Scientific Method Notes

Question/Problem

• The first step in the scientific method which tells the audience what you are trying to solve.

• The question needs to be specific to your project, lab or experiment.

Purpose

• Allows audience to know the reason you are doing this project.

• Usually only one sentence that is straight to the point.

• The purpose needs to be stated

– To determine…

Hypothesis

• The hypothesis is the educated guess as to what YOU THINK will happen during your experiment.

• Since this is a guess it does NOT need to be correct.

• Do NOT change your hypothesis to make it fit your results.

• Must be worded– If…then…

Procedure

• Explains to the audience how the experiment was completed.

• MUST BE SPECIFIC!!!• A detailed materials list must be present

before the procedure is stated.• **Another person should be able to read

your procedure and complete your project exactly the way you did. Think of a recipe for cooking.

Variable (Experimental Group)

• Independent variable- what is being tested in your experiment. This is what is being changed. There should only be one independent variable. (x-axis)

• Dependent variable- this is what you are measuring. (y-axis) HINT your dependent variable DEPENDS on your independent variable.

Constants/Controls

• Constants- all things kept the same in the experiment

• Control is what you compare your results too. This allows you to know how accurate the experiment is.

Results

• Written results in paragraph form. An explanation is given on the outcome of the experiment. Facts only, no opinions.

• Data table- displays your results in a chart (date table) form.

• Graphs- another visual for the results. Bar or line graph only.

Conclusion

• Must always include:– Prove or disprove hypothesis– Explain why that was possible (may offer

opinions)– Future plans- how would you expand on this

project in the future.

Sample

• Title: Musical plants• Problem: Will classical music make the carrot

plant grow the tallest?• Purpose: To determine if the carrot plant will

grow taller when exposed to classical music.• Hypothesis: If I expose10 carrot plants to

classical music for 20 minutes each day, then they will grow on average 15cm taller than the plants without music exposure.

• Materials:

• 20 carrot plants (all 5 cm tall)

• A CD player

• A CD of Mozart music

• 2 artificial grow lights.

• Procedure:

• 1. Place 10 carrot plants in one room set up with the grow lights and play music for 20 minutes a day for 30 days.

• 2.Measure and record the height of the plants every other day.

• Repeat steps one and two with the plants not exposed to music.

• Results:The plants exposed to music grew on average 3 cm more every other day verses the plants not exposed to music. Plants 8 and 9 of the nonmusical set didn’t grow at all. Plant 2 on the musical set grew the most at 32 cm.

**You would then make a graph and data table displaying all plant growth.

• Independent variable- music

• Dependent variable- plant growth

• Constants- amount of soil in plants, size when started, amount of light received, amount of water received.

• Control- plants not exposed to music.

• Conclusion-– I proved my hypothesis correct. The plants

exposed to music did grow on average higher than the plants that were not exposed to music. I think this happened because the vibrations in the air provided stimulation to root growth. In the future I would test tomato plants instead of carrot plants.