Science Basics 1 What is Science A method

Science Basics 1

What is Science? • A method for studying the natural world • Explains nature, but sometimes explanations must change • Investigation and experiment used to learn about nature 2

Important Parts of an Experiment • Variables – factors that cause a change in the results of an experiment – Dependent Variablefactor that changes as a result of changes in other variables – Independent Variablefactor that results in changes in other variables as it changes – Constant- factor that does not change as other variables change during an experiment • Control – a standard by which experimental results can be based • Hypothesis – an educated guess. Always: if…then…(because)… • Must be measurable and 3 testable

Scientific Methods • An organized set of investigation procedures composed of six common steps 1. State the Problem 2. Research and Gather Information 3. Form a Hypothesis 4. Test the Hypothesis Through Experiment 5. Analyze the Data 6. Draw Conclusions 7. (Repeat Experiment) • PGHEDCR – Please give her extra dirt covered raisins 4

Precision isn’t always Accurate • Precision – Describes how closely measurements are to each other and how carefully they were made • Accuracy – compares a measurement to the real or accepted value 5

Graphs • Line Graph – shows • Pie/Circle Graph – relationship where the used to show dependent variable some fixed quantity is changes due to a broken down into change in the parts independent variable • Bar Graph – useful for comparing information collected by counting 6

Parts of a Graph • X-axis – horizontal axis, independent variable • Y-axis – vertical axis, dependent variable • Origin – Where X and Y axes intersect • Important things to keep in mind: – Units must be the same – Make your scale to fit the data – Label the Axes, include units – Title the graph 7