NOTES ON SCIENTIFIC METHOD A Scientific Method 1

NOTES ON SCIENTIFIC METHOD

A. Scientific Method 1. State the problem 2. Hypothesis- educated guess 3. Materials 4. Procedure-steps of experiment 5. Data-results or what you find out. 6. Conclusion-finished product/was your hypothesis correct. Why or why not?

B. Terms 1. Quantitative- observation with numbers 2. Qualitative- observation with no numbers 3. Constant- Part of the lab that stays the same. (What do I keep the same? ) 4. Variable- the part of the lab that changes a. Dependent Variable- these are the results of the lab. (What do I observe? ) b. Independent Variable- These are the parts of the lab that you choose to change. (What do I change? )

If you were to measure the influence of different quantities of fertilizer on plant growth, what would be the problem, a possible hypothesis, the independent variable, dependent variables and controlled variables?

If one were to measure the influence of different quantities of fertilizer on plant growth, the problem could be "how would different amounts of fertilizer affect the growth of a plant? " A possible hypothesis could be, "the more fertilizer you use, the better a plant will grow. The independent variable would be the amount of fertilizer used (the changing factor of the experiment). The dependent variables would be the growth in height and/or mass of the plant (the factors that are influenced in the experiment) and the controlled variables would be the type of plant, the type of fertilizer, the amount of sunlight the plant gets, the size of the pots, etc.