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What is Science? - Test

Test Questions for Science Kit
1. When Adam named the animals in the Garden of Eden, what were some of the basic scientific activities which he probably carried out?

2. In addition to his own observations of the things he found in the Garden, what other means did Adam have for obtaining knowledge about them?

3. In ordinary day-to-day human experience we learn much about the natural world in which we live. Science is a particular kind of human experience. List three ways in which the practice of science differs from ordinary human experience.

4. Give a concise definition of science.

5. Does this definition say anything about what a scientist should or should not, may or may not believe?

6. To be a good scientist does one have to believe he is investigating a closed materialistic universe(i.e., a universe in which there can be no divine purpose, plan, design or goal)?

7. Why is it, then, that so many scientists and other kinds of scholars insist that one cannot be truly scientific if he believes in divine purpose, plan, design and goals in the universe? To develop your answer, first answer the following auxiliary questions:

a. Is it because they have scientific proof that we live in a closed materialistic universe?

b. In fact, is a scientific proof possible for this idea of a closed materialistic universe?

c. Does an unprovable religious or irreligious belief belong in the definition of science?

d. Now state your answer to the original question 7.

8. What limitation in the application of science is indicated by the definition?

9. What is a scientific hypothesis?

10. What two requirements for hypotheses logically follow from the definition of science?

11. Why cannot hypotheses in science contain any references to supernatural beings, influences or activities?

12. Is a scientist "unscientific" if he or she believes that God, speaking in the Bible, has revealed to us divine truths about the world which He created? Explain the reason for your Yes or No answer.

13. Define "scientific knowledge."

14. Are all of the truths about the world which God has revealed to us in the Bible properly called "scientific knowledge"? Why or why not?

15. If the fact of God's creation of all things, as reported by Moses in the book of Genesis is not scientific knowledge, why do Christians, including scientists who are Christians, believe that the creation of all things by God is absolute truth?

16. Can science discover absolute truth? Why or why not?

17. Louis Pasteur, in his argument with other scientists in 1860 about the theory of spontaneous generation, was led by his biblical faith in God as the Creator of life and by scientific observations to form a hypothesis. This hypothesis was that a nutritious broth which was sterilized and left open to air but protected from dust particles in the air would not become infected with bacteria. Why was Pasteur's hypothesis a good scientific hypothesis, even though it was based on a divinely revealed biblical truth which cannot be either proved or disproved by science?

18. Why should no idea or theory in science be protected from criticism?

19. Why should no idea or theory in science be protected from competition with alternative ideas?

20. Strictly speaking, are theories about the origins of the universe, the solar system, the earth, life on earth, and the different kinds of living things scientific theories? Why or why not?

21. What is meant by the assertion that the evidence for theories of origins is "circumstantial" evidence?

22. Does a person who has faith in the creation of all things by God need to feel "unscientific" if he gives his religious faith an important place in making his decision between evolution and creation? Why or why not?

23. How does the idea of "theistic evolution" contrast with the modern theory of Darwinian evolution?

24. Can a person logically accept both the idea of theistic evolution and the modern theory of Darwinian evolution? Why or why not?

25. What did entomologist W.R. Thompson criticize about Darwin's method of argument in Origin of Species?

26. What does philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper, say about the connection of Darwinian evolution with scientific theories? (Note: "metaphysical" means something connected with religion, philosophy, rather than with the empirical world which science can study.)

27. Do you think it would be correct to classify creation also as "a metaphysical research programme--a possible framework for testable scientific theories"? This is a mind-stretching question, but see what you can do with it.

28. What do you think should be the main rules of a correct procedure for teaching about theories of origins in a science class in a tax-funded public school, college or university?

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