1-1 What Is Science? Slide 1 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Thinking Like a Scientist: The Scientific Method is a series of steps scientist follow to investigate and understand the world around us. Step 1: Observation of a problem

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 2 of 21 Example: Today all is well. Tomorrow you come into class and our fish is dead. Our purpose? Determine why the fish died. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 3 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Explaining and Interpreting Evidence Step 2: Form a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a set of observations. It must be testable. -know an “Educated Guess” Why? -educated because it is based on prior knowledge. -a guess because it can be proven true or false.

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 4 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Explaining and Interpreting Evidence A hypothesis must be proposed in a way that can be tested. -it must be a statement -it can not be a question -If…………then……….. statement

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 5 of 21 Step 2: Form a hypothesis Examples of a well formed hypothesis for our fish scenario: If……………………. then……………… Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 6 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Step 3: Experimentation An experiment is the procedure used to test whether your hypothesis is correct or not. There are two types of groups in an experiment: 1. Control group 2. One or more experimental groups

Slide 7 of 21 The control group is the setup in an experiment in which the setup is as close to normal conditions as possible. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Experimental variable: is the factor that is being tested by the experiment. The experimental groups are the same as the control group, except for the one factor or variable that is being tested.

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 8 of 21 For example: you want to see the effect of light on the sprouting of bean seeds. Seeds sprout under ground with no light. Therefore, seeds grown in no light are the control group. Seeds grown with different amounts of light are the experimental groups. The experimental variable is the amount of light the seeds is get. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 9 of 21 -Scientist must control the conditions and variables of their experiments to get useful data. -If more than one variable is tested it would be very difficult to determine why the results occurred. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 10 of 21 Our thoughts: The fish died because the temperature of the water was too hot. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Our hypothesis: If the water was too hot then the fish would have died.

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 11 of 21 Our controlled experiment will have four set ups One Control group (as close to normal conditions as possible for a goldfish) and three Experimental groups (each identical to the control setup except for the one variable that is being tested). Our experimental variable will be temperature. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 12 of 21 Our Control setup: As close to normal conditions as possible; room temp (22 degrees Celsius), 1 of the same type of plants 3 gallons purified water, 50 grams of stones 3 fish (same age and type),.5 grams of food each day, 14 hours of light, pH of 7 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 13 of 21 Our three Experimental Setups: tank 1tank 2 tank 3 12 degrees 32 degrees 42 degrees In each tank: 3 gal purified water, 50 grams of stones 3 fish (same age and type),.5 grams of food each day, 14 hours of light, pH of 7 and 1 of the same type of plants Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 14 of 21 If all the fish in experimental tank two and three died, what conclusion might you draw? Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Our control group: Our three Experimental Setups: tank 1 tank 2 tank 3 22 degrees 12 degrees 32 degrees 42 degrees In each tank: 3 gal purified water, 50 grams of stones 3 fish (same age and type),.5 grams of food each day, 14 hours of light, pH of 7,2 of the same type of plants

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 15 of 21 Step 4: Collect and analyze the data. Scientist usually perform their experiments many times to be sure they get similar answers every time. Data is information they collected. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

Slide 16 of 21 Step 5. Form a conclusion based upon collected data. Hypothesis is not supported….go back to step 2. (form a new hypothesis and experiment more) If the hypothesis was supported……proceed to step 6 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 17 of 21 Step 6: Scientist must replicate their work and truthfully share their work and results by publishing. A scientist work must be replicated over and over again by other scientist to insure the results are correct. Therefore, a scientist must publish his/her results and procedures so others can replicate it. Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 18 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 19 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Science as a Way of Knowing Scientific understanding is always changing. Good scientists are skeptics who question both existing ideas and new hypotheses. Therefore, nothing in science is absolute. -constantly be updated

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 20 of 21 Hypothesis: Educated guess / a proposed testable explanation of an event. Theory: A widely accepted idea that explains many different events. It represents the best efforts to understand a variety of related phenomena in nature. Examples: Cell theory, Theory of Evolution, Plate Tectonic Theory Law: A theory that has withstood much time and never disproven. Example: Law of Gravity Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

Slide 21 of 21 There are two types of observations that can be collected during an experiment: -Quantitative observations -Qualitative observations Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 22 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Thinking Like a Scientist Quantitative observations: Root word? Quantity Quantitiative observations are: expressed with numbers obtained by counting or measuring. Example: mass, volume, temperature, length

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 23 of 21 Qualitative observations: Root word? Quality Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Qualitative observations are: -descriptive -involve characteristics that can’t easily be measured. -Obtained by using your senses. -Example: color, texture, smell

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 24 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall Apples Quantitative observations? Qualitative observations?

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 25 of 21 Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall What is an inferences? An inference is an “assumption” you make based upon a series of observations.

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 26 of 21 Now make an inference about our apples: Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall

1-1 What Is Science? Slide 27 of 21 Proceed on to the PowerPoint lecture : Quantitative Observation/measurements Copyright Pearson Prentice Hall