Medieval Science Lab Report
Gene Choi
BIOS 101
By Wednesday 3 P.M.
TA: Michelle Lamont
Medieval Science Lab Report
Introduction
Medieval and early renaissance scholars believed in three scientific paradigms: alchemy, astrology, and folk belief. These three scientific paradigms are produced without extremely thorough testing, yet they still can produce accurate predictions. This means that the medieval science not only allowed beginning with scientific method, but also beginning with superstition and theories. One of the three scientific paradigms, astrology is the study of how consequences on earth correspond to the positions and movements of astronomical bodies. Observing the positions of these bodies at the moment of one’s birth, astrologers believe that the positions …show more content…
(Ward 2). Folk beliefs may result from religion, superstition, or commonly held ideas that persist in cultures by being transmitted by word of mouth (Molumby and
Murray 29).
This lab consists of two different experiments to experiment astrology and psychic precognition. To test astrology and its validity, students must read eight different stories of a person’s day and try to match the paragraphs with one of the eight horoscopes by trying to perceive the stories and matching it with one of the horoscopes.. To test psychic precognition, the ability to predict the future, students were in groups of at least two and one of the students in the group were trying to use their psychic powers to read the card without cheating.
In the lab, the students used the “null hypothesis” – a hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between two measured phenomena. (Huck 58). The null hypothesis of the psychic precognition experiment was that none of the students had any psychic ability. The null hypothesis for astrology was that there wasn’t any correlation between the events of a person’s day and their horoscope for that day. For both null hypothesis, if the paradigms were scientifically valid, the departure would be expected to be larger than …show more content…
Furthermore, counting on the position of these bodies at the exact moment of a person’s birth is not accurate.
There is no way in fate that one’s horoscopes would match how its day was.
The possibilities of errors in these experiments would be the value of the experimenter’s expected correct/incorrect and the result may vary depending on the experimenter. For example, luck may be on his or her side by chance and someone may completely guess all the shapes correct without cheating or someone could have guessed the horoscopes correctly with a person’s day.
None of us had psychic ability. There could have possibly been a slight chance that one of us might be able to guess or even feel the correct shapes in the cards. To have a better understanding about this topic one could further experiment by flipping a coin and figuring out the expected head/tail and observed head/tail.
Reference
1. Molumby, Alan and Murray, Darrel L. Adventures in Populations and Communities.
2011.
2. Tesch, Nicki. The Mystery of Astrology. Unknown.
3. Ward, Dan Sewell. Alchemy. Library of Ialexandria. 15 November, 2010.
4. Huck, Schuyler W. Statistical Misconceptions. CRC Press. 3 November,
BIOS 101
By Wednesday 3 P.M.
TA: Michelle Lamont
Medieval Science Lab Report
Introduction
Medieval and early renaissance scholars believed in three scientific paradigms: alchemy, astrology, and folk belief. These three scientific paradigms are produced without extremely thorough testing, yet they still can produce accurate predictions. This means that the medieval science not only allowed beginning with scientific method, but also beginning with superstition and theories. One of the three scientific paradigms, astrology is the study of how consequences on earth correspond to the positions and movements of astronomical bodies. Observing the positions of these bodies at the moment of one’s birth, astrologers believe that the positions …show more content…
(Ward 2). Folk beliefs may result from religion, superstition, or commonly held ideas that persist in cultures by being transmitted by word of mouth (Molumby and
Murray 29).
This lab consists of two different experiments to experiment astrology and psychic precognition. To test astrology and its validity, students must read eight different stories of a person’s day and try to match the paragraphs with one of the eight horoscopes by trying to perceive the stories and matching it with one of the horoscopes.. To test psychic precognition, the ability to predict the future, students were in groups of at least two and one of the students in the group were trying to use their psychic powers to read the card without cheating.
In the lab, the students used the “null hypothesis” – a hypothesis which states that there is no significant difference between two measured phenomena. (Huck 58). The null hypothesis of the psychic precognition experiment was that none of the students had any psychic ability. The null hypothesis for astrology was that there wasn’t any correlation between the events of a person’s day and their horoscope for that day. For both null hypothesis, if the paradigms were scientifically valid, the departure would be expected to be larger than …show more content…
Furthermore, counting on the position of these bodies at the exact moment of a person’s birth is not accurate.
There is no way in fate that one’s horoscopes would match how its day was.
The possibilities of errors in these experiments would be the value of the experimenter’s expected correct/incorrect and the result may vary depending on the experimenter. For example, luck may be on his or her side by chance and someone may completely guess all the shapes correct without cheating or someone could have guessed the horoscopes correctly with a person’s day.
None of us had psychic ability. There could have possibly been a slight chance that one of us might be able to guess or even feel the correct shapes in the cards. To have a better understanding about this topic one could further experiment by flipping a coin and figuring out the expected head/tail and observed head/tail.
Reference
1. Molumby, Alan and Murray, Darrel L. Adventures in Populations and Communities.
2011.
2. Tesch, Nicki. The Mystery of Astrology. Unknown.
3. Ward, Dan Sewell. Alchemy. Library of Ialexandria. 15 November, 2010.
4. Huck, Schuyler W. Statistical Misconceptions. CRC Press. 3 November,