Please be certain to state the question immediately before each of your answers. This helps ensure that all questions are answered, and for easier scoring by the instructor. Papers that fail to include this type of outlining will be returned unscored.
In addition, your essay must satisfy the following general criteria:
Return to PHY 310 Course Syllabus
(Last updated 2/19/2010, cjw)