How to Do Science with Models

How to Do Science with Models PDF Author: Axel Gelfert
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319279548
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
Taking scientific practice as its starting point, this book charts the complex territory of models used in science. It examines what scientific models are and what their function is. Reliance on models is pervasive in science, and scientists often need to construct models in order to explain or predict anything of interest at all. The diversity of kinds of models one finds in science – ranging from toy models and scale models to theoretical and mathematical models – has attracted attention not only from scientists, but also from philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science. This has given rise to a wide variety of case studies that look at the different uses to which models have been put in specific scientific contexts. By exploring current debates on the use and building of models via cutting-edge examples drawn from physics and biology, the book provides broad insight into the methodology of modelling in the natural sciences. It pairs specific arguments with introductory material relating to the ontology and the function of models, and provides some historical context to the debates as well as a sketch of general positions in the philosophy of scientific models in the process.

How to Do Science with Models

How to Do Science with Models PDF Author: Axel Gelfert
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319279548
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Get Book Here

Book Description
Taking scientific practice as its starting point, this book charts the complex territory of models used in science. It examines what scientific models are and what their function is. Reliance on models is pervasive in science, and scientists often need to construct models in order to explain or predict anything of interest at all. The diversity of kinds of models one finds in science – ranging from toy models and scale models to theoretical and mathematical models – has attracted attention not only from scientists, but also from philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science. This has given rise to a wide variety of case studies that look at the different uses to which models have been put in specific scientific contexts. By exploring current debates on the use and building of models via cutting-edge examples drawn from physics and biology, the book provides broad insight into the methodology of modelling in the natural sciences. It pairs specific arguments with introductory material relating to the ontology and the function of models, and provides some historical context to the debates as well as a sketch of general positions in the philosophy of scientific models in the process.

Models of the Mind

Models of the Mind PDF Author: Grace Lindsay
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472966457
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 401

Get Book Here

Book Description
The human brain is made up of 85 billion neurons, which are connected by over 100 trillion synapses. For more than a century, a diverse array of researchers searched for a language that could be used to capture the essence of what these neurons do and how they communicate – and how those communications create thoughts, perceptions and actions. The language they were looking for was mathematics, and we would not be able to understand the brain as we do today without it. In Models of the Mind, author and computational neuroscientist Grace Lindsay explains how mathematical models have allowed scientists to understand and describe many of the brain's processes, including decision-making, sensory processing, quantifying memory, and more. She introduces readers to the most important concepts in modern neuroscience, and highlights the tensions that arise when the abstract world of mathematical modelling collides with the messy details of biology. Each chapter of Models of the Mind focuses on mathematical tools that have been applied in a particular area of neuroscience, progressing from the simplest building block of the brain – the individual neuron – through to circuits of interacting neurons, whole brain areas and even the behaviours that brains command. In addition, Grace examines the history of the field, starting with experiments done on frog legs in the late eighteenth century and building to the large models of artificial neural networks that form the basis of modern artificial intelligence. Throughout, she reveals the value of using the elegant language of mathematics to describe the machinery of neuroscience.

Developing Models in Science Education

Developing Models in Science Education PDF Author: J.K. Gilbert
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792367727
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Get Book Here

Book Description
Models and modelling play a central role in the nature of science, in its conduct, in the accreditation and dissemination of its outcomes, as well as forming a bridge to technology. They therefore have an important place in both the formal and informal science education provision made for people of all ages. This book is a product of five years collaborative work by eighteen researchers from four countries. It addresses four key issues: the roles of models in science and their implications for science education; the place of models in curricula for major science subjects; the ways that models can be presented to, are learned about, and can be produced by, individuals; the implications of all these for research and for science teacher education. The work draws on insights from the history and philosophy of science, cognitive psychology, sociology, linguistics, and classroom research, to establish what may be done and what is done. The book will be of interest to researchers in science education and to those taking courses of advanced study throughout the world.

Models as Mediators

Models as Mediators PDF Author: Mary S. Morgan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521655712
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Get Book Here

Book Description
Edited collection examining the ways in which models are used in modern science.

Ambitious Science Teaching

Ambitious Science Teaching PDF Author: Mark Windschitl
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1682531643
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 483

Get Book Here

Book Description
2018 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in schools and districts that seek to improve science teaching at scale, and a wide range of science subjects and grade levels are represented. The book is organized around four sets of core teaching practices: planning for engagement with big ideas; eliciting student thinking; supporting changes in students’ thinking; and drawing together evidence-based explanations. Discussion of each practice includes tools and routines that teachers can use to support students’ participation, transcripts of actual student-teacher dialogue and descriptions of teachers’ thinking as it unfolds, and examples of student work. The book also provides explicit guidance for “opportunity to learn” strategies that can help scaffold the participation of diverse students. Since the success of these practices depends so heavily on discourse among students, Ambitious Science Teaching includes chapters on productive classroom talk. Science-specific skills such as modeling and scientific argument are also covered. Drawing on the emerging research on core teaching practices and their extensive work with preservice and in-service teachers, Ambitious Science Teaching presents a coherent and aligned set of resources for educators striving to meet the considerable challenges that have been set for them.

