Yes, when I used to lecture on “what is science” to university biology students I’d tell them that an “old” definition of science, i.e., 1600-1800s was simply “a collection of facts” or “knowledge resulting from study” but a more modern definition centers around the method used. I liked to hightlight these 5 traits of science gleaned from a website for undergraduates at Berkeley-- I’ll give the link to the full webpage below but this is the “meat” of the article (note bullet point 3 which doesn’t mention the words directly but alludes to the key role of hypotheses and predictions—hypothetico deductive methodology)
- Science focuses exclusively on the natural world, and does not deal with supernatural explanations.
- Science is a way of learning about what is in the natural world, how the natural world works, and how the natural world got to be the way it is. It is not simply a collection of facts; rather it is a path to understanding.
- Scientists work in many different ways, but all science relies on testing ideas by figuring out what expectations are generated by an idea and making observations to find out whether those expectations hold true.
- Accepted scientific ideas are reliable because they have been subjected to rigorous testing, but as new evidence is acquired and new perspectives emerge these ideas can be revised.
- Science is a community endeavor. It relies on a system of checks and balances, which helps ensure that science moves in the direction of greater accuracy and understanding. This system is facilitated by diversity within the scientific community, which offers a broad range of perspectives on scientific ideas.
here’s the link to the full page: