Transcript Scientific Method Notes

Scientific Method Notes
Question/Problem
• The first step in the scientific method
which tells the audience what you are
trying to solve.
• The question needs to be specific to your
project, lab or experiment.
Purpose
• Allows audience to know the reason you
are doing this project.
• Usually only one sentence that is straight
to the point.
• The purpose needs to be stated
– To determine…
Hypothesis
• The hypothesis is the educated guess as
to what YOU THINK will happen during
your experiment.
• Since this is a guess it does NOT need to
be correct.
• Do NOT change your hypothesis to make
it fit your results.
• Must be worded
– If…then…
Procedure
• Explains to the audience how the
experiment was completed.
• MUST BE SPECIFIC!!!
• A detailed materials list must be present
before the procedure is stated.
• **Another person should be able to read
your procedure and complete your project
exactly the way you did. Think of a recipe
for cooking.
Variable (Experimental Group)
• Independent variable- what is being tested
in your experiment. This is what is being
changed. There should only be one
independent variable. (x-axis)
• Dependent variable- this is what you are
measuring. (y-axis) HINT your dependent
variable DEPENDS on your independent
variable.
Constants/Controls
• Constants- all things kept the same in the
experiment
• Control is what you compare your results
too. This allows you to know how accurate
the experiment is.
Results
• Written results in paragraph form. An
explanation is given on the outcome of the
experiment. Facts only, no opinions.
• Data table- displays your results in a chart
(date table) form.
• Graphs- another visual for the results. Bar
or line graph only.
Conclusion
• Must always include:
– Prove or disprove hypothesis
– Explain why that was possible (may offer
opinions)
– Future plans- how would you expand on this
project in the future.
Sample
• Title: Musical plants
• Problem: Will classical music make the carrot
plant grow the tallest?
• Purpose: To determine if the carrot plant will
grow taller when exposed to classical music.
• Hypothesis: If I expose10 carrot plants to
classical music for 20 minutes each day, then
they will grow on average 15cm taller than the
plants without music exposure.
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Materials:
20 carrot plants (all 5 cm tall)
A CD player
A CD of Mozart music
2 artificial grow lights.
• Procedure:
• 1. Place 10 carrot plants in one room set
up with the grow lights and play music for
20 minutes a day for 30 days.
• 2.Measure and record the height of the
plants every other day.
• Repeat steps one and two with the plants
not exposed to music.
• Results:
The plants exposed to music grew on average
3 cm more every other day verses the plants
not exposed to music. Plants 8 and 9 of the
nonmusical set didn’t grow at all. Plant 2 on
the musical set grew the most at 32 cm.
**You would then make a graph and data table
displaying all plant growth.
• Independent variable- music
• Dependent variable- plant growth
• Constants- amount of soil in plants, size
when started, amount of light received,
amount of water received.
• Control- plants not exposed to music.
• Conclusion– I proved my hypothesis correct. The plants
exposed to music did grow on average higher
than the plants that were not exposed to
music. I think this happened because the
vibrations in the air provided stimulation to
root growth. In the future I would test tomato
plants instead of carrot plants.