Задание 1. Прочитайте и переведите текст. What’s science?The scientific method

What’s science?The scientific method

Research starts when a scientist notices something curious, something that cannot be explained or something that goes against logic. It is often a pattern, a regular way in which something happens. In a word, he/she makes an observation that brings about a question. The question itself should be clear although it has no clear answer yet. The scientist keeps it in mind during research. In fact, the aim of research is to obtain a reliable answer to this question

Next the scientist needs to prepare to formulate a hypothesis. He/She may need to read about previous research in the area of interest, do some preliminary experiments or continue observations. Then the scientist tries to explain what caused the phenomenon. In other words, he/she formulates a hypothesis, a possible answer to the research question. It is important that the hypothesis should be testable.

Now the scientist has to decide how the hypothesis can be tested. He/She normally reasons as follows: if our assumption (the hypothesis) is right then such and such conditions will result in such and such facts, i.e. he/she makes a prediction.

To see if predicted results can be obtained, the scientist often performs an experiment which means he/she performs certain actions under certain conditions. There are other ways of testing a hypothesis: observation, logical reasoning, survey, etc. If the predicted results are obtained the scientist concludes that the hypothesis has been confirmed. If the hypothesis is confirmed repeatedly in various ways by different scientists, it becomes a theory.

Задание2. Ответьте на вопросы:

1. What is the scientific method?

2. What are the stages of the scientific method?

3. How does the scientist decide if the hypothesis can be tested?

4. What does the scientist do if his/her hypothesis has not been confirmed?

Вопросы к практическому занятию

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