The Scientific Method What is it The process
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The Scientific Method
What is it? • The process of gathering facts through observation and formulating scientific hypotheses and theories.
Ask Question Do Background Research Construct Hypothesis Try Again Test with an Experiment Analyze Results Draw a conclusion Hypothesis is True Hypothesis is False Report Results
Ask a Question • The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe or are curious about. Ask your self How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where. • For example…What causes landslides?
Do your Research! • It would be very difficult to pull all your research together from scratch. So in order to save time look up information from different sources EX. Internet or books. You want to make sure that you don’t repeat the same mistakes.
Construct a Hypothesis • Once you have gathered your data you can now create a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a possible explanation for your question. • For example “If there is a lot of heavy rain fall then a landslide will occur”.
Test with an Experiment • This is where you decided if your hypothesis is correct. You must test a fairly as possible. In order to make a test fair you must make sure that you only change one factor at a time and keeping all the other conditions the same. • EX: Build a mini mountain and sprinkle water down the mountain.
Analyze you Experiment • This is the time that you evaluate your experiment. Were there any changes. Was your hypothesis correct? Document everything you see and the changes. • EX: The water made the mini mountain experience a land slide. Because the rain loosened up the soil.
Hypotheses Right or Wrong? • If your hypotheses was right then the experiment is over. The next step you take would be to communicate your results. • If your hypotheses was wrong then you need to go back and construct a new hypotheses. Go back through all the steps until you come up with the right answer.
Your Results! • To have a completed experiment you need to show us your results. You can do this in different ways…final report, poster, power point, ect.