Scientists seek to figure out how the physical world operates through systematic observation, experimentation, and analysis. By analyzing the physical world, they seek to formulate principles, laws, and theories useful in explaining natural phenomena, and in guiding further scientific study.

How does the physical world operate? What are the best methods for figuring things out about the physical world? What are the barriers to figuring things out about the physical world? How can we overcome those barriers?

Scientists as a whole use virtually any type of information that can be gathered systematically through observation and measurement, though most specialize in analyzing specific kinds of information. To name just some of the information scientists use, they observe and examine plants, animals, planets, stars, rocks, rock formations, minerals, bodies of water, fossils, chemicals, phenomena in the earth’s atmosphere and cells. They also observe interactions between phenomena.

Scientists make judgments about the physical world based on observations and experimentation. These judgments lead to systematized knowledge, theories, and principles helpful in explaining and understanding the world.

The most fundamental concepts that guide the thinking of scientists are

1) physical world (of nature and all matter);

2) hypothesis (an unproved theory, proposition, or supposition tentatively accepted to explain certain facts or to provide a basis for further investigation);

3) experimentation (a systematic and operationalized process designed to figure out something about the physical world); and

4) systematic observation (the act or practice of noting or recording facts or events in the physical world). Other fundamental concepts in science include: theory, law, scientific method, pure sciences, and applied sciences.

1) There are laws at work in the physical world that can be figured out through systematic observation and experimentation;

2) Much about the physical world is still unknown;

3) Through science, the quality of life on earth can be enhanced.

Many important implications and consequences have resulted from scientific thinking, some of which have vastly improved the quality of life on earth, others of which have resulted in decreased quality of life (e.g., the destruction of the earth’s forests, oceans, natural habitats, etc.). One important positive implication of scientific thinking is that it enables us to replace mythological thinking with theories and principles based in scientific fact.

Scientists look at the physical world and see phenomena best understood through careful observation and systematic study. They see scientific study as vital to understanding the physical world and replacing myth with scientific knowledge.