science

I give my special thanks to my daughter Nastya for the design of this Presentation!

LevelLevel: Pre-IntermediateObjectivesObjectives: to practise reading skills; to develop speaking skills; to revise vocabulary concerning science

and research; to practice using online dictionaries.

1. The systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts. 2. The organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation. 3. Any specific branch of this general body of knowledge, such as biology, physics, geology, or astronomy.

Karl R. Popper (1902-1994), The Logic of Scientific Discovery

2. I think that we shall have to get accustomed to the idea that we must not look upon science as a "body of knowledge", but rather as a system of hypotheses, or as a system of guesses or anticipations that in principle cannot be justified, but with which we work as long as they stand up to tests, and of which we are never justified in saying that we know they are "true" . . .

Dr. Sheldon Gottlieb in a lecture series at the University of South Alabama

3. Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data). An ultimate purpose of science is to discern the order that exists between and amongst the various facts.

Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology

a. Read the following definitions of science and match them with their sources.

b.Which of the definitions do you find the most complete? c.Work out your own definition of science.

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The word science comes from the Latin "scientia," meaning knowledge. How do we define science? According to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is "knowledge attained through study or practice," or "knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method and concerned with the physical world." What does that really mean? Science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge. This system uses observation and experimentation to describe and explain natural phenomena. The term science also refers to the organized body of knowledge people have gained using that system. Less formally, the word science often describes any systematic field of study or the knowledge gained from it. What is the purpose of science? Perhaps the most general description is that the purpose of science is to produce useful models of reality. Science as defined above is sometimes called pure science (theoretical) to differentiate it from applied science, which is the application of research to human needs.

Fields of science are commonly classified along two major lines: natural sciences, the study of the natural world, and social sciences, the systematic study of human behavior and society. Most scientific investigations use some form of the scientific method.

The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. Scientists use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships in nature. In other words, they design an experiment so that changes to one item cause something else to vary in a predictable way. Just as it does for a professional scientist, the scientific method will help you to focus your science fair project question, construct a hypothesis, design, execute, and evaluate your experiment.

a. Skim the text to answer the questions:

a)What is the aim of science?b)What are the forms of science?c)What is the main instrument of science?

b. Read the text carefully and answer the questions after it.

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Steps of the Scientific Method

Ask a Question: The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How,

What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where. And, in order for the scientific method to answer the question it must

be about something that you can measure, preferably with a number.

Your Question

Do Background Research: Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering your

question, you want to be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do

things and insure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past.

Background Research Plan

Finding Information

Bibliography

Research Paper

Construct a Hypothesis: A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work: "If ____[I do this] _____, then

_____[this]_____ will happen." You must state your hypothesis in a way that you can easily measure, and of

course, your hypothesis should be constructed in a way to help you answer your original question.

Variables

Variables for Beginners

Hypothesis

Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment: Your experiment tests whether your hypothesis is true or false. It

is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that you change only one

factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same. You should also repeat your experiments several times

to make sure that the first results weren't just an accident.

Experimental Procedure

Materials List

Conducting an Experiment

Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion: Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements

and analyze them to see if your hypothesis is true or false. Scientists often find that their hypothesis was false, and

in such cases they will construct a new hypothesis starting the entire process of the scientific method over again.

Even if they find that their hypothesis was true, they may want to test it again in a new way.

Data Analysis & Graphs

Conclusions

Communicate Your Results: To complete your science fair project you have to communicate your results to

others in a final report and/or a display board. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by

publishing their final report in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster at a scientific meeting.

Final Report

Abstract

Display Board

Science Fair Judging

Even though the scientific method is shown as a series of steps, keep in mind that new information or thinking might cause a scientist to back up and repeat steps at any point during the process. A process like the scientific method that involves such backing up and repeating is called an iterative process. Throughout the process of doing your science fair project, you should keep a journal containing all of your important ideas and information. This journal is called a laboratory notebook. Thus, the scientific method is a special way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.

1. What does the word «science» mean?2. Give formal and non-formal definitions of science.3. What is the main criterion to differ pure science from applied

science?4. Categorize the fields of science. 5. What is the scientific method aimed at?6. What is implied by the «iterative process»? 7. Order the steps of the scientific method and explain their

essence. a) Construct a Hypothesis b) Communicate Your Results c) Do Background Research d) Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment e) Ask a Question f) Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

Draw the diagram «STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD».

Use your diagram to present the way the scientific method is executed.