Essential Questions

How do we see things in Science?

         We see science as a utility tool for advancement in life. Basically, whatever we see around compels us to question and get answers. Science helps us to study and provide answers to the happenings around us based on observe ( visual observation), studies,(text books and case studies) experiement (through laboratory- use of microscope, simulation techniques, applicability of laws of science)and research(to find answers to the unsolved questions with the help of principals of science and hypothesis). For example formation of clouds and rainfall which is a natural phenomena helped us long time back to explore the reasons and thereby study climate and weather pattern. This has immensely helped farmers in selecting cropped pattern and ecologists in studying natural habitat.

While we have progressed in Science to suit our requirements, however, there are still very many questions whose answers are required to be found out. Therefore, continuos study, testing of hypothesis, and research is the way to see and explore things in science.

How do we know if something exists? If we can’t see it?

         Human beings is gifted with senses which help us in detecting things around us. We might know if something exists by the five senses which gives us clue to the existence of something. For example, mild blow of breeze can be felt by our sensory nerves. However, very distant and extremely minute things largely goes unnoticed by human beings because of limitations of our sensory qualities. Therefore, such things require additional effort ( in the form of experiement and deeper study through use of technical gadgets such as telescope, imaging, use of satellites and use of alpha beta and gamma rays.) to know more about them.

Redo for Q1.

              As we all know that science helps us to see and analyse various happenings around us. We see things in science with the help of (a) observation - through our eyes which helps us to visualise dimension, distance and other  identification features (b)  senses - things which cannot be  seen and  touched but only felt e.g., phenomenon of hot/cold, taste, smell and intensity of noise, (c) use of technical gadgets  when we cannot see/feel  something with our eyes/senses,  and also for accurate measurement of weight,dimension and composition of objects  - e.g., use of microscope, telescope, weighing instruments, recording meters, other technical instruments recording for interpreting  mathematical/statistical data and for  recording physical and chemical changes in objects for transformation from one state of matter to the other ( for example, conversion of water from solid to liquid to gas and reconversion into solid form), (d) quantitative techniques - e.g., hypothesis, simulation, mathematical models and theories, and experimentation. In fact quantitative techniques constitute an important proponent of how we see things in science. Various unexplained happenings all around us and in the universe is first put to test through hypothesis and based on results  obtained,  we propound theory and explanation to the happenings which is then experimented to determine accuracy.

Reflection

      In this unit, we focused on many different things, such as - locating and managing books in library, using Google in a way that can improve your search results and etc..

     Let me start off with finding information in library. First, there is a Non - Fiction section where you find books based on the facts. Books are organised using Dewey Decimal System. It’s a numerical arrangement in which books are put on the same subject together and are sorted alphabetically.

     Next is Destiny. Destiny is an online library database. Its an easier way to find books online. When you log onto destiny you just have to write any keyword for ex - title, series or author’s name and it will find the book for you including other search results as well.

     Another one is Reference section. From reference section you can find quick and accessible information on any particular topic. They are accessible to everyone. Reference sections are divided into 4 parts -

1- Atlasis - Mostly it is used for maps, places and address of different places.
2- Dictionaries - List the words of the language and give their meaning.
3- Yearbook- Gives information about school.
4- Encyclopaedias- Gives information on many subjects and basic concepts.

     Last is about Journals and Magazines. Journals are mostly written about particular subject and contains no advertisements. Journals are meant to keep the readers informed of the latest development in the relevant field. This way the reader is always aware of the latest happenings in the relevant field and therefore suits requirement of the readers. On the other hand, magazines are periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, besides advertisement.

     They both communicate information for their intended readers such as they write their articles in a way that is understandable to the level of their readers.  For example magazine articles write their articles for a reader with different reading levels and who are not specialised in the subject written about. Journal articles are written for people who are specialized in the subject written about.

      Both are periodical publications which means that both the publications could be brought out on weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, biannually or  annually.
       
      In addition to this we also learned about popular search engine, Google. Google is an American multinational, publicly-traded organization built around the company's hugely popular search engine. 60 billion dollars is the annual revenue of the world’s largest search engine. Now how does Google makes a huge amount of money? They make money from advertisement. It works in this way that a large number of persons make use of Google. So whosoever advertises on Google or puts a sponsored link then the concerned  company or person is required to pay Google a certain sum of money which is Google’s revenue. Another way is Google encourages persons to click on various sites and they infact pay a portion of revenue generated to the person who clicks, subject to certain conditions. This is more popular method because besides Google whosoever clicks certain sites also gets paid by Google.

      Next we learned about some Google Techniques which are very useful in our day to day life. The Google Techniques include- Exact phrase, site specific, excluded words, numerical ranges, multiple words and etc..All these superpowers are very useful and saves time as well. For example, if we have to find information about anything then we just need to type keywords and Google will automatically give us information about our subject area. Another thing which Google does is ignoring words like - a, the, an, if, are etc..


      In the Ted Talk video he talk about how Google sees the caption of any image and name of the file uploaded through the websites, by these two indications we get the search results in Google. However he questioned whether the search engine is exactly unbiased. He explained that it is very difficult to judge whether Google is an unbiased search engine. He explained by giving two examples - one of Michelle Obama who’s one morphed image  was uploaded in 2009 by a racist group. Immediately thereafter Google realized its sense of responsibility and deleted the image manually. Andreas Ekstrom explained another example of a dreaded terrorist Anders Behring Breivik who killed about 80 persons in Oslo and went on to magnify his achievement. However a sensible Swedish site prevented from glorifying the terrorist. But Google did not take any action. Andreas Ekstrom tried to convince the audience that behind the algorithms in which programmes are written on Google and other sites there is always human brain which is involved and which weighs sensibilities and impact on the society about each piece of data which is uploaded. Therefore, he emphasized that in order to build a civilized society we need to make sure in what way the data and images uploaded on various sites shape the minds of society.

      All in all, I learned how Google can save our time just by applying some few techniques and not putting every single word in Google but rather than just typing in few keywords. In this unit I learned a lot and I can see improvement in my search results, how they changed and made my work easier.

Google superpowers video!

Google Super Powers from Aayushi on Vimeo.