1. The Scientific Method

2. Scientists use experiments to test a hypothesis or answer a question

3. Parts of an Experiment QUESTION/PROBLEM
What question is being answered, problem solved, or hypothesis tested.
For example, “How many drops of water fit on a penny?” Or, how does the side of a penny affect how many drops of water it can hold?

4. Controlled Experiments
There are two groups in a controlled experiment:
1) Control Group: the part of the experiment that is left alone or “natural”. Used to compare back to.

5. Controlled Experiments
There are two groups in a controlled experiment:
2) Experimental Group: the part of the experiment in which a factor or variable is changed.

6. Variables are parts of an experiment
What is a Variable?
Variables are parts of an experiment

7. Controlled variables (constants):
What is a Variable?
Controlled variables (constants):
factors in an experiment that are NOT changed.

8. Manipulated (independent) variable:
What is a Variable?
Manipulated (independent) variable:
factors in an experiment that are changed.
Good experiments have only ONE manipulated variable.

9. Responding (dependent) variable: the factor that you are measuring.
What is a Variable?
Responding (dependent) variable:
the factor that you are measuring.

10. Parts of an Experiment Hypothesis An educated guess about the results.
Always support your idea with a reason! (I think that…because…)
What are some hypotheses you can come up with about the penny?
Write yours down!

11. Parts of an Experiment Materials: Items used during the experiment.
What would we need for the penny experiment? Write yours down…

12. Parts of an Experiment Procedures: Steps followed during experiment.
Write in a numbered list
Should be detailed enough that anyone can follow exactly what you did.
How many times you are going to do the experiment? It should be written here!

13. Practice
Work with your tablemate to practice writing out a procedure for testing the penny experiment
Be specific!

14. Parts of an Experiment Observations/Data:
All the information gathered while performing the experiment.
Now, do the experiment! Record your data in the table.

15. Parts of an Experiment Results/Conclusions:
Analyze your data to determine the final outcome of the experiment
What do you NOW believe as a result of the experiment or observations?
Restate your hypothesis (or at least relate your findings to it)
Support your claim with at least 2 pieces of data
Use good explanatory language

16. Practice Conclusion
What should our conclusion be about how many drops of water a penny can hold? Write one for your experiment, using the above guidelines:

17. Parts of an Experiment Share your results:
Publish your findings so that others may benefit from your work.

18. Scientific Method by Brainpop

19. Observations & Inferences
Description of objects, events
May include data from all five senses (touch/texture, smell, taste, sight, sound)
Could be drawings, diagrams, written words
Do not include opinions.

20. Observations & Inferences
Drawing conclusions based on observations
Often provide a reason for the event/object being observed.

21. Scientific Method Page (Joe & The Birthday Cake)
Example
Scientific Method Page
(Joe & The Birthday Cake)

22. THeories & Laws
Lay people often misinterpret the language used by scientists. And for that reason, they sometimes draw the wrong conclusions as to what the scientific terms mean. Three such terms that are often used interchangeably are "scientific law," "hypothesis," and "theory."
In layman’s terms, if something is said to be “just a theory,” it usually means that it is a mere guess, or is unproved. It might even lack credibility. But in scientific terms, a theory implies that something has been proven and is generally accepted as being true.

23. More like a scientific law than a hypothesis.
THeories
More like a scientific law than a hypothesis.
Explanation of a set of related observations or events based upon proven hypotheses.
Verified multiple times by detached groups of researchers.
One scientist cannot create a theory, he/she can only create a hypothesis.
Examples: The theory of evolution, the theory of relativity, and the quantum theory.

24. Examples: The law of gravity, the law of thermodynamics.
laws
A statement of fact meant to explain, in concise terms, an action or set of actions.
Generally accepted to be true and universal, and can sometimes be expressed in terms of a single mathematical equation. Scientific laws are similar to mathematical postulates. They don’t really need any complex external proofs; they are accepted at face value based upon the fact that they have always been observed to be true.
Examples: The law of gravity,
the law of thermodynamics.

25. Both are used to make predictions of events.
similarities
Both a scientific theory and a scientific law are accepted to be true by the scientific community as a whole.
Both are used to make predictions of events.
Both are used to advance technology.

26. A theory is much more complex and dynamic.
Differences
A theory is much more complex and dynamic.
A law governs a single action, whereas a theory explains a whole series of related phenomena.

27. An analogy can be made using a slingshot and an automobile.
Theories & Laws
An analogy can be made using a slingshot and an automobile.
A scientific law is like a slingshot. A slingshot has but one moving part--the rubber band. If you put a rock in it and draw it back, the rock will fly out at a predictable speed, depending upon the distance the band is drawn back.

28. Theories & Laws
An automobile has many moving parts, all working in unison to perform the chore of transporting someone from one point to another point. An automobile is a complex piece of machinery. Sometimes, improvements are made to one or more component parts. A new set of spark plugs that are composed of a better alloy that can withstand heat better, for example, might replace the existing set. But the function of the automobile as a whole remains unchanged.

29. Theories & Laws
A theory is like the automobile. Components of it can be changed or improved upon, without changing the overall truth of the theory as a whole.

30. Excerpted from http://wilstar.net/science/
Theories & Laws
Excerpted from