An Introduction to An Introduction to Science and the Science and the

Scientific MethodScientific Method

By Marcos Lago Álvarez  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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What is Science?• Science is an organized

way of using different kinds of evidence to learn about the natural world.

•The goal of science is to understand the natural world, and to apply this knowledge.

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Scientific Method• The Scientific Method is a

way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments.

• Scientists conduct research by using the Scientific Method.

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Steps of the Scientific Method

1) Problem or question2) Information3) Create a Hypothesis 4) Design an Experiment 5) Collect and Analyze Results 6) Form a Conclusion7) Share findings

The Scientific Method is a series of steps that helps to answer a problem or a question. The most common steps are the following:

Steps of the Scientific Method

1) Problem or question• Identify a problem or ask a

question that can be solved through experiments (testable).

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Steps of the Scientific Method2) Information• Look up information about

the problem (books, reports, magazines, internet...) and make observations.

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Steps of the Scientific Method3) Create a Hypothesis • Hypothesis: a scientific explanation for a

natural problem. • Propose an explanation based upon the collected

information. This can be tested through an experiment.

• Can be written as: ’If…Then…’ statement.• It must predict a result.

Steps of the Scientific Method4) Design an Experiment An experiment is a procedure to test a

hypothesis.• It has two parts: materials and procedure:

– Materials: a list of lab equipment needed for the experiment,

– Procedure: a list of instructions to follow.*Variable: factor in the experiment that is being

testedRemember that a good experiment will only have one

variable (e.g. temperature, light, mass,...) and keep other conditions the same.

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Steps of the Scientific Method5) Collect and Analyze Results • Write down the information obtained

through the experiment and show what happened by charts, graphs, paragraphs, pictures...

• Modify the procedure if something does not work properly.

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Steps of the Scientific Method6) Form a Conclusion• Write an statement based upon the results that

accepts or rejects the hypothesis.• Suggest recommendations and improvements

for further studies.• Create another hypothesis if the first one was

rejected and repeat the steps.

Steps of the Scientific Method7) Share findings• Communicate your results. This

is one of the most important facts in Science to improve knowledge.

• Send your lab report to your teacher and wait for a feedback.

• Correct suggestions, if any, and prepare a short presentation to an audience (your class).

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Remarkable reports could be published in our school magazine!

Accuracy: check the lab report rubrics to do your best!.

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1. Problem or question

Materials

Hypothesis acceptedHypothesis rejected

2. Information

3. Create a Hypothesis

4. Design an Experiment

5. Collect and Analyze Results

6. Form a Conclusion

7. Share findings

Procedure

Create a new Hypothesis

It works It doesn’t work

Check, set-up or new design

SCIENTIFIC METHODDIAGRAM

Now, you are ready to do Now, you are ready to do Science!Science!

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