BSC150 Reflection: Epistemology, Science, and Critical Thinking Skills

This reflective essay delves into the student's learning experience in BSC150, focusing on the validation of facts, the nature of science, and the importance of critical thinking. The essay highlights key concepts such as epistemology, empiricism, and falsifiability, as well as the role of mathematics in scientific understanding. Through weekly journal entries, the student reflects on classroom discussions, panel sessions, and course readings, demonstrating a deeper understanding of how to evaluate information, distinguish between myths and truths, and apply scientific reasoning to real-world issues like climate change. The course has enhanced the student's ability to analyze events logically and systematically, providing a foundation for future learning and research. Desklib offers a variety of resources including past papers and solved assignments to aid students in their academic journey.

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CLASSROOM REFLECTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
The classes for the course BSC150 have ignited the way thinking and reasoning was
associated with the knowledge and information that we obtain form our surroundings. The
most important aspect of the course involves identifying the difference between true facts and
facts that have been commonly circulated as general theories or popular belief but not
substantiated with any scientific or logical evidence. Through the course, I have been
immensely enriched with the way information should be evaluated, the way logical
representation and conclusions should be drawn and the why evidence should be relied upon
before any assumption is justified. The entire course have been completed over various
classroom sessions, Question and Answer sessions, discussions and reading through online
and offline resources. The journal entries have been inspired by the daily classroom activities
and the course readings and helped me to keep a track of the course and at the same time
allowed me to introspect into the learning outcome of the course. The journal entries of the
weekly units have also helped me consolidate my understanding through and these entries
have helped me to clarify the doubts and confusions that occurred during the course of the
study. The regular journal entries will also act as a record which would allow me to look up
to it for any future reference and would give me a scope for the revising back to the units for
any clarification or revisiting of the unit course.
Week 1
This week we have discussed about the factors that would be considered in order to
believe any statement or fact. The course was extremely interactive and the presentation
made by the professor was engaging. The topic of what would convince us in believing any
fact has been wonderfully illustrated in the presentation. The opening slide was extremely
engaging and the facts describing Queen Elizabeth II as an alien was extremely humorous to

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engage the class. The professor made the session very interactive and we had a wonderful
discussion spanning over several topics and conspiracy theories that we had generally heard
and heated debates would have followed regarding the same before this class. This professor
introduced us to the concept of Epistemology which is the science of validating facts. There
had been several instances of developing issues that do not generate the way how we see
things and the way how these are interpreted. The lecture was designed in sequential manner
and was illustrative which reduced the effort to create mental images of the course and the
concept. The professor had also stated that believing that science has all the answers or that
science always gets it right is also not be blindly believed. This lecture allowed me to initiate
the process of validating facts through scientific and logical reasoning. This also allowed me
to start thinking deeply into the very basic facts that we do not validate but simply believe.
Week 2
The second week saw a Question and Answer panel discussion which reflected on the
topics that were discussed. The panel discussion was extremely interactive and allowed me to
understand the balancing of evidences before any fact is validated. The discussion also kept
me engrossed with the various arguments that were put forward and the way the panelist put
it forward was interesting to follow. The discussions covered aspects of interdisciplinary
capabilities and perspective taking in the light of science and have tried to evaluate that
whether Science and Religion can ever be friends or would always be contradictory to each
other. The session was quite interesting since two extremities were being discussed and
personally I was looking forward to the discussion. I personally felt before the session that
the religion is a very subjective concept and perspective can vary about the definition of
religion while science is definitely the rational argument of the causes around us. The
interrogation part also was also engaging and I looking forward to it. I had to ask few
questions which were boggling my mind through the session. My question was from the

