1. Why and How We Use the
The Scientific Method

2. What colors do you see?

3. Were you right?

4. Still don’t believe me?

5. Say the color not the word

6. What the… what just happened?!
It’s actually very easy for our brains to be tricked.
Our brains look for patterns, associate new things to old memories, make assumptions based on other things in our environment, are biased based on our previous experiences… and all sorts of other things that mean we are easily TRICKED!

7. So what do we trust to be true?
That’s where science and the scientific method come in to save the day!

8. What is the scientific method?
The scientific method is a series of steps that scientists follow in order to answer questions about the world and the universe.
If these steps are followed carefully and honestly, we can trust the results.
We can be confident the conclusions are based on evidence and reality.

9. Faith? Belief? Trust? Sort of…
Science will never require you to accept on faith.
Science will always grant you the opportunity to verify for yourself.
Science requires its knowledge to be verified repeatedly before it is generally accepted as true.
All of this is accomplished using the scientific method.

10. Scientific Method Steps
1. Ask a question based on observation.
It can be anything about the world around you. Or even about the Universe… out there…
Observation: Plants need water to grow.
Question: Will increasing the amount of water a plant receives every day make it grow bigger?

11. Scientific Method Steps
2. Research to find out if this question has already been answered.

12. Scientific Method Steps
3. Construct a hypothesis.
If your question hasn’t already been answered by science, then you make a hypothesis.
A hypothesis is a proposed explanation based on knowledge.
It must be testable.
It must be falsifiable.
Hypothesis: A plant given more water will grow at a faster rate.

13. Scientific Method Steps
4. Design and conduct an experiment.
The experiment must have a control and a single variable. (More on controls and variables later.)
No water mls water mls water

14. Scientific Method Steps
4. Design and conduct an experiment (continued…)
Record your results as you conduct the experiment.
Day 30: Negative 6 inches growth No growth Positive 10 inches growth

15. Scientific Method Steps
5. Results analysis.
Organize and analyze your data in order to determine results.
This might include charts, graphs, equations, and the use of statistics.

16. Scientific Method Steps
6. Conclusion.
Compare your results to your hypothesis.
Was the hypothesis supported or found to be false?
The plant given no water showed negative growth.
The plant given 10 mls showed no growth.
The plant given 100 mls grew significantly.
Therefore, the hypothesis that more water increases
growth rate is supported. (NOT “RIGHT” NOR “TRUE”)

17. Scientific Method 7. Publication.
Publish your results in order to share them with other scientists.
This is so that your experiment can be repeated and other scientists can determine if it is reliable.

18. When do we know it is true?
If the same results are found repeatedly, the scientific community will accept the results as scientific truth.