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The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method. What is the scientific method? An approach for determining scientific rules and relationships Why do we need it? It’s more convenient than just hoping you stumble over the rules and relationships. The Scientific Method. Problem or question Hypothesis

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The Scientific Method

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  1. The Scientific Method • What is the scientific method? • An approach for determining scientific rules and relationships • Why do we need it? • It’s more convenient than just hoping you stumble over the rules and relationships

  2. The Scientific Method • Problem or question • Hypothesis • Design and conduct an experiment • Analyze results • Draw a conclusion These steps form the basis for our lab reports!

  3. Step 1: The Question • Ask the right question! • Sometimes you need to make observations to come up with a question

  4. Step 2: Hypothesis • How are variables related? • Needs to be testable • Needs to be consistent with the question

  5. Step 3: Experiment • Make sure the experiment addresses the question and hypothesis • Determine: • Constants: what doesn’t change • Independent variables: what you directly change (in Physics, we use Time a lot) • Dependent variables: what will change automatically when you change something else– what you observe • Outline what you will do • Do it!

  6. Step 3: Experiment (Cont’d) • Make sure you control everything you can control • Do many trials (at least 3)! • Set up a table to accept your data

  7. Data Tables • Data tables are created when you design the experiment • Then filled in when you perform the experiment • When you see the data later, you should be able to immediately understand what the data meant • Key aspects: • Title (with DV) • Units • IV • Trials • Averages (s) Time for ball to drop

  8. Data Tables Heavy Ball Light Ball • Lots of different ways to make tables • Easiest solution (but not very elegant) is to make lots of small tables • More efficient is to combine tables (s) Time of flight

  9. How to tell if your table is good • If you looked at it 2 weeks after the experiment, could you immediately figure out what the numbers meant? • What was I measuring? • What units did I use? • What’s different between this number and the one next to it? (s) Time for ball to drop

  10. Step 4: Analyze Results • What happened? • Draw graphs (if necessary) to determine relationships • Do whatever you need to do to draw a conclusion

  11. Step 5: Conclusion • What did you learn about the hypothesis from the experiment? • If it didn’t directly confirm (or refute) the hypothesis, what else needs to be done? • What did we learn? • What would you do differently next time?

  12. Keys to Success • Consistency • Make sure the experiment and conclusion directly address the hypothesis and the problem • Understanding • At the end, you need to clearly state what was learned • So be sure you learn something!

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