2.  The goal of science is to investigate and understand nature, to explain events in nature, and to use those explanations to make useful predictions.  Simply put, scientist research scientific questions!  Scientific questions can be tested using the scientific method.

3.  What is the meaning of life?  Are their more amphibians in Florence or Burlington?  Will a plant grow more in rocky or not rocky soil?  Is it right to steal?

4.  Einstein asked the question: How are matter and energy related.  He answered the question and determined E = mc 2  The theory of relativity  Photons

5.  In order to form scientific questions, scientists generally make an observation.  An observation involves using one or more of the senses to gather information. You are simply stating facts.  An inference is a logical interpretation based on prior knowledge and experience.  Scientists use both!

6.  Scientists will try to research scientific questions by using the scientific method. Typically, they make an observation, form a scientific question (comparative questions are best), make a hypothesis, and then design an experiment in an attempt to answer the question.  We do this all the time, but we don’t realize it.

7.  1 st – Problem or question  2 nd – Hypothesis  3 rd – Experimental Design  4 th – Data Analysis  5 th – Conclusion

8.  When you observe something in the world you may have questions. Questions are good.  The best questions to research in science are typically comparative questions.  For example, you enter a paper airplane contest and lose. You begin to wonder why you lost. You notice other planes have more wing surface area. You ask the question do planes with more wing surface area fly farther than planes with less wing surface area.

9.  A hypothesis is a possible explanation for a set of observations or an answer to a scientific question.  If the (Independent variable does something, then the (Dependent variable will do something).  In this class you should always write your hypothesis as an ‘if, then’ statement.

10.  Independent variable – the variable you change or control  Dependent variable – the variable you are measuring  Lets try it. You wonder if the wing surface area of a paper airplane will effect the distance it will fly.  Identify your variables first and then right the hypothesis.

11.  Experimental Design or Procedure – Step by step directions of what you did so someone else could repeat your experiment. The procedure may be numbered or written in paragraph form. Details are the most important part of the procedure.  NO DETAIL SHOULD BE LEFT OUT! BE THOROUGH!  Your experiment should be designed to test your hypothesis!

12.  When you are considering your experimental design you must take some things into consideration.  1 st – There should be two groups (typically). One group will be the experimental group and one group will be the control group. The control group does not contain the independent variable (you do not change the control group). The experimental group does change (it contains the independent variable).  Two groups allows you to compare them and determine if the independent variable is making a difference.  What would the control and experimental group be in our experimental design of the wing surface area experiment?

13.  2 nd – Since you want to compare the control and experimental groups to determine if the independent variable is making a difference you must keep everything else about the experiment constant!  Constants are called controlled variables (do not confuse these with the control group).  You must control as much as possible in your experiment. If you don’t, your results might be flawed!  List some control variables in our wing surface area experiment.

14.  Data Analysis – This section includes tables and graphs. Also, observations should be included here. A brief analysis of the data is included here.  The more data the better!

15.  Conclusion – Did your data support your hypothesis? (My data did or did not support my hypothesis…) state your reasons for your conclusion using the data. YOU MUST EXPLAIN! Simply stating my data supported my hypothesis will not do.  Also, a discussion about the limitations or problems in your experiment should be included.  Finally, if you have more questions related to your experiment based on your data, then you should include them hear.  Lets try to list further questions for our wing surface experiment.

16.  Finally, when you write up a report using the scientific method you must include a title.  A title may be written in the following formats:  The (Independent variable) versus the (Dependent variable).  Testing the effects of the (Independent variable) on the (Dependent variable).  What would the title of our wing surface area experiment be?

17.  In America we typically don’t use the metric system.  It consists of meters, centimeters, liters, etc.  The majority of the world does use the metric system so scientists use it to make sure we are all using the same measurements.

