the scientific method is a super
important and super exciting part of all
different types of science. science is
the investigation and exploration of
natural events and of new information
that results from those investigations.
science looks different depending on
what exactly you're looking at as far as
natural events go. if you are looking at
the interactions of matter and energy
talking about physical science those
would be the types of things you most
likely studied in sixth grade like
forces and chemistry. life science would
be the study of all things that are or
were once living. that's what we'll study
this year in seventh grade. And earth
science is going to consider all
different things about the earth and
outer space. so you'll look at the weather,
plate tectonics,
rocks, and astronomy (it's looking at
space) this year we will focus on life
science; the study of living and
nonliving things. so that's what the rest
of this flip will focus on.
as you move through this flip keep in
mind that the scientific method is a
list of steps
that scientists use as they're
completing an investigation.   they can
look and be worded differently, but no
matter what words you use, the scientific
method still follows this same process.
On your flip notes guide you'll find
some blanks with numbers next to them.
throughout the flip, each of those blanks
consists of or considers one of the
different six steps that we will talk
about in the scientific method. so you
may go through and pause right now and
add in each of the different steps next
to where you find a 1 , 2 , 3 , 4,  5,
and a 6 with lines next to it with the
same number of words.
now that you've got it written down I
want to just talk through briefly what
the different steps are and then we'll
focus on the first several parts of the
scientific method. so as you move through
the scientific method you first ask a
question and when you're asking
questions they result from making
observations, inferences about things.
they might result because of research,
but no matter what's happened you are
going to then make hypothesis. as you
make those observations, do some research,
you'll come up with what you think is
going to happen. you'll then test that
hypothesis through experiments and
collecting data and again making more
observations. you will analyze your
results using graphs, classifying, you
might make models as you're analyzing
those results. you finally will draw
conclusions which are going to be
summarizing all of the information
you've gathered up to this point, making
some inferences and modifying your
experimental process to potentially
retest. the final step is communicating
your results putting it out there for
others to see. so we'll go through each
of these steps more specifically
starting with asking questions.
so scientific questions asked can
find a variety of forms. scientists
might ask research-based questions, like
why do bears hibernate?  they may ask
testable questions or investigative
questions such as how does the amount of
body fat affect the length of bear
hibernation? or they might use other
questions or unsure questions like does
body fat affect bear hibernation?
so as we look through asking scientific
questions we're going to focus on
testable scientific questions. so a good
scientific question is going to be
testable and you know that it's a
testable question if it can't be googled.
so you if you can google it it's
probably not a scientific question.
phrases you might find that a scientific
question or a testable question would
start with might be, how can... what if... how does... what happens when...
and finally you should be able to find
variables that you're testing within the
question itself. so that leads us to what
is a variable?  so variables, just like in
math, are things that are likely to
change. variables in science are things
that are likely to change in an
experiment. so we look at three different
types of variables: independent variables,
dependent variables, and controlled
variables.
