HYPOTHESIZING Suggesting a solution to a problem or

HYPOTHESIZING ¢ Suggesting a solution to a problem or possible answer to a scientific question you want to investigate.

HYPOTHESIS Is a suggested solution to a problem or answer to a scientific question based upon a person’s observation and previous knowledge or experience ¢ Example: You have observed that milk left outside the refrigerator quickly sours. Your hypothesis might be: Refrigeration slows the spoiling of milk. ¢

HYPOTHESIS MUST BE TESTABLE You must be able to plan an experiment to test your hypothesis. ¢ The RESULTS of the experiment help you decide if your hypothesis is correct. ¢ The hypothesis gives a rough outline of an experiment that can be performed to test the hypothesis. ¢

SCIENTISTS USE A HYPOTHESIS TO WRITE A PREDICTION o Prediction is worded as an if…then…statement. EXAMPLE: o Hypothesis: Fertlizers make plants to grow bigger. ¢ Prediction: If I give my plants fertilizer, then they will grow bigger.

DEVELOPING A HYPOTHESIS To develop a hypothesis first you have to write a question that can be investigated. ¢ Your hypothesis will be your educated guess about the answer. ¢

PRACTICE Hypothesis Write a hypothesis and a prediction in the form of if…then…statement based on this question: “Will empty trucks use the same amount of gas as heavily loaded trucks? ” ¢ Suppose you hypothesize that larger airplanes can fly farther than smaller airplanes. How could you test your prediction? ¢

WRITE a question based on the following experiment, then write a hypothesis ¢ Shari set up plastic bowling pins 0. 5 cm from the end of a ramp. She rolled a ball down the ramp and into the pins. She then counted HOW MANY OF THE PINS the rolling ball moved. She repeated this 3 more times using balls of different masses. Shari observed that the ball with the greatest mass moved the most pins.