Hypothesis, Theory, or Law

All-Write-Consensus 1.Read the information on your piece of paper. 2.On a separate sheet of paper, answer the question on your team’s index card. 3.Each person shares their answer. 4.Come to a consensus as to your final answer. 5.Raise hands and have teacher check your answer. (give students worksheet once they have a final answer) 6.Work on sponge activity.

Find Someone Who… You will mix in class, keeping your hand raised until you find a partner who is not on your team. In pairs, Partner A asks a question from the worksheet; Partner B responds. Partner A records the answer on his or her own worksheet and expresses appreciation. Partner B checks and writes his or her name under the answer. Partners switch and repeat the process.

Absent Students If you were not here for the all-write consensus or the Find Someone Who activity, you may use the information in this PowerPoint to complete the Find Someone Who worksheet.

Hypothesis A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomena, usually based on prior experience, scientific background knowledge, preliminary observations, and logic. A hypothesis needs to be testable.

Theory If someone says, “just a theory,” it usually means that is a mere guess. In scientific terms, a theory implies that it has been supported by repeated experiments and is generally accepted to be true.

Theory A scientific theory is an explanation of a natural phenomenon based on many observations and investigations over time. A scientific theory summarizes a hypothesis or group of hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing. Example: theory of natural selection

Theory A theory is most acceptable to the scientific community when it is strongly supported by many different lines of evidence — but even theories may be modified or overturned if warranted by new evidence and perspectives.

Law A scientific law is a way of describing what we'd expect to happen in a particular situation. Scientific laws describe how things behave but not why.

Theory or Law? One way to tell a law and a theory apart is to ask if the description gives you a means to explain 'why'. Example: Consider Newton's Law of Gravity. Newton could use this law to predict the behavior of a dropped object, but he couldn't explain why it happened.

Hypothesis, Theory or Law? The steps of the scientific method are repeated until a hypothesis is supported or discarded.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion. General  specific example, "All men are mortal. Harold is a man. Therefore, Harold is mortal." The scientific method uses deduction to test hypotheses and theories.

Deductive and Inductive Reasoning Inductive reasoning makes broad generalizations from specific observations. Specific  general "Harold is a grandfather. Harold is bald. Therefore, all grandfathers are bald." Inductive reasoning has its place in the scientific method. Scientists use it to form hypothesis and theories. Deductive reasoning allows them to apply the theories to specific situations.

Vocabulary Words 1.science 2.observation 3.inference 4.qualitative observation 5.quantitative observation 6.model 7.direct evidence 8.indirect evidence 9.hypothesis 10.theory 11.law 12.deductive reasoning 13.inductive reasoning