1. The Scientific Method/Process

2. W HAT IS THE S CIENTIFIC M ETHOD ? A series of steps followed to solve problems. Let’s take a look at Fig.1 on page 14. Is it always the same? WHY?

3. W HAT MAKES A GOOD EXPERIMENT ? L ET ’ S LOOK AT TWO EXAMPLES … Example #1 Bob wants to test if the type of shoe that he wears will make people jump higher. He wears his basketball shoes and then his sandals and jumps twice with each one on, he measures how high he can touch the wall. Example #2 Susan wants to see how the brand of potato chip affects the amount calories that are in a serving of chips and if it matches the packaging. She uses 3 different brands of chips and does each trial of her experiment 10 times. She builds a calorimeter, burns the chips and records the temperature difference in the water.

4. W AS ONE A BETTER EXPERIMENT ? WHY? Experiment #1  height jumping Experiment #2  potato chip calories

5. K EY V OCABULARY … Controlled Experiment- An experiment where only the independent variable is changed. Independent Variable- The variable you have control over; what you change in the experiment. Dependant Variable- what changes due to the independent variable. Qualitative Data - Data that can be observed but not measured. Examples: color, textures, etc. Quantitative Data- Data that can be measured. (numbers!) This data is used to GRAPH! Reproducibility- can the experiment be done again with the same expected results? Trials- Doing the variation of the experiment again and again!

6. A SKING A TESTABLE Q UESTION... “How does changing ______ affect ______?” (independent variable) (dependent variable) Let’s write a testable question for each of the experimental examples using the above format.

7. F ORMING A H YPOTHESIS … … THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION Two parts 1)What is believed to be the outcome? 2)Why? Should be backed up by research when possible It must be in the format of, “It is expected that if _______ then _______. This is expected because…” Must be 3 rd person No “I”, “we”, “you”, etc.

8. O BSERVATIONS : Something you notice using your senses. Quantitative Observations require the use of a tool of some sort; meter stick, thermometer, balance, etc. Qualitative Observations are made using your senses… What do you smell, see, feel, hear, taste

9. C ONCLUSIONS … “So what happened?” What was the outcome of the experiment? Must include data with units! AND “So why?” Why does it matter? Does this have any application beyond the lab and classroom?