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holistic point of view and I wanted to know that if religion is treated as a faith or a way of
life, how we can bridge the gap between science and faith.
Week 3
Week 3 opened up with a major topic and the nature of science was itself questioned
in this section. This week also discussed about myths and busting these myths. Once this
week started I was interested in understanding how myths develop. This week created a
greater understanding of the myths around us and also presented a more precise picture of the
concern relating to our perception of what science is. This week’s presentation also
demonstrated the power of science and the necessity to control this immense power.
However, I could distinguish between the how science is generally perceived and what
science actually is. This week gave considerable amount of brain teasers through the
development assets of the issues through the normal aspects of the scope to think about how
science is being used and the power of science. This week’s lecture also incorporated the
capacity to weigh the pros and cons of using scientific power and allowed me to develop
skills of analysing the capacity of the scientific expertise in resolving issues that would
benefit the communities and the environment at large. The week’s discussion gave more
detailed understanding of how science should be used and what are the ways to use science in
a more comprehensive manner. Through the discussion I understood how the daily activities
that we perform are explained through scientific experiments. The way how science believes
is through the process of empiricism and therefore develops a logical approach. This gave me
a clearer picture of the images of the issues that would develop through the based form of
issues. Before the initiation of the lecture, I had a notion that science could reason with every
aspect but the process of reasoning was not clear. After this course I got to know what
empiricism is and how the process of empiricism brings clarity to our knowledge about our
surroundings. The lecture also clarified the difference between the processes that determine

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the basic function in our environment and explains the diverse phenomenon in the universe. I
have been immensely enriched through the course since the course developed a sense of
critical thinking and understanding backed with evidences and results. The lecture also
mentioned of explaining ‘Big Questions’ as issues that are out of box and are to be
understood through understanding how rather than trying to question why. Scientific
explanation involves figuring out the process of the phenomenon rather focusing on the why
of the big Questions which are still yet to be understood.
Week 4
The fourth week involved a panel discussion on the issue of climate change and the
real issues behind the problem of climate change. This week’s discussion allowed me to gain
a greater insight into the changing nature of the climate and the actual reasons behind it. The
discussion in this week also helped me clearly understand the causes behind the changing
climate of the globe and the broke the preconceived notions that are generally known about
climate change. I had already did a preliminary research of the real reasons that is affecting
the climate but the panel discussion gave more clarified reasoning of the topic. I had also
learned several perspectives from my classmates which gave a different dimension to the
topic. My classmates have added arguments which added competency to the topic but also
some perspectives were based on myths which even I believed to some extent. The discussion
also enhanced the understanding of the factors that needs to be understood before analysing
the aspects of climate change.
Week 8
Week 8 introduces the basics of using mathematics gives a detailed step by step
instruction of using numbers. The professor have clearly stated that the benefits and the
necessities of using the quantification techniques and the importance of quantifying studies to
deliver the most important aspect of scientific understanding. I have been greatly involved

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through the processes but this lecture truly helped to gain a complete understanding of the
importance of quantification and scientific explanation and the exact processes that are
involved in this learning. The lecture also helped me to gain better understanding about the
work of scientists and the ways that are to be followed and the ways we validate these issues.
The lecture also introduces by delivering the concept of the falsifiability, of theory building
and theory testing, of peer funding and peer research, of logic creation and logic generation,
of interdisciplinarity, and most importantly the importance of doubt. I have never realised the
role of scepticism, and of tentativeness before this course schedule. The course of this week
has also allowed me to understand the role of mathematics in delivering scientific
understanding. The lecture of week 8 has given a wonderful insight into the understanding
equations and the way to decipher them. This lecture has enabled me to eliminate my fear of
mathematical calculations and have allowed me to develop an interest for implementing
mathematical equations in the course of my research.
Conclusion:
The whole course have provided a lot of clarity and understanding of the various
issues related to science and quantification of numbers. The course through the lectures and
the panel discussions have provided greater insights and have developed more clarity in
understanding the difference between science and myths. The initial course lectures and
sessions have also provided greater understanding about the clarification and validation of
facts. The most important learning that I have learned from the initial courses is
understanding the way to validate any evidence and understand the difference between myths
and truths. The lectures have also enhanced the understanding of the attributes that are to be
considered to understand the process of validating the facts for analysing any evidence. The
lectures have developed a greater understanding of the subject matter of science and
mathematics and their practical applications. The course have focused on very important

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aspects of knowledge, information validation of facts that we have around us. The lectures
and the discussion panels have also given great insight and scope of thinking regarding the
proper use of science, the correct methods to implement them and to create a scope for
analysing facts and events through a scientific and logical point of view. Throughout the
course various sessions and discussions allowed me to create a better perception of the use of
science and thereby develop the a mental frame of analysing and thinking that would enhance
my learning skills and at the same time it can develop a more scientific base for further stages
of learning and research. This course have immensely helped me to grow in aspects of
learning, analysing and thinking systematically.

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