Is Science “Tentative”?

A major feature of the nature of science (NOS) has conventionally been that “science is tentative.” What exactly does this phrase mean, and is it clear and justified? How does this view relate to assessing the reliability of scientific claims in the media, relevant to personal decision-making and public policy? Despite widespread rhetoric, science is not systematically “self-correcting,” although errors can be and often are corrected. We need to clarify for students precisely how scientists err, and how they resolve their errors, as a basis for judging when or how to trust particular claims. That requires inquiry learning into NOS, based on cross-sections of Whole Science, not lists of general NOS principles, such as “tentativeness.”