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.