February 3, 2006
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Uwchlan Hills Science Fair 2006
February 3, 2006 |
The Scientific Method forms the foundation of scientific research at all levels - from elementary school science fairs to the scientists sequencing the human genome or planning missions to Mars.
Through the scientific method, the scientist breaks down a scientific inquiry into steps.
Question
Your question is the subject you've chosen to investigate. Sometimes you'll need to do some research to refine your question.
Make your question as specific as you can. A well-defined question will point you in the direction of a structured plan for your experiment. For instance, the question, "What is the perfect balogna sandwich?" is too broad - there's too many variables to test for. What kind of bread? What brand of lunchmeat? What kind of cheese? Mustard or mayo? Tomatoes and lettuce? Refine the question: "What is the best kind of cheese for a balogna sandwich?" (Really, it's not a good scientific question at all - nothing's measurable; it's all a matter of opinion - but you get the idea.)
Hypothesize
Hypothesize is the scientific jargon for "predict." Take your question, and predict what will happen.
Plan
Plan your experiment to test your hypothesis (prediction). Control your variables. This means that your experiment should only let one thing change at a time. For instance, if you are investigating whether plants need water in particular or if any liquid will do, make sure the plants are all the same kind, in the same soil, in the same size pots, getting the same amount of sun. Otherwise you won't be able to tell which thing (water, music, sunshine, soil) made the difference.
Write your plan in a notebook - this is your lab book. Scientists keep detailed records of how they plan and run their experiments. Publishing your results is an important part of science. Good science is repeatable. Record enough information so that another investigator could do the same experiment - will their results be the same as yours were?
Observe and record
When you run your experiment, write what happens in your lab book. Do it right away so that you don't have to try to remember it later. Take pictures, make measurements, draw sketches. What did it look like? What did it smell like? How much did it change?
Analyze
After you run your experiment, look at the data you collected - the notes you wrote about what happened, the measurements you took, the observations you made. What does it all mean? Can you plot your results in a graph? How do your results fit with what you thought would happen? How do you results fit with what other investigators have done?
Conclude
Once you have your data in line, set it alongside your hypothesis. Was your prediction right? If it wasn't, why didn't things turn out the way you expected? Here's the place to explain why things didn't work - "my cat jumped onto the table and ate two of my plants." If you were to run the experiment again, how would you do it differently? What did you learn? A professional scientist makes conclusions that point to the next project. Now that you know what you know - what would you like to find out next?
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