Scientific Method A series of steps scientists use to investigate & answer questions about the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUa-ilQqEv0

Observations Gather information Use your 5 senses

Think about this situation: You observe that in the morning when your baby brother cries, your puppy starts to howl. Later in the day, a policeman outside your house blows a whistle and your puppy howls again. Then next day, your sister practices her piano lesson and as she plays high-pitched notes, your puppy starts howling again.

How can you explain your puppy howling How can you explain your puppy howling? What evidence could you use to support your explanation?

Problem Come up with a good question to be answered. Example: Why is my puppy howling?

Form a Hypothesis “Educated” explanation Must be a testable “If. . .then . . .” Format Example: If there is a high pitched sound, then my puppy will howl.

Experiment Design and carry out tests that will help determine if the hypothesis is correct. There should be only 1 variable tested. Write down a procedure & list materials.

What kind of experiment could you perform with your puppy?

Results Could be notes, tables, pictures, charts & graphs. Record data from experiment. Could be notes, tables, pictures, charts & graphs. Example: What kind of data would we have for our experiment?

Conclusions Analyze data and determine if hypothesis was correct. Summarize the results. NEVER GO BACK TO CHANGE YOUR HYPOTHESIS. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA86dYxrg4Q

Think, pair & share… Observation: Since you started going to swim practice right after lunch, you get stomach cramps in the pool. With your partner, come up with an if/then hypothesis and a possible experiment you could do to test it.