Rikku of the Al Bhed (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
the_merriest) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2011-01-04 03:43 am
the_merriest) wrote in fandomhigh2011-01-04 03:43 am
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Science is Awesome!!!, Class #1, Period 3, January 4th
Rikku hoped she didn't look as nervous as she felt. She could barely believe she belonged on this side of the teacher's desk. ... Not that there was actually a desk, today. They weren't meeting in a classroom, but rather, in the Danger Shop, near the edge of a cliff.
She had remembered to put in plenty of safety protocols, for that one. See? She was thinking like a teacher already.
"Hi, everyone," she said, leaning against a convenient outcropping of rocks. "My name's Rikku. Some of you already know me; I used to go to school here a couple years back. If I already know you, then hi and it's great to see you again! And if I don't, I can't wait to get to know you. Either way, don't worry about formalities, okay? Just call me Rikku. This class is called Science is Awesome!!! And that's because it is. This class is gonna give you guys a general overview of some of the different branches of what are known as the natural sciences. And I'm even going to explain the distinction between natural sciences and other kinds of science, but not today, 'cause I thought we should start with a bit more of a bang."
Although, happily, she wasn't talking about explosives. At least, not yet.
"So we're gonna start, before we get to the branches, by talking about something called the scientific method. The point of science is to observe the world around us and try to make sense of it. We don't just want to look at it; we want to explain it. Here's a simple example: plants need light. They use it for something called photosynthesis. But even if we don't know what photosynthesis is, we can come up with an experiment that'll prove that plants need light. Take two cups of dirt, put a seed in each, and put one on a windowsill while the other is in a dark closet. The one in the dark closet won't bloom, but the one on the windowsill will. That's basic, but that's science.
"The scientific method is a way of setting up experiments so we can run tests. We have a hypothesis: in this case, that if you keep a seed away from sunlight, it won't grow. We come up with a way of checking it -- by taking two identical seeds, and keeping everything the same except what it is we're testing. In this case, sunlight is known as the variable. So we want everything else to be exactly the same -- no putting one seed in a bigger cup, or watering one but not the other. I mean, if you never water the closet one, it won't grow, but how will you know if that's because of the watering or the light?
"In this case, the plant on the windowsill is the control. If we just had a plant in the closet, not growing, that wouldn't prove anything, either. Maybe we had dead seeds. Maybe we watered too much. That's why we need the control one, to be all nice and normal and prove that it's our variable that made things change. Does that make sense?"
It was at this point that she gestured to the edge of the cliff. "We've got three stations over here," she said. "At the first one, you're going to pick up a rock and drop it off the side of the cliff. There's a stopwatch; make sure you time exactly how long it is from when you let go, to when it smacks into the ground at the bottom. There are plenty of rocks, so feel free to do it a couple of times to be sure you've got the time down. When you do, write that time down, okay? And then you go to the second station."
At the second station was a pitching machine, except that it wasn't propped up on its tripod, but rather strapped down on the ground, mouth facing the abyss.
"Then you go to this bad boy," she said, patting it, "and it'll spit out a rock at 15 miles per hour. Do the same thing -- time when it leaves, and when it lands, and get a good sense of the variations. Also, don't try this at home. You're really not supposed to put rocks in these things, but I tweaked the specs a little."
She pointed to the third area. "And those rocks, you drop again," she explained, "but this time, they've got parachutes attached. You'll be timing it, once more. And then we'll talk about this experiment -- the controls, and variable, and what changes we could make -- and you guys can do that introduction stuff that everyone makes you do the first week."
She beamed at the class, happy she'd gotten through all of that without rambling too badly. "Any questions?"
She had remembered to put in plenty of safety protocols, for that one. See? She was thinking like a teacher already.
"Hi, everyone," she said, leaning against a convenient outcropping of rocks. "My name's Rikku. Some of you already know me; I used to go to school here a couple years back. If I already know you, then hi and it's great to see you again! And if I don't, I can't wait to get to know you. Either way, don't worry about formalities, okay? Just call me Rikku. This class is called Science is Awesome!!! And that's because it is. This class is gonna give you guys a general overview of some of the different branches of what are known as the natural sciences. And I'm even going to explain the distinction between natural sciences and other kinds of science, but not today, 'cause I thought we should start with a bit more of a bang."
Although, happily, she wasn't talking about explosives. At least, not yet.
"So we're gonna start, before we get to the branches, by talking about something called the scientific method. The point of science is to observe the world around us and try to make sense of it. We don't just want to look at it; we want to explain it. Here's a simple example: plants need light. They use it for something called photosynthesis. But even if we don't know what photosynthesis is, we can come up with an experiment that'll prove that plants need light. Take two cups of dirt, put a seed in each, and put one on a windowsill while the other is in a dark closet. The one in the dark closet won't bloom, but the one on the windowsill will. That's basic, but that's science.
"The scientific method is a way of setting up experiments so we can run tests. We have a hypothesis: in this case, that if you keep a seed away from sunlight, it won't grow. We come up with a way of checking it -- by taking two identical seeds, and keeping everything the same except what it is we're testing. In this case, sunlight is known as the variable. So we want everything else to be exactly the same -- no putting one seed in a bigger cup, or watering one but not the other. I mean, if you never water the closet one, it won't grow, but how will you know if that's because of the watering or the light?
"In this case, the plant on the windowsill is the control. If we just had a plant in the closet, not growing, that wouldn't prove anything, either. Maybe we had dead seeds. Maybe we watered too much. That's why we need the control one, to be all nice and normal and prove that it's our variable that made things change. Does that make sense?"
It was at this point that she gestured to the edge of the cliff. "We've got three stations over here," she said. "At the first one, you're going to pick up a rock and drop it off the side of the cliff. There's a stopwatch; make sure you time exactly how long it is from when you let go, to when it smacks into the ground at the bottom. There are plenty of rocks, so feel free to do it a couple of times to be sure you've got the time down. When you do, write that time down, okay? And then you go to the second station."
At the second station was a pitching machine, except that it wasn't propped up on its tripod, but rather strapped down on the ground, mouth facing the abyss.
"Then you go to this bad boy," she said, patting it, "and it'll spit out a rock at 15 miles per hour. Do the same thing -- time when it leaves, and when it lands, and get a good sense of the variations. Also, don't try this at home. You're really not supposed to put rocks in these things, but I tweaked the specs a little."
She pointed to the third area. "And those rocks, you drop again," she explained, "but this time, they've got parachutes attached. You'll be timing it, once more. And then we'll talk about this experiment -- the controls, and variable, and what changes we could make -- and you guys can do that introduction stuff that everyone makes you do the first week."
She beamed at the class, happy she'd gotten through all of that without rambling too badly. "Any questions?"