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→About Evidence
==Key Stage 2==
===Meaning===
'''Scientific Evidence''' is the observations and measurements a [[scientist]] gets from an [[investigation]].
: Singular [[Noun]]: '''Scientific Evidence'''
: Plural [[Noun]]: '''Scientific Evidence'''
===About Evidence===
: There are different kinds of '''evidence''' but scientists don't trust all of them.
: In science '''evidence''' must be [[repeatable]]. If you make an [[observation]] or [[measure]]ment once, you should be able to do it again and again and the [[results]] shouldn't change.
: In science '''evidence''' must be [[reproducible]]. So if one [[scientist]] makes an [[Observe|observation]] or [[Measure|measurement]], every other [[scientist]] in the world should be able to make the same [[Observe|observation]]. If they cannot; then [[scientist]]s don't accept it as '''scientific evidence'''.
===Examples===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|'''Claim'''
|'''Evidence'''
|-
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | Plants need water to live.
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | Plants in dry soil wilt and then die.
|-
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | Paper is flammable.
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | When you place a flame under paper the paper catches fire.
|-
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | Cats are mammals.
| style="height:50px; width:200px; text-align:center;" | They have fur, they give birth to live babies, they feed their babies with milk.
|}
==Key Stage 3==
===Meaning===
'''Scientific Evidence''' is the [[observation]]s, [[Reading|readings]] or [[Measure|measurements]] that a [[scientist]] will use to test whether a [[hypothesis]] is correct.
===About Evidence===
: There are different kinds of '''evidence''' but scientists don't trust all of them.
: In science '''evidence''' must be [[repeatable]]. If you make an [[observation]] or [[measure]]ment once, you should be able to do it again and again and the [[results]] shouldn't change.
: In science '''evidence''' must be [[reproducible]]. So if one [[scientist]] makes an [[Observe|observation]] or [[Measure|measurement]], every other [[scientist]] in the world should be able to make the same [[Observe|observation]]. If they cannot; then [[scientist]]s don't accept it as
'''scientific evidence'''.
: Stories, or [[observe|observations]] made by non-scientists, that cannot be [[repeatable|repeated]] are called [[Anecdotal Evidence|anecdotal evidence]] which is not accepted by scientists because people could have made a mistake or be lying.
===Examples===
The Earth is Round:
Observation - The tip of a mast always appears before the rest of the ship on an ocean.
Measurements - On the 23rd of June a stick at the equator has no shadow. In Alexandria the shadow is 3cm long, in Paris it is 5cm long and in London the shadow is 8cm long.
==Key Stage 4==
===Meaning===
'''Scientific evidence''' is any [[observation]]s or [[resultresults]]s that are [[repeatable]], [[reproducible]] and [[valid]] to prove or disprove a [[hypothesis]].
===About Scientific Evidence===
:*[[Anecdotal Evidence]] - '[[Evidence]]' based on a personal experience. [[Scientist]]s don't trust this because people can make mistakes, misunderstand something they've seen or even hallucinate or dream things which have not happened.
:*Intuition - Ideas that seem true because they make sense are not counted as '''scientific evidence'''. Just because something seems reasonable, interesting or makes sense does not mean it is true.
:*Tradition - Ideas that have been passed on through generations. Just because many people say something is true, doesn't mean it is true. Such ideas were usually made thousands of years ago at a time when the wheelbarrow was would have seemed like a state of the art invention and most people believed disease was caused by demons.