The Scientific Method (1/11-1/15

These are the steps of the Scientific Method
I made this image on google draw, so there is no link!!!

Summary:

This week in science we refreshed our knowledge on the scientific method. There are 7 steps to this method.

1.       Observe what is around you

2.       Make a hypothesis (educated guess)

3.       Ask enough questions

4.       Do your experiment

5.       Record your data from the experiment

6.       Analyze the data that you have from the experiment

7.       Share and show other people your data.

The first step is to observe what is around you.  Find something that is wrong, or something that you have a question about. Ex: What makes grass green? Why is grass dying? 

The next step is to make a hypothesis with what you already know. Make sure that this is an educated guess. Example of a non-educated guess:  The grass is green because people dye the grass. We already know this is not true. An educated guess would be: I think that the grass is green because of something in it which gives it the color.

After you have your hypothesis you need to ask questions. You can ask anyone who you know will give you an educated guess. Ex: Your teacher. If you ask someone across the street, they might not give you an educated guess, and then you will have the wrong answer to your question. Make sure that you have enough answers. Once you have done that, check if they come up to the same conclusion. If they don’t then either ask more people, or start right away on your experiment.

After you ask your questions, and you have even more educated guesses, then you should start on your experiment. If you really think that people dye grass, then maybe you should grow a little patch of grass, and see what happens if you don’t dye it. Your experiment is supposed to be testing the hypothesis, so make sure that you are getting some information from the experiment. While you do your experiment, you need to stick with the way you planned it. If you were wondering what would happen if you mixed 1 cup of baking soda with 1  1/2 cups of vinegar, you can't just add more baking soda because you wanted it to explode more.

While you do your experiment, you need to record data. Example: Record what happened when you did not dye your grass green, you could make a table that has day one, day two, day three. Make sure that you are recording every single step, or observation that happens. Don’t leave out one fact because you were not expecting that to happen, you need to be honest, and write down everything that occurred during your experiment. It is okay if your hypothesis is not correct!

To analyze your data, put your recorded data into a graph, table, bars, or any other way you can represent what you did in an organized way. You can do this any way you would like. Example: If you grew your grass, you can write each day in one line in a row, or column in a table.

Once you have all of your data analyzed, you are almost done! Now what you need to do is share your information with others. Show them your first thought, and then present them the information you got from the experiment and what you know now.

I hope these steps will help you in the future to use the scientific method! Once you know the scientific Method, then figuring something out on your own is not as complicated. When you follow the steps, make sure that you are doing them in order!