Scribd
Upload
9 views20 pages

Lesson Overview

1. The scientific method involves observing phenomena, asking questions, making inferences and hypotheses, conducting controlled experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. 2. An experiment on marsh grass growth divided plots into control and experimental groups, added nitrogen fertilizer to experimental plots, and observed the effect on grass height in both groups. 3. Analysis of the quantitative data on plant sizes and growth rates supported the hypothesis that nitrogen limits marsh grass growth.

Uploaded by

omar.hazembadawi2010
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
9 views20 pages

Lesson Overview

1. The scientific method involves observing phenomena, asking questions, making inferences and hypotheses, conducting controlled experiments, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions. 2. An experiment on marsh grass growth divided plots into control and experimental groups, added nitrogen fertilizer to experimental plots, and observed the effect on grass height in both groups. 3. Analysis of the quantitative data on plant sizes and growth rates supported the hypothesis that nitrogen limits marsh grass growth.

Uploaded by

omar.hazembadawi2010
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Lesson Overview
1.1 What Is Science?
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Scientific Methodology:
The Heart of Science
What procedures are at the core of scientific methodology?
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Scientific Methodology:
The Heart of Science
What procedures are at the core of scientific methodology?

Scientific methodology involves observing and asking questions, making


inferences and forming hypotheses, conducting controlled experiments,
collecting and analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Observing and Asking Questions


Scientific investigations begin with observation, the act of noticing and
describing events or processes in a careful, orderly way.

For example, researchers observed that marsh grass grows taller in


some places than others. This observation led to a question: Why do
marsh grasses grow to different heights in different places?
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Inferring and Forming a Hypothesis


After posing questions, scientists use further observations to make
inferences, or logical interpretations based on what is already known.

Inference can lead to a hypothesis, or a scientific explanation for a set


of observations that can be tested in ways that support or reject it.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Inferring and Forming a Hypothesis


For example, researchers inferred that something limits grass growth
in some places. Based on their knowledge of salt marshes, they
hypothesized that marsh grass growth is limited by available nitrogen.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Designing Controlled Experiments


Testing a scientific hypothesis often involves designing an experiment
that keeps track of various factors that can change, or variables.
Examples of variables include temperature, light, time, and availability of
nutrients.

Whenever possible, a hypothesis should be tested by an experiment in


which only one variable is changed. All other variables should be kept
unchanged, or controlled. This type of experiment is called a controlled
experiment.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Controlling Variables
It is important to control variables because if several variables are
changed in the experiment, researchers can’t easily tell which variable is
responsible for any results they observe.

The variable that is deliberately changed is called the independent


variable (also called the manipulated variable).

The variable that is observed and that changes in response to the


independent variable is called the dependent variable (also called the
responding variable).
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Control and Experimental Groups


Typically, an experiment is divided into control and experimental groups.

A control group is exposed to the same conditions as the experimental


group except for one independent variable.

Scientists set up several sets of control and experimental groups to try


to reproduce or replicate their observations.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Designing Controlled Experiments


For example, the researchers selected similar plots of marsh grass. All
plots had similar plant density, soil type, input of freshwater, and height
above average tide level. The plots were divided into control and
experimental groups.

The researchers added nitrogen fertilizer (the independent variable) to


the experimental plots. They then observed the growth of marsh grass
(the dependent variable) in both experimental and control plots.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Collecting and Analyzing Data


Scientists record experimental observations, gathering information
called data. There are two main types of data: quantitative data and
qualitative data.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Collecting and Analyzing Data


Quantitative data are numbers obtained by counting or measuring. In
the marsh grass experiment, it could include the number of plants per
plot, plant sizes, and growth rates.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Collecting and Analyzing Data


Qualitative data are descriptive and involve characteristics that cannot
usually be counted. In the marsh grass experiment, it might include
notes about foreign objects in the plots, or whether the grass was
growing upright or sideways.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Research Tools
Scientists choose appropriate tools for collecting and analyzing data.
Tools include simple devices such as metersticks, sophisticated
equipment such as machines that measure nitrogen content, and charts
and graphs that help scientists organize their data.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Research Tools
This graph shows how grass height changed over time.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Research Tools
In the past, data were recorded by hand. Today, researchers typically
enter data into computers, which make organizing and analyzing data
easier.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Drawing Conclusions
Scientists use experimental data as evidence to support, refute, or
revise the hypothesis being tested, and to draw a valid conclusion.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Analysis showed that marsh grasses grew taller than controls by adding
nitrogen.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

Drawing Conclusions
New data may indicate that the
researchers have the right general
idea but are wrong about a few
particulars. In that case, the original
hypothesis is reevaluated and
revised; new predictions are made,
and new experiments are designed.

Hypotheses may have to be revised


and experiments redone several
times before a final hypothesis is
supported and conclusions can be
drawn.
Lesson Overview What Is Science?

When Experiments Are Not Possible


It is not always possible to test a hypothesis with an experiment. In
some of these cases, researchers devise hypotheses that can be tested
by observations.

Animal behavior researchers, for example, might want to learn how


animal groups interact in the wild by making field observations that
disturb the animals as little as possible. Researchers analyze data from
these observations and devise hypotheses that can be tested in
different ways.

You might also like