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Unit 1
.

WHAT IS SCIENCE?
Objectives?of?the?unit:?
•? to?understand?the?essentials?of?science
•? to?develop?language?skills:?reading?(for?gist?and?for?detail),?speaking?
(describing?objects,?explanations,?giving?definitions,?reporting)?and?writing?
(a summary, an explanatory essay, making notes)
•? to?develop?crucial?study?skills?(critical?reading,?designing?mid?maps,?talking?
about?the?research)
•? to?learn?the?vocabulary?related?to?science?and?the?scientific?method
•? to?practice?grammar:?genitive,?nouns?in?academic?English,?articles
Section 1. Modern Science: What Is It
LEAD-IN
Exercise 1. Read the statements about science and decide whether you agree or 
disagree with them.
Statements
Agree Disagree
1.? Scientific?ideas?are?absolute?and?unchanging.
2. Science can only disprove ideas.
3.? The?job?of?a?scientist?is?to?find?support?for?his/her?
hypotheses.
4. Science is pure. Scientists work without considering 
the applications of their ideas.
Exercise 2. Use the words below to give your own definition of science.

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Exercise 3. Do you know these scientists? Tell others what you know about them 
and their scientific careers.
READING
Science: An Overview
The?word?‘science’?probably?brings?to?mind?many?different?pictures:?a?fat?
textbook,? white? lab? coats? and? microscopes,? an? astronomer? peering? through?
a?telescope,?a?naturalist?in?the?rainforest,?Einstein’s?equations?scribbled?on?a?
chalkboard,?the?launch?of?the?space?shuttle,?bubbling?beakers...?All?of?those?
images?reflect?some?aspect?of?science,?but?none?of?them?provides?a?full?picture?
because?science?has?so?many?facets:
•? Science is both a body of knowledge and a process. In school, science may 
sometimes?seem?like?a?collection?of?isolated?and?static?facts?listed?in?a?textbook,?
but?that’s?only?a?small?part?of?the?story.?Just?as?importantly,?science?is?also?a?
process of discovery that allows us to link isolated facts into coherent and com-
prehensive understandings of the natural world. 
•? Science is exciting. Science is a way of discovering what’s in the universe 
and how those things work today, how they worked in the past, and how they 
are?likely?to?work?in?the?future.?Scientists?are?motivated?by?the?thrill?of?seeing?
or?figuring?out?something?that?no?one?has?before.?
•? Science is useful.?The?knowledge?generated?by?science?is?powerful?and?reli-
able.?It?can?be?used?to?develop?new?technologies,?treat?diseases,?and?deal?with?
many?other?sorts?of?problems.?
•? Science is ongoing. Science is continually refining and expanding our 
knowledge of the universe, and as it does, it leads to new questions for future 
investigation.?Science?will?never?be?‘finished’.?
•? Science is a global human endeavor. People all over the world participate 
in the process of science. 
Science?is?complex?and?multi-faceted,?but?the?most?important?characteristics?
of science are straightforward: 
•? Science?focuses?exclusively?on?the?natural?world,?and?does?not?deal?with?
supernatural explanations. 
•? Science?is?a?way?of?learning?about?what?is?in?the?natural?world,?how?the?
natural?world?works,?and?how?the?natural?world?got?to?be?the?way?it?is.?It?is?not?
simply a collection of facts; rather it is a path to understanding. 
•? Scientists?work?in?many?different?ways,?but?all?science?relies?on?testing?
ideas?by?figuring?out?what?expectations?are?generated?by?an?idea?and?making?
observations?to?find?out?whether?those?expectations?hold?true.?

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•? Accepted?scientific?ideas?are?reliable?because?they?have?been?subjected?to?
rigorous?testing,?but?as?new?evidence?is?acquired?and?new?perspectives?emerge?
these?ideas?can?be?revised.?
•? Science?is?a?community?endeavor.?It?relies?on?a?system?of?checks?and?bal-
ances, which helps ensure that science moves in the direction of greater accu-
racy?and?understanding.?This?system?is?facilitated?by?diversity?within?the?sci-
entific?community,?which?offers?a?broad?range?of?perspectives?on?scientific?ideas.?
Many?students?have?misconceptions?about?what?science?is?and?how?it?works.?
The?most?common?misconceptions?about?science?are?listed?below.
Misconception 1: Science is a collection of facts.
CORRECTION
: Because science classes sometimes revolve around dense 
textbooks,?it’s?easy?to?think?that’s?all?there?is?to?science:?facts?in?a?textbook.?But?
that’s only part of the picture. Science is?a?body?of?knowledge?that?one?can?learn?
about?in?textbooks,?but?it?is?also?a?process.?Science?is?an?exciting?and?dynamic?
process?for?discovering?how?the?world?works?and?building?that?knowledge?into?
powerful and coherent frameworks.
Misconception 2: Science is complete.
CORRECTION
: Since much of what is taught in introductory science courses 
is knowledge that was constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries, it’s easy to 
think that science is finished — that we’ve already discovered most of what 
there?is?to?know?about?the?natural?world.?This?is?far?from?accurate.?Science?is?an?
ongoing?process,?and?there?is?much?more?yet?to?learn?about?the?world.?In?fact,?
in science, making a key discovery often leads to many new questions ripe for 
investigation.?Furthermore,?scientists?are?constantly?elaborating,?refining,?and?
revising?established?scientific?ideas?based?on?new?evidence?and?perspectives.
Misconception 3: There is a single Scientific Method that all scientists follow.
CORRECTION
: ‘The Scientific Method’ is often taught in science courses 
as?a?simple?way?to?understand?the?basics?of?scientific?testing.?In?fact,?the?Sci-
entific Method represents how scientists usually write up the results of their 
studies?(and?how?a?few?investigations?are?actually?done),?but?it?is?a?grossly?
oversimplified?representation?of?how?scientists?generally?build?knowledge.?
The?process?of?science?is?exciting,?complex,?and?unpredictable.?It?involves?
many?different?people,?engaged?in?many?different?activities,?in?many?different?
orders. 
Misconception 4: The process of science is purely analytic and does not involve 
creativity
.
CORRECTION
: Perhaps?because?the?Scientific?Method?presents?a?linear?and?
rigid representation of the process of science, many people think that doing sci-
ence involves closely following a series of steps, with no room for creativity and 
inspiration. In fact, many scientists recognize that creative thinking is one of 
the most important skills they have — whether that creativity is used to come 
up with an alternative hypothesis, to devise a new way of testing an idea, or to 
look at old data in a new light. Creativity is critical to science!

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Misconception 5: Experiments are a necessary part of the scientific process. 
Without an experiment
, a study is not rigorous or scientific.
CORRECTION
: Perhaps?because?the?Scientific?Method?and?popular?portray-
als?of?science?emphasize?experiments,?many?people?think?that?science?can’t?be?
done without an experiment. In fact, there are many ways to test almost any 
scientific?idea;?experimentation?is?only?one?approach.?Some?ideas?are?best?tested?
by?setting?up?a?controlled?experiment?in?a?lab,?some?by?making?detailed?obser-
vations?of?the?natural?world,?and?some?with?a?combination?of?strategies.
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