Scientific Method

REMINDERS:1. Be sure to bring your supplies every day

to class!2. USE assignment sheet daily

Did you know…

SPELLING counts (see vocab words). You must use your own words (or no

credit). Neatness counts

Scientific Method Foldable

Purpose Research Hypothesis Experiment Graphs Conclusion

Scientific Method—basic steps– Purpose/problem—pick a question

to be tested– Research—collect information

(Internet, interviews, books, etc.)– Hypothesis—informed guess – Experiment—test to collect data– Analyze data —tables/graph/charts

to compare your data– Conclusion—suggest a final answer

Scientific Method(more details)

Step 1: Posing the Question?????????????????--also called purpose or problem

--must be able to be answered by experimenting and measuring

Research --gather some information,

observing, or using prior knowledge (maybe do some research---book, Internet, interviews, etc)

Hypothesis– after you educated guess– What do YOU think will happen?– must be testable– it’s O.K. if proven to be wrong

Design Controlled Experiment– include detailed list of materials (include amount and type)– step-by-step (with numbers)– all steps must be well explained

– Variable (2 types)—more info later

• what is being changed??• opposite of constants

– control• used for comparison• what’s left alone• usually manipulated variable left

out

Two types of variables: Manipulated

– also called independent variable– the variable you change on

purpose– only ONE per experiment

Responding– also called dependent variable– variable that changes because of

manipulated variable – usually what’s being measured

during experiment

Examples…(Id the 2 variables, constants and

controls in each)

Plants grow taller and stronger when given Miracle Grow fertilizer.

Basketballs inflated with more air will bounce higher.

Conclusion —after collecting and interpreting data (1-2 paragraphs)

Carefully examine the data/graphs Was your hypothesis correct? Did you get

the results you expected? If not, make a new hypothesis (but do not

replace your original hypothesis) Were there any unexpected problems that

may have affected your results? (maybe human error)

Make suggestions on how the experiment could be redone. What would you do differently next time?

(conclusion…continued) Did you collect enough data (did you

repeat the experiment enough times and have a large enough sample size)?

What did you learn? Did you like doing this experiment? Why/why not? How would you improve this lab?

SO WHAT?????? How does this activity relate to the “real world”? How can you apply this to your life?

1st Lab: “Salt Dissolving Race” Relate to the steps of the

scientific method Do as a class as we go

through the steps (250mL water, ½ tsp (2 ½ mL of salt) each container—hot, cold, room temperature

Fill in 3 page lab sheet as we do this experiment together---refer to Lab Write-up Sheet