Answer to Question 1
It is an ingrained way of thinking about and understanding nature for scientists. Scientists try to form hypotheses that explain how nature works. If a hypothesis is contradicted by evidence from experiments or observations, it must be revised or discarded. If a hypothesis is confirmed, it must be tested further. A scientist needs insight and ingenuity to form and test a good hypothesis. Scientists use the scientific method almost automatically, forming, testing, revising, and discarding hypotheses almost minute by minute as they discuss a new idea. Sometimes, however, a scientist will spend years studying a single promising hypothesis. The so-called scientific method is a way of thinking and a way of knowing about nature.
Answer to Question 2
Astronomy is important to you because it will tell you what you are. As you study astronomy, you will learn how you fit into the history of the Universe. You will learn that the atoms in your body had their birth in the big bang when the Universe began.
Those atoms have been cooked and remade inside generations of stars, and now, after more than 10 billion years, they are inside you. You can use astronomy as a case study in science.
Graphic summary of the scientific method.
Deep Palpation, One-Handed Method
The scientific method.
How to solve a pair of linear equations using the Addition-Subtraction Method
Advantages of Observational Method
Offset Method Plot of Land with Measurements