Science Process Skills Vocabulary 8/16/04

Predicting Forming an idea of an expected result. Based on inferences.

Hypothesis An educated statement which attempts to answer a question and/or tells others what the result of an experiment will be.

Procedure Detailed step-by-step instructions that will tell others how you completed the experiment.

Measuring To determine the size of an object.

Collecting Recording information from an experiment in a systematic way.

Estimating Using common sense to get an approximate answer.

Communicating To share information

Inferring Developing ideas based on observations. Requires evaluation and judgment based on past experience.

Observing Using any of your five senses.

Qualitative Observations, Describe using five senses

Quantitative Observations Things you measure

Classifying Grouping or ordering objects or events. Based on observation.

Conclusion States whether or not your hypothesis was correct or incorrect and gives a supporting statement.

Analysis State what the data means. Lists any variables that may have affected the results.

Variable Something we change in an experiment

Investigation Using observations to collect and analyze data to draw conclusions in order to solve problems.

Extra Credit: 5 points Obtain an object such as a pencil or book. Describe in writing this object using the properties of size, shape, color, and texture. Don’t use vague terms like large or small. Estimate the size using metric measurements. Use complete sentences.