For the Instructor

Agriscience Pathway Standards: Upon completion students will be able to

C13.0 Students understand the scientific method:

C13.1 Understand the steps of the scientific method.

C13.2 Analyze an animal or plant problem and devise a solution based on the scientific method.

C13.3 Use the scientific method to conduct agricultural experiments.

Conquering the scientific method…

one hypothesis at a timeBy: Nikki Schiber

Objective I will be able to…

-Verbally state the 6 steps of the scientific method

- Use the scientific method to solve a problem

What is the Scientific Method

The scientific method is a way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.

Observation Use of one or more of the senses (sight, hearing,

touch, smell, and taste) to gather information

It is My observation that I am having a bad hair day.

Hypothesis Possible explanation for a set of

observations or possible answer to a scientific question.

Contains an “If…then…” statement.

If I brush my hair then I won’t have a bad hair day.

TheoryWell-tested explanation that unifies a broad

range of observations. A theory summarizes a hypothesis or group

of hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing

To become a theory the explanation must be well tested.

InferenceLogical interpretation based on prior

knowledge and experience My hair is out of control, is an inference I noticed

when I looked in the mirror this morning.

DataEvidence; information gathered from

observations.

The data showed that brushing your hair reduces the risk of having a bad hair day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7sSuhQ1_24

Method

Scientific

The

Of

Steps

Step 1: Question

What do you want to learn?

Examples would be:"What doorknob in school has the most

germs ?" or “What will help me not have a bad hair day?" “Does the color of a light bulb affect the

growth of grass seeds?”

Step 2: Research

Find out as much as you can.

Look for information in books, on the internet, and

by talking with teachers to get the most information

you can before you start experimenting.

Step 3: Hypothesis After doing your research, try to predict the answer

to the problem. Another term for hypothesis is 'educated guess'. This is usually stated " If I...(do something) then...(this will occur)"

A more scientific example (and one we could use for an SAE project) would be, "If I grow grass seeds under green light bulbs, then they will grow faster than plants growing under red light bulbs."

Step 4: Experiment

The fun Part!

Design a test or procedure to see if your hypothesis is correct.

In our example, you would set up grass seeds under a green light bulb and seeds under a red light and observe each for a couple of weeks. You would also set up grass seeds under regular white light so that you can compare it with the others. If you are doing this for a science fair, you will probably have to write down exactly what you did for your experiment step by step.

Step 5: Analysis

Record what happened during the experiment.

Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if they support your hypothesis or not.

Also known as “data”

Step 6: Conclusion

Review the data and check to see if your hypothesis was correct.

If the grass under the green light bulb grew faster, then you proved your hypothesis, if not, your hypothesis was wrong. It is not “bad” if your hypothesis was wrong, because you discovered something!

Review

• What is the second step of the Scientific Method?

• What do we call the process of obtaining information by using the senses?