COE - Understanding a Theory Lesson

 

Understanding a Theory

When investigators arrive at a crime scene, they attempt to recreate an event that happened prior to their arrival. They gather evidence at the scene (facts), and use experiments and analysis in a laboratory to reproduce or recreate events that may have happened at the scene of the crime. Ultimately, the investigators put together the most plausible explanation based on the evidence that they have.

Scientists in other disciplines do exactly the same thing when trying to describe events that occurred before human recorded history, or processes that take extremely long time periods to occur.   There is a process in place that utilizes scientists from around the world, all gathering information, analyzing data, discussing/debating the possible meanings of the data, and sharing this information with the rest of the world. Facts  are individual statements of observations that have been repeatedly tested and verified, and are therefore accepted as true. Theories, on the other hand, are explanations of these observations; they are the "Big Pictures" that explain why all of these facts exist.

Think of a fact as a puzzle piece. One fact by itself will not tell you much about the overall picture.   As you discover more facts, you get a better idea of what the final image might be.   Your idea is based on the puzzle pieces that you have available, and is your theory.   The discovery of even more pieces/facts might strengthen your theory, or they might cause you to step back and re-evaluate your initial theory - that image that you thought was a seal wearing a knit sweater might actually just be a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

But theories are always based on facts.   A scientist will never propose a theory until he/she has many facts to support his/her argument.   That's why it's wrong to say, "It's just a theory"; theories are the best explanation of all of the facts known to date, so they have been tested time and again.   There are no better explanations than the ones currently in place, because a better explanation would become the new theory.

There are many theories out there - cell theory, atomic theory, gravitational theory, the "Big Bang" theory, and evolutionary theory are just a few of them.   But they all have one thing in common; they have all been repeatedly tested - in some cases for hundreds of years - and there are no better scientific explanations for the facts that have been described so far. 

 

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