Natural Science 4, Spring 2002

Dr. Zellmer

Moore, Chapters 3 (Inductive Generalization) and 4 (Hypothetical Reasoning), both the content material in the chapters, the lessons learned from doing the Applications, and the material presented by the instructor.

The presented material on Creationism (including the handout given out by the instructor), Ancient Astronauts, Chiropractic, and Poltergeists. Homeopathy will not be on the exam, since it was not presented. Psychoanalysis will not be on Exam 2, but will be on the Final Exam. You are also responsible for the reading assignments for all of these topics: Weird Things: Chapters 1, 3, 6, 7, and 8. Hines: Ch. 3, 9, 11, 12 See the Reading Assignments for specific pages and topics within these chapters.

What is Creationism? What is it based on? What is the difference between Young Earth Creationism and that presented by the Pro side of the presenters? What were the main arguments presented by the Pro presenter? What were the main arguments by the Con presenter? Note that the presenters chose not to cover Evolution, but stayed mostly with cosmology and the age of the earth. What is the controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution in the schools of the USA?

What evidence was presented that would lead us to believe that we have been visited by extraterrestrials in our ancient past? Provide some famous examples. What was debunked and how? What was left unexplained?

What are the origins of Chiropractic? Explain the chiropractic terms presented, such as "subluxions." What is the difference between "straights" and "mixers" as presented in class? What illnesses are claimed to be treatable by Chiropractic? Why do people visit chiropractors instead of MD's? What was the evidence presented that Chiropractic works? What was the evidence presented that it does nothing special? How are the tools of Critical Thinking applied to the evaluation of medical claims?

What are poltergeists? How do they differ from ghosts? What evidence was presented for their existence? What evidence was presented against?

What is a Generalization? How is induction used when making a generalization? What are Universal and Statistical Generalizations? Why are generalizations important? How can they be misused? How do sample size and the way samples are taken affect the validity of a generalization? How exact a should a generalization be? Recognize and explain the common fallacies of Inductive Generalization: Hasty Generalization, Anecdotal Evidence, Biased Sample, Specificity, and Confirming Evidence? What is Subjective Validation and why is it a problem?

What is a hypothesis? Why is Hypothetical Reasoning more efficient than pure induction? Why do we want to have multiple hypotheses to explain some initiating fact? Why must a hypothesis be Testable? How do we disconfirm a hypothesis? How do we confirm a hypothesis? Why is disconfirmation easier than confirmation? How are the five Criteria of Adequacy used to judge competing hypotheses? What do we mean by a Null Hypothesis, and how is this used by scientists? What do we mean by Strong Inference? How was this applied to a Troubleshooting Tree? What do scientists mean by hypotheses, experiments, and theories? How did the Scientific Method lead to a rapid expansion of knowledge of how the world works?