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GENERATING
EXPERIMENTAL IDEAS
“THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY”
HOW DO I CHOOSE A GOOD SCIENCE FAIR
TOPIC?
OBJECTIVES
Use the Four Question Strategy and a
prompt to brainstorm numerous variables,
constants, and hypotheses for experiments
Describe a variety of prompts for use in
brainstorming: general topics, lists of
materials, science articles, questions,
demonstrations, and text-book laboratory
activities.
Use a checklist to evaluate your responses
to the Four Question Strategy.
NATIONAL STANDARDS
Identify questions that can
be answered through
scientific investigation
Design and conduct
scientific investigations
INTRODUCTION
When asked to generate an original experiment for a class assignment or for a science competition, do you often…
panic?
draw a blank ?
feel stressed?
INTRODUCTION
Maybe you experience random
thoughts like…
What problem should I investigate?
Why can’t I think of a problem?
Hey! I’ve got it! But, who cares?
What about…? No, that would take
too long and besides I don’t have…
INTRODUCTION
These thoughts and feelings are normal.
In fact, to ease their anxiety, students often
propose broad topics such as plants or
electricity.
Furthermore, to simplify the matter, students
usually “google” for a well-defined project of
which they follow like a recipe, not knowing
why certain methods are used.
INTRODUCTION
To begin, you simply need a strategy to help you develop an interesting topic into a well-designed experiment.
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY
will help you to develop an interesting topic into a well-designed experiment
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY
General Topic – Plants
Q1. What materials are readily available for conducting experiments on plants?
Soils, Plants, Fertilizers
Water, Light/heat
Containers
The more items you
list, the better your
experimental
design will be.
Be sure to choose
materials that are
inexpensive and
easy to find
Question 1: What ??? are readily available for
conducting experiments on ??
Q2. How do
plants act?
Plants grow
Plants flower
Plants wilt
Plants produce fruit
Plants die
The action you
choose will
determine what
your dependent
variable will be.
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGYQuestion 2:
How do ??? act?
Q3. How can I
change the set of
plant materials to
affect the action? Responses to this question
will generate possible variables you could choose when designing an experiment.
When you choose a variable to manipulate, this becomes your independent variable.
The other variables must become constants.
Water – amount, scheduling, method of application, source, composition, pH
Plants – kind, spacing, age, size
Containers – location of holes, number of holes, shape, material, size, color
Soil – composition, amount, depth, compaction
Seeds – size, color, number, planting depth, age
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGYQuestion 3:
How can I change the set of ??? to affect the action?
Q4. How can I
measure or describe
the response of plants
to the change?
This final question helps you
to decide how to measure
or describe changes in the
dependent variable (Q2.)
Count the number of leaves
Measure the length of the longest stem
Count the number of flowers
Determine the rate of growth
Mass (weight) of the fruit produced
Measure the diameter of the stems
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGYQuestion 4:
How can I measure or describe the response of ??? to the change?
APPLYING
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY
Practice designing experiments on your own using the general topic of solar panels.
Brainstorm responses to the 4 questions (use provided sheet).
1. What materials are readily available for conducting experiments on ___?
2. How does ___ act?
3. How can I change the set of ___ materials to affect the action?
4. How can I measure or describe the response of ___ to the change?
Design an experiment on surface tension taken from a book of science demos, activities, and “tricks.”
Going Over the Edge
Materials: water, pennies, and a glass
APPLYING
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY
It’s TIME for an EXPERIMENT
Procedure1. Place a penny on a level table or other level
surface.2. Fill a dropper full of water.3. Slowly add single drops of water to the penny4. Repeat step 3 until the water spills over the
glass. How Many drops of water can you add until the
surface tension of the water was not able to keep the water from spilling over the edge of the penny?
Repeat this experiment for a Quarter, Square object…
Is there any relationship between the number of drops and the…???
APPLYING
THE FOUR QUESTION STRATEGY
EVALUATING YOUR RESPONSES
TO THE FOUR QUESTIONSQ1 What materials
are readily available for conducting the experiment?Q1-
Q2 How does it act?
Q2-
Q3 How can I
change the set of materials to affect the action?
Q3-
Q4 How can I
measure or describe the responses to change?
Q4-
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
EVALUATING YOUR RESPONSES
TO THE FOUR QUESTIONSCRITERIA SELF PEER/FAMILY TEACHER
Q1. Readily available materials
Excellent List
Good List
Poor List
Q2. Action of Materials
Excellent answer
Good answer
Poor answer
Q3. Ways to vary materials
Excellent List
Good List
Poor List
Q4. Ways to measure actions
Excellent List
Good List
Poor List
Creativity of topic
Creativity of brainstorming
BRAINSTORMING IDEAS FOR
EXPERIMENTS
Textbooks, Lab Manuals
Your hobbies, part-time jobs, or chores
Science demonstrations and “tricks” found in
science activity books located in the
children’s science section of libraries and
bookstores
“What if” questions, brief news summaries,
and articles that suggest interesting follow
up investigations
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
To design an experiment for a scientific
inquiry, you must select..
An independent variable (Q3.)
Select a dependent variable (Q4.)
Identify constants (Q3.)
WHAT’S NEXT?
Formulating a solid hypothesis by predicting how
changes in the independent variable will affect the
dependent variable
Example: If (an independent variable chosen from
Q3.) increases/decreases, then (a dependent
variable selected from Q4.) will
increase/decrease/remain the same.
Be sure to use only one independent variable and
one dependent variable.
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