Unit Science Scientific English.docVIP

Unit 1 Science Scientific English ★ What is Science The word science is from a Latin verb meaning to know. When we speak of science, we speak of a way of understanding the world by describing and explaining natural phenomena, because this is the way of acquiring knowledge. To achieve this scientist makes initial observations and then follows a series of steps, known as the scientific method (Fig. 1-1), so that conclusions can be drawn on the observations made. This process allows knowledge to be gained in an organized way. All proper scientific research is carried out following the scientific method and scientific research articles are written with this method in mind. It is essential that any Chinese person aspiring to be a scientist is familiar with this method also. An appreciation of the process of the scientific method is valuable to the understanding of scientific academic English. The scientific method is essential to scientific English. The first step in the scientific method is to make general observations. You may then gain some idea about what you have observed, and you may have a question from which you could make a prediction on what the outcome might be. What you predict, however, may or may not be right. You must first test the different alternatives to your idea (or theory) so that your answer is not biased. However an idea or a theory is usually not testable. For instance you cannot test the theory of evolution itself, because evolution is a theory and not a tangible thing (that is, it cannot be touched and is not obviously visible). Therefore the question derived from your idea needs to be turned into a hypothesis that can be tested. For example, you can touch flowers and see their colors, and so you can collect their seeds and test the hypothesis that when seeds of red and white pea flowers are crossed, the flowers of offspring have a certain ratio of pink, red, and white color. You can easily count the seeds that produce the flower color