19.  Length – They measure how long something is in meters abbreviated with an ‘m’.  Used to measure distance, height, width, etc.  A meter stick is 1 meter long.  Length cold be measured in smaller or larger units. A kilometer is 1000 meters. A decimeter is 0.1 meters or 10 decimeters make up a meter. A centimeter is 0.01 meters. So 100 centimeters make up a meter. If you look at a meter stick you will see 100 centimeters on the stick. A millimeter is smaller than a centimeter. A millimeter is 0.001 meters or 1000 millimeters equals a meter.

20.  Mass is the measurement of the quantity of matter in an object. Mass is measured in grams abbreviated with a ‘g’.  The same prefixes can be used as were used with length. For example, kilograms, milligrams, etc.  To measure mass you use a balance.

21.  Weight and mass are not the same! Weight measures the force something exerts do the the pull of gravity. Again, Mass measures the quantity of matter in an object!

22.  Volume is the measure of space in a container. It is measured in Liters abbreviated with an ‘L’. Also, volume can be represented by cm 3.  Again, you may use the previous prefixes with volume. You could have milliliters, kiloliters, etc.  You may already recognize things that use liters like 2 liters.  We use a graduated cylinder to measure volume.

25.  Density is the amount of mass per volume. You may see density written like g/L or g/cm 3.  Density is calculating by dividing the mass by the volume or mass/volume.  Example: 5 g/1 L = 5 g/L  Volume can be calculated as well. To get volume you must multiply the length by the width by the height or Length x width x height.  Example: 5 cm x 5 cm x 1 cm = 25 cm 3

27.  Refer to your ‘steps’ diagram for help.  1 meter =0.001 kilometers  1 meter = 0.01 hectometers  1 meter = 0.1 dekameters  1 meter = 1 meter  1 meter = 10 decimeters  1 meter = 100 centimeters  1 meter = 1000 millimeters  1 meter = 1,000,000 nanometers

28.  Scientific notation is used to help scientists deal with large numbers.  In scientific notation all numbers are expressed as two numbers multiplied together. The first number is between 1 and ten and the second is a power of ten. Here is an example:  5.0 x 10 3  That number translated would be  5.0 x 10 x 10 x 10 = 5000  The exponent tells you how many times to multiply by 10 or how many times to move the decimal point to the right or left.

29.  Positive exponents tell you to move the decimal point to the right or make the number bigger.  Negative exponents tell you to move the decimal point left or make the number smaller. Here is an example:  3.0 x 10 -5 or 0.00003.

30.  Precision tells how close multiple values are to each other.  Accuracy tells how close a value is to the true value.  See the handout for help.  When looking at data from an experiment it helps to know if your data is precise, accurate, both, or neither.

32.  During experiment scientists measure many different quantities. No matter how good the measurements may be there is always a limit to how precise or exact the measurement are.  This limits how precise the results of the experiment are.  For this reason, scientists use significant figures to keep track of the precision of their calculations.

33.  When using significant figures you must count the number of digits in each of your measurements. The number with the least amount of digits will tell you how many digits your answer should have. See the example below from the measurements of a box using a measuring tape.  5.25 cm x 2.55 cm x 1.75 cm = 23.428125 cm 3  The actual answer with the right number of significant figures would be 23.4 cm 3 because the lowest number of digits used was 3.

34.  Graphs contain an independent and dependent variable.  What are the definition of these two terms again?  The independent variable goes on the x-axis or horizontal axis.  The dependent variable goes on the y-axis or vertical axis.

37.  To try to help you determine these two variables you should ask yourself a few simple questions.  1. What can I control or what am I changing in the experiment? (Independent variable)  2. What depends on the other or what I am attempting to measure? (dependent variable)

38.  An easy way to accurately title your graph is to us the following format:  Dependent variable vs. Independent variable  You must accurately title your graph.

39.  Graphs typically have legends.  Legends are short statements (typically) placed under the graph that describe the graph. It should be short and concise.

41.  You must always label your units and each axis! If you don’t I don’t have any idea what you are graphing!

42.  Line graphs are good for showing how data changes over time.  Bar graphs are good when comparing something.  Pie graphs are good when looking at the parts of a whole.

43. LINE GRAPHBAR GRAPH