independent variable is the variable
that is changed by the investigator. I
like to think about it as, "I am an
independent person, I control the
independent variable." so an example in
the question do plants grow taller when
fertilizer is used
the independent variable here is how
much fertilizer was used that's the
thing that the scientists chose to
change within their experiment is the
amount of fertilizer used from trial to
try dependent variables are going to be
the things that depend on the
independent variable there are the
things that the investigator is going to
observe or measure throughout the
experiment so an example of this would
be do plants grow taller when fertilizer
is used what the investigator will
measure or the dependent variable is how
tall the plants grow based on their
independent variable so look at the
different heights of the plants
considering how much fertilizer each
plant had 30 Penant variable how tall
they grew and a controlled variable is
going to remain the same throughout the
experiment there can be many many
controlled variables in every experiment
for this example we could look at do
plants grow taller when fertilizer is
used one of those controlled variable is
going to be the type of plant you
wouldn't want to test different
varieties of plants like say a sunflower
and a daisy because they're clearly
going to have different heights you want
to make sure that your independent
variable is what is being looked at as a
reason for change so in order to do that
you have to control everything else
other things you might control in this
experiment might be the type of soil how
much water they're getting the size of
the plant the location of the plant so
every experiment can have a variety of
control variables but it's important to
keep in mind that you can only have one
independent variable and one dependent
variable so why are controlled variables
important we need to know that it is the
independent variable that caused the
results but also having those other
variables controlled helps others know
that our experiment is accurate and
reliable because they know that it's the
independent variable that is potentially
causing change and it also allows for
our experiment to be repeated we want to
make sure that if somebody else did our
experiment they would be able to
potentially get the same results because
they've controlled all the same things
that we've controlled so how do you tell
which variable is which what is being
changed on purpose
is going to be your independent variable
what's being measured is your dependent
variable and what's staying the same is
going to be your controlled variables
so let's try this
how does the width of a rubber band
affect how far it can be stretched pause
and identify in the work in the question
the independent variable the dependent
variable and the controlled variable
alright let's check your work so as we
look at this the independent variable is
the thing that's being changed by the
investigator would be the width of the
rubber band the dependent variable the
thing that the investigator is measuring
is how far it can be stretched and a
control variable in this case might be
the color of the rubber band the
material the rubber band is made out of
they can be made out of different
materials those would just be a couple
of um controlled variables but again you
could have more than one of those the
second step after we have identified our
question is going to be hypothesizing so
what is a hypothesis exactly hypothesis
is a possible explanation for an
observation that can be tested by a
scientific investigation in other words
an educated guess that's an attempt to
answer a scientific question so it's
educated because we've done research on
it and that makes it not just a random
guess we've actually looked up some
background information about the topic
and so we have to write this in a
specific way we followed the pattern if
and then we insert our independent
variable then we would insert our
dependent variable and because so
identifying something about the
independent variable identify something
about the dependent variable and then
justify why so I think the rubber band
that is medium width will stretch the
farthest because and then justifying why
so let's practice how is a flower height
affected by what you can water it with
coke or water the hypothesis here might
be if the flower is watered with diet
coke Berbick coke then the flower will
not grow as tall because the acid in the
coke will destroy itself so you've
identified the independent variable
you've identified it from identified the
dependent variable and you've given a
reason for why you think this is going
to happen I want you to go ahead and
pause and attempt this on your own using
the example in your notes and then we'll
move on to testing your hypothesis so
testing the hypothesis is the part that
many people consider the fun part but in
order to get there we have some things
that we must do in order to be able to
actually test our hypothesis so testing
your hypothesis making a complete test
involves two main parts one part of a
complete procedure of a complete test is
a complete materials list and the second
part is a well-written procedure so what
exactly are the characteristics of a
complete materials list one is that all
the materials are included not just a
few but everything you're going to need
throughout the entire experiment
specific amounts of each of those
materials are identified specific sizes
colors types of whatever the materials
are and that the materials are
accessible so you're gathering them
prior to beginning the experiment and
that there are things that you can
realistically get you're not going to
want to include things that are out of
your price range or you just don't have
access to
in a well but well written procedure is
going to have these specific
characteristics it's going to be broken
down into short easy-to-follow steps
each step will start with an action poor
otha would be an example of that the
steps are numbered first number 1 2 3 4
we need to have specific amounts of
materials to be used included within the
steps although you've already put the
amounts in the materials list you want
to also include them in the procedure as
well so that you know how much you're
using on that particular step and then
finally you want it to be clear and
concise wording you want anyone to be
able to read it and to be able to read
it without it being too lengthy in order
to complete writing a really good
procedure is super important because
scientists need to be able to repeat
your experiment in order to reproduce
the same results if a experiment can be
repeated and reproduced by other
scientists it allows the research to be
credible
it gives validity to the research
once you have your procedure written now
you're going to be able to actually
conduct the experiment so we'll continue
on with observations and conducting the
experiment in part two of the scientific
method
