Scientific Method

Step One State a PROBLEM or purpose

Step Two Research your PROBLEM There are numerous ways to conduct research.

Step Two Search the internet Go to the library Consult with others Think of previous outcomes

Step Three Make a HYPOTHESIS. This is commonly referred to as an EDUCATED guess because you have done prior research before merely guessing.

Step Three The HYPOTHESIS needs to be written in the following format: If the INDEPENDENT variable is increased (or decreased), then the DEPENDENT variable will increase (or decrease or remain the same).

Step Four Conduct an experiment to test your HYPOTHESIS. Be sure your experiment will provide a way for you to come to a solid conclusion pertaining to your RESULTS.

Step Five Once you have completed your experimental design box and collected the data, you need to make an ANALYSIS. Data is analyzed using a GRAPH.

Step Six Finally, make a CONCLUSION related to the hypothesis and based on the results of a well designed experiment. The CONCLUSION needs to be written in the following format:

Conclusion By increasing (or decreasing) the INDEPENDENT variable, the DEPENDENT variable increased (or decreased or remained the same).

The Saga of the Popping Corn John The Saga of the Popping Corn

John worked for Orville Redenbacher, and was curious about the effects of moisture content in the popcorn kernel on the percentage of kernels popped.

John went home one night and searched the internet to see if he could find any other research done on this question. He found none. He asked his coworkers if they had ever investigated moisture content, and none of them had. Lastly he looked through the secret files of Orville himself, and still he could find no research to help him to answer his question.

He felt that the driest popcorn would pop the best, but he really did not know. John decided to investigate for himself.

 To investigate how moisture content in the popcorn kernel affected the percentage that popped, John treated three batches of popcorn kernels.

  One batch, John soaked in water for 24 hours before popping, another he put in a dehydrator for 24 hours before popping; and the last batch, he popped without any treatment (just out of the bag). 

He popped one hundred kernels from the same bag of popcorn and cooked each batch in a hot air popper at the specified temperature.  The amount of time the popper ran was the same.  After popping John counted the number of kernels that remained un-popped.

After counting the three batches John found that indeed the batch that was in the dehydrator was the batch that had the greatest percentage of popped kernels.