Think Like a Scientist!

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Think Like a Scientist!

• The Scientific Method

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OBSERVATION

• When you use one or more of your five senses to
  gather information about the world
• Observations are called DATA

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What are some examples?

• Hearing a Cow Mooooooooo
• Seeing a Dog bury a bone
• Smelling Choc. Chip cookies

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Quantitative vs. Qualitative

• Quantitative Observations
• Observations that use Numbers
• For example Measurements or counting
• Qualitative Observations
• Observations that use descriptions
• For example How an animal reacts to an event

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INFERENCE

• When you interpret an observation
• For example
• When you hear a dog barking.
• you may infer that someone is at the door!
• When you see a sea lion yawning
• you may infer that he is tired!

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What is a possible Inference?
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What do you OBSERVE?What can you INFER?
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PREDICTION

• Making an inference about a future event
• For example
• If Mrs. Brennan eats 12 Chocolate Chip Cookies
• I predict that she is going to feel sick!

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Who do you predict will win? Why?
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Now, Your Thinking like a Scientist!

• LETS SUMMARIZE!
• In pairs, person A tells person B what we just
  learned for 45 secondsNext, person B fills in
  the gaps or repeats the main points!

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THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• The process, or steps scientists use to gather
  information and answer questions!
• Scientists identify questions to ask by observing
  the world around them!

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1. Ask a Question or State a Problem

• Asking WHAT? or HOW? to something you observed
• Can you think of an example?

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2. Research your Topic

• Gather information that will help you answer your
  question.
• Library, Internet, Interviews, Experiments

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3. State your HYPOTHESIS

• A Hypothesis is an explanation for a question
  that can be formally tested.
• a.k.a an educated guess!
• Ifthen
• For example?

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4. Design an Experiment

• A procedure designed to test your Hypothesis
• Testing whether it is true or false.
• Must be repeatable, and easy to understand

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In a well designed Experiment, you need to keep
all variables the same except one.

• Variable
• The factor that is changed in an experimentit
  is what you are testing!
• Control
• The factor(s) that remains the same!
• Controlled Experiment
• An experiment where all factors except one are
  kept the same all of these factors are called
  the controlled variables

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For example

• Question Which freezes fasterfresh water or
  salt water?
• Hypothesis IF I add salt to fresh water, THEN
  the salt water will take longer to freeze
• Experiment
• Variable the salt that is added to the water
• Control the amount of water
• Controlled Experiment All factors, or potential
  variables are kept the same, such as temperature
  and amount of water

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5. Conduct your Experiment

• Perform your experiment by following your written
  procedure.
• Be sure to follow all safety rules!

 
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6. Collect Data

• The observations and measurements you make in an
  experiment are called Data.

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7. Analyze Data

• Did your experiment support your hypothesis?
• What happened during your experiment?
• Does additional research need to be conducted?

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8. Conclusion

• Does your data and observations support your
  Hypothesis?
• My hypothesis was _______ because __________

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9. Communication

• Share your results and data with others.
• Sources written, spoken, video, TV, papers,
  lecture . . .

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10. New Problem

• Form a new question or state a New Problem on the
  same topic.
• What more can you learn? What do you still want
  to know?