1. The Scientific Method

2. An organized way to solve a problem through experimentation & observation.

3. Start with an Observation Example : Listerine seems to be a better mouthwash and it has more antiseptic ingredients

4. Form a hypothesis Make an educated testable guess based on your knowledge.

5. Example: Hypothesis : How will a high antiseptic mouthwash affect bacteria in comparison to other mouthwashes?

6. Design an Experiment Devise a way to test your hypothesis. Create aCONTROLLEDexperiment.

7. A controlled experiment MUST have 2 groups. CONTROL GROUP: all conditions remain the same EXPERIMENTAL GROUP: only the condition that you are testing for is changed ONLY 1 condition is changed!

8. Establish the variables for your experiment. INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: the variable that is changed by the experimenter (X axis for graphing) DEPENDENT VARIABLE: the effect measured due to the change of the independent variable (Y axis for graphing)

9. Mouthwash Experiment Petri dish Bacteria grown from swab Control Group -no mouthwash Experimental Group Listerine Scope Wal-Mart brand

10. Mouthwash Experiment INDEPENDENT VARIABLE: DEPENDENT VARIABLE: Type of Mouthwash Amount of bacteria killed

11. Get Results & Analyze Data Run the experiment & record the data

12. Area of Inhibition of bacteria growth

13. Area of Inhibition for Mouthwash Brands ControlListerineScopeWal-Mart 5 min0 mm3 mm2 mm1 mm 10 min0 mm4 mm3 mm 15 min0 mm6 mm5 mm4 mm 20 min0 mm8 mm6 mm4 mm

14. Draw Conclusions Determine from the data collected if the hypothesis was correct or incorrect EX: Listerine did kill more bacteria than the other brands because it had more antiseptic ingredients.