Scientific Method real world Example! “Let’s get Real!”

Here’s Your Situation:  What you Observe:  You enter your house late at night, go turn on the light switch, and it’s still dark. This begs the question: “Why is it still dark?”  Your observation raises a question that has yet to be answered.  Do Background Research:  Has this ever happened? What are the possible reasons for this? Search your memory for these answers.  Background research is done to make sure your information on the matter is up-to-date, and informs you of relevant experiments.  Construct a Hypothesis:  “The power must be out! If I look out the window, I bet my neighbors’ lights will be out too!”  Our hypothesis seeks to answer the question, BUT it also permits itself to be experimented against. A good hypothesis must be something you can measure.

 Test your Hypothesis  You look out the window to see if there are any lights on in your neighbors’ house.  Analyze Data and draw a Conclusion  If any of your neighbors’ lights are on, then your hypothesis fails and you must make a new one  In this case: You notice your neighbors’ lights are still on – reject hypothesis  New Hypothesis  “The light bulb must be burned out! If I turn on another light and it works, then the bulb on the first lamp is burned out.”  Analyze Data and draw a Conclusion #2  You find that the second lamp turns on! You conclude that the first lamp’s bulb is burned out.  Communicate your Results  You tell your dad that the light is burned out so that he can replace it!  Problem solved! Now your analysis is available for others to review. Your dad might find that the Lamp wasn’t plugged in!!

See! You use the Scientific Method without even thinking about it!  Ask a Question  Do Background Research  Construct Hypothesis  Test Hypothesis  Analyze Data and Draw Conclusion  Communicate Results

The End