Otherwise known as SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY The Scientific Method Otherwise known as SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Science A way of knowing things ( a METHOD) A body of knowledge Based on observations, evidence, experimentation, postulating theories, sharing results with other scientists Censored until chapter 33

Observation Observation: Things you directly use your senses for. Your 5 senses include: sight hearing touch taste smell

Inference Based on observations, you formulate a prediction or come to a conclusion using your brain.

The Method, the Process The Observation, leading to… The Problem: A question you want answered….end it with a ? Research (optional) The Hypothesis: If…then…statement. An educated guess as to the answer to your problem Experimentation Collect and analyze data Conclusion: was your hypothesis right? Share results, re-do experiment, peer review

Experimentation Before the experiment, you must develop a RESEARCH PLAN which involves: Finding background info Developing a hypothesis Designing the experiment Funding?

Experimental Design A good experiment should have only one condition which changes at a time. This is called the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE, and is plotted on the X-axis of graphs A change brought about by you tweaking the independent variable is called the DEPENDENT VARIABLE, and is plotted on the Y-axis of your graph

More Experimental Design It is important to keep all other possible variables constant while you examine the effects of the one you’re studying. Called…….? You should also have a group set up to compare your experimental setup to. It’s exactly the same BUT, it’s missing the Independent variable. This is called the CONTROL GROUP The SAMPLE SIZE is how many subjects will be tested To make an experiment more VALID and RELIABLE, it should have a large sample size, and repeated many times

Sample Experiment I wanted to see if Gatorade ingestion leads to faster marathon times than drinking water. So I got 50 runners to enter into my experiment. Half hydrated with water, half with Gatorade. What data will be collected? What are the dependent/Independent variables? What will your graph look like? What is the sample size? What is a reasonable hypothesis?