THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• AND Parts of the experiment

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Scientific Method

• Series of steps used to solve a problem
• 1. State the Problem
• -- use your ________to make observations
• -- What ___ ____ ____ to find out?
• 2. Form a Hypothesis
• -- A ________ ___________based on prior
  knowledge/observations
• -- What ____________ do you want to test?
• 3. Conduct an Experiment
• -- __________ ___________for testing a
  hypothesis
• -- What should you measure?

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Scientific Method (continued)

• 4. Analyze the Data
• -- _______________________________________
• -- What __________ during the experiment?
• 5. Form a Conclusion
• -- A ________ __________regarding the trend of
  the results
• -- Is your _________ _____________?

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Parts of an Experiment

• Control
• __________________________________
• Constant
• _______ or __________ that does not change
• Independent Variable
• Factor ___________ by the _____________
• The one thing __________
• Dependent Variable
• Factor ________ ________ depends on the
  ______________ variable
• The things being measured

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Practice Scenario

• To determine the effect of ammonium sulfate on
  plant growth, two seed flats containing soil from
  a lawn were seeded using standard lawn grass
  mixture. One flat was watered with rainwater and
  the other with rainwater containing a little
  ammonium sulfate. The flats were kept in the
  same area to ensure identical conditions and
  temperature.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
CONTROL
CONSTANT
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Another Practice Scenario

• Susie wants to see if a new, more costly fish
  food will cause fish to grow faster. She
  separates the fish into two groups of three fish
  each. Group One receives the old fish food.
  Group Two receives the new fish food. The
  lengths of the fish are measured each week.

DEPENDENT VARIABLE
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
CONTROL
CONSTANT