Reason and imagination

Activity 1 - What role does reason play in the natural sciences?

Time: 15 min.
Task: Consider the following questions:

Which is the correct final square?
How do you know?
What kind of reason is this - inductive or deductive?
How does this relate to the production of knowledge in the natural sciences.
Look at the data points below, how might the pattern (line of best fit) change as more data points are included in the set? What difficultly does this suggest about inductive reasoning?

Source

Activity 2 - What if...?

Conceptual understanding: Imagination is used to design submicroscopic models that might help explain the macroscopic world.

Time: 15 min.
Background info: Ernest Rutherford model of the atom (see Brian Cox explain it this video) was formed using the results of his famous gold foil experiment. Each feature of his model is supported by observations and empirical data:

As almost all the positive alpha particles passed through the gold foil so he suggested that most of the atom must be empty space.
Occasionally, the positive alpha particles were deflected or reflected so he suggested that there must be a small dense area of positive charge in the atom (the nucleus).
The negative electrons suggested by Thomson's plum pudding model did not seem to impact Rutherford's experiment so he suggested they are orbiting the nucleus in some manner.

Task: Suggest models of the atom that he might have proposed if he had seen the following observations: Perhaps assume that your only prior knowledge is:

Electrons existing as particles.
Gold foil is charge-neutral..

There are no incorrect answers here as long as you can explain how the evidence supports your model.

Observation set A

All the alpha particles are reflected back towards the radiation source.

Observation set B

Half of the alpha particles are reflected/deflected and half pass through.

Observation set C

Some alpha particles remain inside the gold foil and do not pass through, nor get reflected.