We began as usual with a brief recap of what we discussed during the previous session, and then quickly moved onto the idea of progress in scientific research. As we gain more knowledge, science is progressing. This can be seen in the four-changed model of the Atom. The first discovery wasn’t wrong, but the information hadn’t been discovered yet due to technological factors.
Science is described as a process that continues. Even if you think that we know all about nature, there are always new discoveries. These discoveries can be added to the knowledge we have. Thomas Kuhn came next, a scientist who had a very different perspective on science. He thought that science progressed not in a cumulative manner but through paradigm shifts. The YouTube video used by Alfred Wegner to explain the concept of Continental Drift was a paradigm-shifting event. As a young child, I used to wonder if the earth had once been one supercontinent. It was explained in the video that it is called Pangaea and means “the entire earth”. The scientist supported his hypothesis by observing how continents fitted together like jigsaws. Some rocks and fossils had been found on the adjacent continents. Some scientists were slow to accept the findings of this scientist.
Scientists began to notice that there was thermal heat beneath the crust of the Earth, which could have contributed to continental drift. I learned two new scientific words in this lecture. Paradigm: A set of fundamental principles (premises), to which researchers adhere, and on which they base their research. This concept was better explained by a YouTube clip. The concept of a paradigm had never occurred to me before this class. The second word I learned was anomaly. The English Oxford Living Dictionaries defines an anomaly as “something that differs from what’s normal or expected”. “
This was a very interesting lecture and it was also a subject that I am personally interested in. I have enjoyed the lectures so far. As a Communications major, I’m excited to make connections with my field. I will do some research to understand these topics, and therefore the course content.
