SCIENTIFIC METHOD -A PROCESS FOR ANSWERING QUESTIONS OR SOLVING PROBLEMS -NOT NECESSARILY DONE IN ANY ORDER -HAS 6 PARTS

You use of your senses to gather info 1- PURPOSE What do you observe? You use of your senses to gather info Ask for some observations from class What would your observation be?

2- GATHER INFO/ RESEARCH - describe (qual) or measure (quan) what we see and research similar situations to observe the difference -How would we describe or measure these situation?

3- HYPOTHESIS A solution to the problem or reason for a situation - Stated in an if…then… because statement What would be a good hypothesis for this situation? If the plant is healthy then it had light because plants need light to live

4-EXPERIMENT create a situation with ONE variable to test and create another situation with a different variable everything else is CONSTANT How could you recreate this experiment to compare results?

2 types of Variables- parts of an experiment to prove or disprove a hypothesis Independent -manipulating variable - determines or affects a dependent variable - “What do I change?” Amount of light Dependent – responding variable - what is affected or what you measure - depends on independent variable - “ What I observe?” Health of plant

THE DEPENDENT DEPENDS ON THE INDEPENDENT

5-ANALYSIS What does the test tell you? What have you learned from your results? If a plant has more light it will be healthier

6-CONCLUSION -STATE what happened in your ANALYSIS EXPLAIN any experimental error How else could you do this experiment? My Analysis showed that light helps plants live. Could have used a timer for the light. Could also have tried to use natural light instead of the lamp.