1. Catalyst (5 minutes) *get out a new loose leaf sheet of paper to start your week’s catalyst!
Have you ever conducted an experiment before? Have you ever seen an experiment being done? If so, describe what you did or saw.
Name some of the steps that you know you have to do when you conduct an experiment.
Pretend that you wanted to know whether a mouse liked cheese or peanut butter better. What kinds of things would you do to answer this question?
PUT YOUR NEW CATALYST SHEET IN THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR FOLDER!

2. The Scientific Method A Way to Solve a Problem

3. What is the Scientific Method?
The Scientific Method is a series of steps taken to identify a question, develop a hypothesis, design and carry out steps or procedures to test the hypothesis, document of observations, and sharing with someone else.
In other words, it’s a way to solve a problem!

4. Scientists have to think logically when they are investigating a question or problem.
They break things down into many steps.

5. 7 Steps to the Scientific Method
Most people agree that there are 5 to 8 main steps of the scientific method
In this class, we will use the following 7 steps:

6. 7 Steps 1) Choose a problem/ question
2) Research your problem/ make observations about your problem
3) Form a hypothesis
4) Write your procedure
4) Experiment to test the hypothesis
5) Record results/data of experiment
6) Communicate the conclusion

7. The Scientific Method Explained
1. Choose a problem or question
2. Make observations
Quantitative-measurable(3 cm, 2 earrings)
Qualitative-descriptive (adjectives)
3. Research your problem/question
The Scientific Method Explained

8. The Scientific Method cont.
4. Form a Hypothesis
5. Conduct an Experiment to test Hypothesis
6. Organize your data
7. State your conclusion/communication results

9. 1) Choose a problem or question.
Choose a problem that can be answered with an experiment.
It should be something that interests you, or deals with your everyday life!

10. 1 cont.) Make an observation
An observation is gathering information based on our five senses.

11. Do PCM scholars prefer hot Cheetos or spicy Doritos?

12. I see a lot of scholars eating hot Cheetos at lunch everyday.
What is the sense I am using for my observation here?

13. 2) Research your question
We can conduct research by making observations.
Sometimes, if our question is complex, we may need to gather more information by conducting some research.
Examples:
Observe the world around you.
Ask other people for advice!
Look in books or use the internet to find more information!

14. 3) Develop your hypothesis
A hypothesis is
a possible answer
to your question.
Some people call a
hypothesis an
educated guess.

15. To gather information, I asked scholars what kind of snacks they liked and observed what they ate at lunch. My hypothesis is that PCM scholars prefer hot Cheetos to spicy Doritos.

16. 4) Write your procedure List of all of the materials you will need.
List each thing you will do.
Number each step
in order.
Write down everything you will do.

17. My Procedure Materials Procedure Twenty PCM 6th graders
Forty cups of hot Cheetos
(each cup the same size)
Forty cups of spicy Doritos
Forty cups of water
(1) I will choose twenty PCM 6th graders and twenty PCM 7th graders at random (2) For 5 days, I will test four 6th graders ,and four 7th graders. This will continue until I test all twenty. (3) Each scholar will be able to eat one cup of hot Cheetos & one cup of spicy Doritos (4) In between eating each cup, they will drink a cup of water (5) After they have eaten both cups, they will pick which one they enjoyed better.

18. 5) Experiment to test the hypothesis!
Get your materials, follow your procedures, and make observations.
Write down your observations, this is called your data!

19. My Data: Fourteen 6th graders preferred hot Cheetos
Six 6th graders preferred spicy Doritos
Nine 7th graders preferred hot Cheetos
Eleven 7th graders preferred spicy Doritos

20. 6) Organize your data
Write down as much as you can about what you observe during your experiment.
Make tables, charts, or graphs using your data.

21. What do our PCM Scholars prefer: Hot Cheetos or Spicy Doritos?

22. 7) State your conclusion
In the conclusion, scientists answer the question that the experiment asked.
Look at your data and decide what it tells you about your hypothesis. Summarize your data.
Communicate your results with others.

23. My Conclusion
Based on my results, twenty-three PCM scholars preferred hot Cheetos, while seventeen PCM scholars preferred spicy Doritos. Therefore, I conclude that PCM scholars prefer hot Cheetos to spicy Doritos. My hypothesis was correct!

24. Once a scientist completes an experiment, they often repeat it to see if they get the same findings and results.
This is really what we call verification, or checking things out to make sure everything was valid and will happen again and again.