Scientific Method and Measurement Ms. Mezzetti Biology Lynn English High School

Scientific Method 2 3 1 5 4 6 7

How do we use the scientific method in everyday life? Solve problems-Who? What? When? Decide which products are best Make informed decisions using collected data/ideas/information School work Research

Scientific Method The word science is derived from a Latin verb meaning “to know”. The scientific method is used to solve problems in science and in everyday life Can you give an example of how you have used the scientific method?

Steps of the scientific method Make an observation: Using our 5 senses we make observations Ask questions: Based on an observation we ask questions as to what we would like to know Collect Data: Before we can form a hypothesis, we need to collect some information.

Scientific Method Make a hypothesis: Using our observations and collected data a hypothesis is usually an “if..then” testable statement of what we think is true Experiment: Used to test the hypothesis and prove it correct or incorrect.

Experiment A controlled experiment has a control group which stays the same and an experimental group where one factor is changed-known as the independent variable The factor that is being measured is known as the dependent variable

Analyze results Analyze: Do the results/data from the experiment support the hypothesis Data can be models, graphs or tables. It can be qualitative-color change; quantitative which is numbers

Drawing conclusions Draw conclusions: Is the hypothesis correct? . If not, you need to go back and revise the hypothesis and experiment again. Communicate results: After many trials with repeated results, it is important to communicate results. There must be many trials before a theory (thought to be true) or law(fact based on repeated experimentation) can be stated.

Scientific Measurement Scientists use Systèm International d’Unités (Internal System of Measurements), commonly called SI. This allows scientists to have a universal way to communicate their results

The Seven Fundamental Base Units 1. Meter (m) – length 2. Kilogram (kg) – mass 3. Second (s) – time 4. Ampere (A) – electric current 5. Kelvin (K) – thermodynamic temperature 6. Mole (mol) – amount of substance 7. Candela (cd) – luminous intensity

The Metric System The metric system uses the same prefixes. Common prefixes are: kilo = 1000 centi = 1/100th milli = 1/1000th 1 meter = 100 centimeters= 1000 millimeters

Derived Units