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The scientific method is the process by which scientists try to construct an accurate representation of the world.
http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu
The scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.
https://en.wikipedia .org
B. Fill in the gaps with only one key word to reveal the meaning oП tСО pСrКsО “tСО sМiОntiПiМ mОtСoН”.
The scientific method
Here is a personal view on the history of the scientific method. Read it and pick out ideas in favor of this method which seem reasonable to you.
It took a long while to determine how the world is better investigated. One way is to just talk about it. For example, you can state that males and females have different number of teeth, without bothering to check. You can then provide long arguments as to why this is the way things ought to be. This method is unreliable: arguments cannot determine whether a statement is correct, this requires proofs.
A better approach is to do experiments and perform careful observations. The results of this approach are universal in the sense that they can be reproduced by any skeptic. It is from these ideas that the scientific method was developed. Most of science is based on this procedure for studying Nature.
A. Read the title of text B and make predictions about its contents. Then check if you were right on reading it. What are the opinions about the scientific method?
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SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND METHODS OF SCIENCE
It is sometimes said that there is no such thing as the so-МКХХОН “sМi-
ОЧtТПТМ ЦОtСШН”; tСОrО КrО ШЧХв tСО ЦОtСШНs usОН ТЧ sМТОЧМО. NОЯОrtСeless, it seems clear that there is often a special sequence of procedures which is involved in the establishment of the working principles of science. This sequence is as follows: 1) a problem is recognized, and as much information as possible is collected; 2) a solution (i.e. a hypothesis) is proposed and the consequences arising out of this solution are deduced; 3) these deductions are tested by experiment, and as a result the hypothesis is accepted, modified or discarded.
B.Draw a flow chart to represent what the scientific method is. Compare your chart with those of your groupmates.
C.Explain, what these expressions mean:
a)to recognize a problem; b) to propose a hypothesis; c) to deduce consequences; d) to test deductions by experiment; e) to accept the hypothesis; f) to modify the hypothesis; g) to discard the hypothesis.
D. Guess the words and arrange them in the correct order.
_ _ _o_ _e_ _s, _e_o_ _ _ _e, _e _u _ e, _o_ _ _y, _e_t, _cc_ _t, _r_ _o_e, _ _s_ _r_, e_ _e_ _ _e _t
With your partner suggest ideas about the reasons to use the scientific method (SM). Then read the passage and fill in the table with the given expressions.
Without method, we are left with chance. Chance is the opposite of method, and we would have a very disorganized world without methods and techniques. But what is method? Unfortunately, method is an ambiguous word. It is so ambiguous that it has been widely misused and misinterpreted in the fields of science and knowledge.
Although procedures vary from one field of inquiry to another, identifiable features distinguish scientific inquiry from other methods of obtaining knowledge. Scientific researchers propose hypotheses as explanations of phenomena, and design experimental studies to test these hypotheses via predictions which can be derived from them. These steps must be repeatable, to guard against mistake or confusion of any particular experimenter.
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SM |
CHANCE |
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Mistakes and errors; organizes our thoughts; clarifies our thoughts; ends aimless wandering; helps ideas gather shape; wrong analysis; routes to new knowledge; increases self-confidence; quick fixes; encourages conceptual thinking; no solutions; aids specific transfer of learning; confusion; doesn’t have to be reinvented; haphazard guesses; avoids relying only on intuition; wandering aimlessly; doesn’t have to be learned by osmosis; gives direction on future problems; wasted time; trains for change and innovation; wasted energy; keeps us pointed in the right direction; misdirection.
