1. The Scientific Method By Torrie Epperson TLA Secondary Session 4
MODIFIED BY ME CUZ IT WAS DULL

2. Table of Contents A Method to the Madness Step 1: Pay Attention
Step 2: Do Your Research
Step 3: Make a Guess
Step 4: The Fun Part
Step 5: Analyze and Organize
Types of Graphs
Step 6: Right or Wrong? NO!
Step 7: Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Summing It Up

3. A Method to the Madness! What is the scientific method?
The scientific method is a set of steps that occur in a logical order to help you solve problems in a laboratory setting.
Why use the scientific method?
Well, for starters, you’re thinking like a scientist. Part of that means keeping your work organized and following directions to minimize errors in your results. Plus, there’s very little you can do correctly if you don’t do it in the right order.
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4. Step 1: Pay Attention!
The first step in any scientific experiment is to make an observation. That means paying attention to what’s going on around you. Does your hair get frizzy when it rains outside? Perhaps you should find out why. Does Orville Redenbacher popcorn pop faster than Act II? I bet there’s a reason for that. Your job in the first step is to simply ask a question.

5. A Few Pointers For You
An important thing to keep in mind when forming your question is to make sure you ask something that can be answered. For example, instead of asking “why” something happens, ask “how” different circumstances affect your observation.
So, don’t ask why your hair gets frizzy when it’s raining, but ask how varying levels of humidity affect the frizziness of your hair.
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6. Step 2: Do Your Research
Before you can start the fun part of an experiment (you know, blowing stuff up, making a mess), you have to do your homework. It’s impossible for you to move on in the process without finding out some background information first.
There are millions of resources available for your use - don’t just rely on the internet, and make sure you double-check your facts.
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7. Step 3: Make a Guess
Well, not a guess exactly, but a hypothesis. A hypothesis is also called an educated guess. This is where step 2 comes in - you can’t make an educated guess without a little education!

8. A Good Hypothesis
A good hypothesis identifies both the independent variable and the dependent variable in an experiment. You can do this by writing an “if-then” statement.
For example, if the humidity increases, then my hair will frizz more. In this example, the independent variable (the level of humidity) is designated by the if statement and the dependent variable (amount of hair frizz) is signified by the then statement.
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9. Step 4: The Fun Part
This is where the real good stuff happens: the experiment! Now, before you start drooling, there are some key things you must do to keep this official.
First of all, you must design a controlled experiment. This means that you may only test one variable at a time. If we’re looking at humidity and hair frizz, you can’t also test the type of shampoo and the length of hair at the same time.

10. Experimental Design
The second important thing is to make sure that you list all required materials - every little thing! If you leave something out, it could mess up your experiment later.
Next, write clear, specific, step-by-step procedures. This means that a person with no previous lab experience should be able to read your directions, follow them with no problems, and come up with the same results you did.
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11. Step 5: Analyze and Organize
This is a key step because it ensures that you haven’t left anything out or lost important data. At this point, your task is to gather all the calculations, measurements, observations, etc. and organize them so that they accurately display what you’ve found.
This is usually done with the use of graphs, tables, charts, and diagrams.
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13. Types of Graphs There are three types of graphs we will focus on.
The first is the bar graph, which is most useful when you’re showing several groups of individual data. For example, if you’re testing humidity and hair frizz for both males and females, you can use a bar graph to compare guy v. girl.

14. The second type of graph we’ll use is the pie chart
The second type of graph we’ll use is the pie chart. This is best used when you’re showing percentages, or parts of a whole. For example, to break down the composition of air by each individual element, a pie chart is perfect.
The last type of graph, and probably the one we’ll use most frequently, is the line graph. This is used any time you want to show continuous change, like growth or increasing temperatures.

15. Graphing Principles
There are 5 key elements that any complete graph must have.
1) Title - this should be a descriptive group of words that includes both variables in the experiment.
2) Axis labels - the independent variable should be placed on the x axis and the dependent on the y axis.
3) Unit labels - if your axis label is temperature, make sure you identify what scale you’re using (C or F). If your label is height, tell what it’s measured in (cm, mm, in, etc.).

16. 4) Correct graph - make sure you’ve used proper increments along your axes, that you’ve started in the right place, that your axes are not flip-flopped, and that you use the right type of graph.
5) Key - somewhere on your graph, either within in or to the side of it, you should identify the different lines or bars in your graph.
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17. Step 6: Right or Wrong? NO!
The point of step 6, which is to draw conclusions based on your findings, is not to determine whether your hypothesis was right or wrong. Here, you can say your hypothesis was supported or rejected, but unless you have done your experiment 1000 times and come up with the exact same results each time, there’s no way to determine that you’re right.
Also, at this step, you can point out any possible sources of error or inconsistency in your experiment and make suggestions for improvement in the future.
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18. Step 7: Repeat, repeat, repeat.
As stated in the previous slide, you cannot call your results valid unless you’ve seen them over and over. On that note, it’s important that, in order to be taken seriously, especially in the professional scientific community, you repeat your experiment numerous times and reach the same conclusion each time.
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19. Summing It Up
End Show
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