1. The Scientific Method

2. What is the scientific method? A step by step process used to solve problems.

3. What is the first step of the scientific method? Observe and come up with a problem Some observations are QUANTITATIVE Having to do with specific measurements or amounts Some observations are QUALITATIVE Having to do with observing the features of something Once you have a question about something you observe, you have your PROBLEM!

4. What is a HYPOTHESIS? A statement of what you think is going to happen, based on what you already know. It should predict what you think will happen when you do your experiment. So it should be written in an “IF…THEN.” statement: FOR EXAMPLE: IF I PICK THREE TYPES OF PINK FLOWERS, THEN THE ONES WITH LARGER PETALS WILL LIVE LONGER.

5. What do we do to test our hypothesis? EXPERIMENT

6. What are VARIABLES? An experiment should only have one variable that it tests A variable is a factor that changes throughout the experiment INDEPENDENT (or manipulated) VARIABLE: This is the variable that the SCIENTIST changes him/her self DEPENDENT (or responding) VARIABLE: This is the variable that changes because of the Independent variable. This is what we measure throughout the experiment

7. What else should be included in an experiment? A control group to compare our other tests to. It should have no changes made to it. Many trials, in case we make mistakes.

8. During and after the experiment, what do we do? Collect data in a data table DATA is measureable information we observe Graph and/or Analyze the data

9. What is the last step of the scientific method? CONCLUSION A summary that explains the data