THINKING LIKE A SCIENTIST SCIENTIFIC METHOD SCIENTIFIC SKILLS (Pearson/Prentice Hall)

I. The Scientific Method A. Question 1. What do you want to find out? 2. always a question 3. can be answered by gathering evidence B. Hypothesis 1. possible answer or logical explanation 2. must be able to test your hypothesis 3. usually an ‘if’ …’then’ statement 4. ex. If I mix blue and red, then I will get purple.

C. Experiment 1. any activity to test your … 2. procedure – a list of sequential steps, directions, list of what to do 3. variables – part of lab that changes a ). Manipulated variable – … b). Responding – … 4. control – part of the lab that doesn’t change, you can compare things to it to see if …

D. Written Data – Qualitative Observations 1. what you can detect with your five senses 2. ‘qualitative’ means to describe how factors relate to each other, not… 3. no opinions, need to be able to … 4. good descriptive language, but just enough to make your point

5. Examples of good observations a). ‘I had to stir the red and blue colors before I got purple.’ b). ‘When I added more red than blue, the shade of purple changed.’ c). good – describes … 6. Examples of poor observations a). ‘The purple is pretty.’ poor because … b). ‘We used red food coloring.’ poor because …

E. Number Data – Qualitative Observations 1). numbers expressed in tables, graphs 2). graph types – bar, line, point, circle 3). don’t change your data if it seems incorrect or doesn’t make sense 4). always use metric measurements 5). examples – … 6). examples of non-metric – …

F. Conclusion 1). Accept or reject your hypothesis 2). Avoid words like ‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ 3). Use words like accurate or inaccurate 4). Tells what you have found out or learned from experiment 5). Involves interpretation and inferring 6). Often leads to … 7). Answers question posed in first step

II. Scientific Skills A. Observing 1. what you can detect with your 5 must be facts, not opinions, but never taste anything in an experiment 2. example of fact – it’s 5 cm. long, water turned purple, car traveled 10 mps 3. examples of opinions – …

B. Inferring 1. to interpret an observation 2. combines your experiences and … 3. does not have to be a … 4. can be incorrect and still be a good inference 5. example – a child holds a dog on a leash, you can infer the dog went for a walk

C. Predicting 1. making an inference about a future event 2. based on evidence, past experience 3. must be able to … 4. While observing a child with paint and paper, you can predict…

D. Classifying 1. put things in categories with l… 2. often more than one correct criteria 3. examples: a. stars are classified by … b. students are classified by … c. athletes are classified by …

E. Making Models 1. representation of complex object or process 2. many types: picture, diagram, graph. model that you build, 3-D objects, poster, math equation, formula, globe 3. helps us understand things we can’t directly observe, like …

F. Communication 1. process of sharing … 2. often the purpose is to share results and observations 3. takes many forms: verbal, written… 4. examples – …