Models of Science Dynamics

Models of Science Dynamics PDF Author: Andrea Scharnhorst
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642230687
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292

Get Book Here

Book Description
Models of Science Dynamics aims to capture the structure and evolution of science, the emerging arena in which scholars, science and the communication of science become themselves the basic objects of research. In order to capture the essence of phenomena as diverse as the structure of co-authorship networks or the evolution of citation diffusion patterns, such models can be represented by conceptual models based on historical and ethnographic observations, mathematical descriptions of measurable phenomena, or computational algorithms. Despite its evident importance, the mathematical modeling of science still lacks a unifying framework and a comprehensive study of the topic. This volume fills this gap, reviewing and describing major threads in the mathematical modeling of science dynamics for a wider academic and professional audience. The model classes presented cover stochastic and statistical models, system-dynamics approaches, agent-based simulations, population-dynamics models, and complex-network models. The book comprises an introduction and a foundational chapter that defines and operationalizes terminology used in the study of science, as well as a review chapter that discusses the history of mathematical approaches to modeling science from an algorithmic-historiography perspective. It concludes with a survey of remaining challenges for future science models and their relevance for science and science policy.

Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science

Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science PDF Author: Lorenzo Magnani
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319305263
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 1179

Get Book Here

Book Description
This handbook offers the first comprehensive reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning. It highlights the role of models as mediators between theory and experimentation, and as educational devices, as well as their relevance in testing hypotheses and explanatory functions. The Springer Handbook merges philosophical, cognitive and epistemological perspectives on models with the more practical needs related to the application of this tool across various disciplines and practices. The result is a unique, reliable source of information that guides readers toward an understanding of different aspects of model-based science, such as the theoretical and cognitive nature of models, as well as their practical and logical aspects. The inferential role of models in hypothetical reasoning, abduction and creativity once they are constructed, adopted, and manipulated for different scientific and technological purposes is also discussed. Written by a group of internationally renowned experts in philosophy, the history of science, general epistemology, mathematics, cognitive and computer science, physics and life sciences, as well as engineering, architecture, and economics, this Handbook uses numerous diagrams, schemes and other visual representations to promote a better understanding of the concepts. This also makes it highly accessible to an audience of scholars and students with different scientific backgrounds. All in all, the Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science represents the definitive application-oriented reference guide to the interdisciplinary field of model-based reasoning.

R for Data Science

R for Data Science PDF Author: Hadley Wickham
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491910364
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 521

Get Book Here

Book Description
Learn how to use R to turn raw data into insight, knowledge, and understanding. This book introduces you to R, RStudio, and the tidyverse, a collection of R packages designed to work together to make data science fast, fluent, and fun. Suitable for readers with no previous programming experience, R for Data Science is designed to get you doing data science as quickly as possible. Authors Hadley Wickham and Garrett Grolemund guide you through the steps of importing, wrangling, exploring, and modeling your data and communicating the results. You'll get a complete, big-picture understanding of the data science cycle, along with basic tools you need to manage the details. Each section of the book is paired with exercises to help you practice what you've learned along the way. You'll learn how to: Wrangle—transform your datasets into a form convenient for analysis Program—learn powerful R tools for solving data problems with greater clarity and ease Explore—examine your data, generate hypotheses, and quickly test them Model—provide a low-dimensional summary that captures true "signals" in your dataset Communicate—learn R Markdown for integrating prose, code, and results

How to Build Social Science Theories

How to Build Social Science Theories PDF Author: Pamela J. Shoemaker
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452210438
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Click ′Additional Materials′ to read the foreword by Jerald Hage As straightforward as its title, How to Build Social Science Theories sidesteps the well-traveled road of theoretical examination by demonstrating how new theories originate and how they are elaborated. Essential reading for students of social science research, this book traces theories from their most rudimentary building blocks (terminology and definitions) through multivariable theoretical statements, models, the role of creativity in theory building, and how theories are used and evaluated. Authors Pamela J. Shoemaker, James William Tankard, Jr., and Dominic L. Lasorsa intend to improve research in many areas of the social sciences by making research more theory-based and theory-oriented. The book begins with a discussion of concepts and their theoretical and operational definitions. It then proceeds to theoretical statements, including hypotheses, assumptions, and propositions. Theoretical statements need theoretical linkages and operational linkages; this discussion begins with bivariate relationships, as well as three-variable, four-variable, and further multivariate relationships. The authors also devote chapters to the creative component of theory-building and how to evaluate theories. How to Build Social Science Theories is a sophisticated yet readable analysis presented by internationally known experts in social science methodology. It is designed primarily as a core text for graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in communication theory. It will also be a perfect addition to any course dealing with theory and research methodology across the social sciences. Additionally, professional researchers will find it an indispensable guide to the genesis, dissemination, and evaluation of social science theories.

Popper and After

Popper and After PDF Author: D. C. Stove
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483157016
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 125

Get Book Here

Book Description
Popper and After: Four Modern Irrationalists focuses on a tendency in the philosophy of science, of which the leading representatives are Professor Sir Karl Popper, the late Professor Imre Lakatos, and Professors T. S. Kuhn and P. K. Feyerabend. Their philosophy of science is in substance irrationalist. They doubt, or deny outright, that there can be any reason to believe any scientific theory; and a fortiori they doubt or deny, for example, that there has been any accumulation of knowledge in recent centuries. The book is composed of two parts and Part One explains how these writers succeeded in making irrationalism about science acceptable to readers. Part Two explores the intellectual influence that led these writers to embrace irrationalism about science.