A. Study the steps of SM in more detail and illustrate them with your own examples.
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Steps of SM |
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Example |
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1. Ask a question. You ask a |
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We watch a process of baking |
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question about something that you |
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bread. We ask the baker what |
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observe: how, what, when, who, |
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makes the bread rise. He explains |
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which, why, or where? You iden- |
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that yeast releases a gas as it feeds |
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tify the problem. |
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on sugar. We wonder if the amount |
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of sugar will affect the size of the |
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bread loaf. |
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2. Do background research. Ra- |
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We research the areas of baking |
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ther than putting together a plan |
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and fermentation. We try to come |
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for answering your question, you |
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up with a way to test our question. |
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use library and Internet research |
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We keep all the information on this |
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to help you find the best way to do |
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topic in a journal. |
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things and insure that you don't re- |
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peat mistakes from the past. |
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3. Construct a hypothesis. A hy- |
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On the basis of our previous re- |
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pothesis is an educated guess |
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search and after talking with our |
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about |
how |
things |
work: |
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supervisor we come up with a hy- |
"If __ (I do this) __, then __ (this) |
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pothesis. We make a guess: if more |
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__ will happen." You must state |
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sugar is added, then the bread will |
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your hypothesis in a way that you |
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rise higher. |
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can easily measure. |
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4. Test your hypothesis by doing |
We write out the experiment pro- |
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an experiment. Your experiment |
cedure together with a materials list |
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tests whether your hypothesis is |
in our journal. We are going to test |
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true or false. You control as many |
sugar variable (amount of sugar) 3 |
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variables as possible. It is im- |
times. We perform our experiment. |
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portant for your experiment to be |
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a fair test. |
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5. Analyze your data and draw |
We record all data in a table and |
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a conclusion. Once your experi- |
find that 70g. (the largest amount) |
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ment is complete, you collect your |
of sugar produces the largest loaf. |
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measurements and |
analyze them |
The hypothesis is accepted. |
to see if your hypothesis is true or |
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false. |
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6. Communicate |
your results. |
We tell our supervisor about our |
You get feedback from science |
findings, write a report to present it |
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community (valid, |
constructive |
at the conference. |
criticism). It will help you to real- |
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ize which aspects of your research |
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are truly different and innovative, |
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how your work fits into the cur- |
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rent state of your field, etc. |
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B. Write a plan of your research (50 words). Include all the necessary stages. Then in your group present a report on general stages of your investigation. Let your groupmates clarify some details (see the model).
The model:
Have вШu …/ Do вШu …/ Will вШu …
When НТН/аТХХ вШu …
How НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …
What (ЦОtСШНs, УШurЧКХs, ОtМ.) НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …
Why НТН/НШ/аТХХ вШu …
How many … СКЯО/НШ/аТХХ вШu …
Study the following examples of science projects and say, what conclusion can be made about the scientific method.
1. In 1928 Alexander Fleming accidentally left a cover off a Petri dish used to cultivate bacteria. The plate was contaminated by a mold that
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contained penicillin. In this case, there was no problem or question to start with. It was an accident.
2. Albert Michelson and Edward Morley built an experiment to measure the motion of the Earth through the aether (the material that people believed light traveled through). The idea was to measure the speed of light as the Earth moved in different directions. They found that the speed
of light was the same in all directions. If they wrote this up as a science prШУОМt, tСОв аШuХН ОЧН аТtС “Шur СвpШtСОsТs аКs аrШЧР”. But their exper-
iment lead to the development of special relativity.
A. First say, what you think is faith and a pseudo-scientific theory. Then discuss the statements in italics in two groups: one arguing in favor, the other – against them. Try to reassure your opponents. You may find ideas from text C useful to support your position.
Sometimes there is not so much difference between the scientific method and faith. The scientific hypotheses do not always differ from pseudo-scientific hypotheses because we lack knowledge.
The great advantage of the scientific method is that it is unprejudiced: one does not have to believe a given researcher; one can redo the experiment and determine whether his/her results are true or false. Faith, defined as belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence, does not determine whether a scientific theory is adopted or discarded.
A theory is accepted not based on the prestige or convincing powers of the proponent, but on the results obtained through observations and/or experiments which anyone can reproduce: the results obtained using the scientific method are repeatable. In fact, most experiments and observations are repeated many times (certain experiments are not repeated independently but are repeated as parts of other experiments). If the original claims are not verified the origin of such discrepancies is hunted down and exhaustively studied.
When studying the cosmos we cannot perform experiments; all information is obtained from observations and measurements. Theories are then devised by extracting some regularity in the observations and coding this into physical laws.
There is a very important characteristic of a scientific theory or hy-
pothesis which differentiates it from, for example, an act of faith: a theory Цust ЛО “ПКХsТПТКЛХО”. This means that there must be some experiment or
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