Saturday, May 30, 2020

Scientific Method

There are many steps in the scientific method. Usually you will find six steps in the method but there can be more.

Here are the basic steps in this method.

Observe
Use your senses to observe what is taking place around you.

Ask a question.
Why or How?

Hypothesize
To hypothesize is to form a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess or prediction about what causes something to happen. The plural of hypothesis is hypotheses.

Make a prediction based on your hypothesis
A prediction is what you think will happen if… It is something that might or might not happen when you test your hypothesis.

Think: If I do this, then ___ will happen.

Example
If I freeze salt water, then ___ will happen.
If I freeze fresh water, then ___will happen.

Experiment
You will need to test the prediction. Observe or perform experiments based on your prediction (hypothesis). Find out if your hypothesis is correct.

Conclusion
You will need to come up with a conclusion. You will decide how your test results relate to your predictions. Was my hypothesis (guess/prediction) correct?/incorrect?

Reflect/Communicate
You need to reflect. If the hypothesis was supported then one might need to go through some more tests of the experiment to see if it can confirmed. If the hypothesis was not supported then a new hypothesis would need to be made.

Talk with others (or yourself) about the results. Test the hypothesis many times. Have others test the hypothesis. The scientific method steps will need to be repeated more than once to see if the hypothesis is true or false. Remember, will the results come out the same when repeated again?


Of course, there are more steps but these are main steps to remember.

This is what my daughters 9th grade Conceptual Science teacher taught her class.
O - Observe
H - Hypothesize
E - Experiment
C - Conclude

Remember, the basic steps are:
OBSERVE
QUESTION
HYPOTHESIZE
EXPERIMENT/TEST
CONCLUDE

I like the steps the teacher gave my daughter (OHEC). If you remember those steps then you can just remember to question the things you observe.


Scientific Method
The scientific method | Khan Academy

1.1 Scientific Method Biology for High School | ck12

What is the Scientific Method? | Ask A Biologist
 
The Scientific Method | Ducksters

Videos
The Scientific Method Bozeman Science

The scientific method | Khan Academy - Sal has examples of fresh water and salt water ponds.

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