1. Thinking Like A Scientist
And the Scientific Method

2. Observing Activity

3. Part 2 of Observing Activity
Without talking- List as many details as you can remember about the video.
I’ll give you one minute!
Let’s compare…

4. How Do Scientists Think?
Scientists use skills to learn about the world.
Observing
Inferring
Predicting
Classifying
Making Models

5. Observing
Observing means using one or more of your senses to gather information.
Quantitative observations deal with a number, or amount.
Ex: the number of students in this class.
Qualitative observations deal with observations that cannot be expressed in numbers.
Ex: the color of shirts worn by students in this class.

6. Inferring
Inferring is when you explain or interpret the things you observe.

7. Predicting
Predicting means making a forecast of what will happen in the future based on past experience or evidence.

8. Classifying
Classifying is the process of grouping together items that are alike in some way.

9. Making Models
Making models involves creating representations of complex objects or processes.
Models help people study and understand things that are complex or can’t be observed directly.

10. Scientific Attitudes
Successful scientists possess certain important attitudes, or habits of mind, including curiosity, honesty, open-mindedness, skepticism, and creativity.

11. The Scientific Method Pose Questions Collect Information
Form a Hypothesis
Test the Hypothesis
Make Observations
Record and Study Data
Draw a Conclusion

12. Posing Questions
Scientific inquiry often begins with a problem or question about an observation.

13. Developing a Hypothesis
A hypothesis is a possible explanation for a set of observations or answer to a scientific question.
A hypothesis must be testable. Which means that you must be able to carry out investigations and gather evidence to support or disprove the hypothesis.

14. Designing an Experiment
A hypothesis is tested by conducting an experiment.
A controlled experiment tests only one variable, or changeable factor, at a time.

15. Variables Variables are factors that can change in an experiment.
An independent variable is a factor that is manipulated (or changed) by the person conducting the experiment.
A dependent variable is a factor that changes in response to the independent variable being changed.
A control is used to show that the results of an experiment are actually a result of the condition being tested.

16. Collecting & Interpreting Data
Organize your data- Data are the facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through observations.
Data tables are useful to organize data and observations.

17. Drawing Conclusions
A conclusion is a summary of what you have learned from an experiment.
You should ask yourself whether the data supports the hypothesis.
Also consider whether you collected enough data and whether anything happened during the experiment that might have affected the results.

18. Scientific Theories
A scientific-theory is a well-tested explanation for a wide range of observations or experimental results.
Theories are not facts.
Scientists accept a theory only when there is a large body of evidence that supports it.
Future testing or discoveries can disprove the theory.

19. Scientific Laws
A scientific law is a statement that describes what scientists expect to happen every time under a particular set of conditions.
Unlike a theory, a scientific law describes an observed pattern in nature without attempting to explain it.

20. The Scientific Method According to Monty Python
This is NOT how we do it!