Scientific Method

1
Scientific Method

• Using Paper Towel Absorbency to demonstrate the
  scientific method

2
Scientific Process

• Observe
• Question
• Narrow the question and make hypothesis
• Test
• Analyze
• Re-test as many times as needed modifying the
  test each time
• Publish the results

3
Paper towels

• Have you ever noticed how many brands are
  available at the store?
• Have you noticed how they vary in color, texture,
  size of the roll, and cost?
• These are all observations that might prompt the
  scientific question of which one is best?

4
Paper towel absorbency lab

• Problem Which brand (of the choices we have in
  class to test) is the most absorbant?
• Problems must be written as a question
• Questions end in a question mark (?)
• Hypothesis After you get a sample of each
  brand, decide which you think will be the most
  absorbent and write it down.

5
Procedure

• Now you must design a method to test paper towel
  absorbency.
• Things to consider
• How are you going to measure absorbency?
• How do you know the square of towel you work with
  is a good example of that brand?
• What type of data are you going to collect and
  how can you present that?

6
Procedure

• Before you begin writing the procedure, skip some
  space on your paper to go back and fill in a list
  of the materials you will need. It is best to
  write your materials list after you come up with
  the procedure.
• Make sure your procedure includes details like
  measurements and quantities.

7
Procedure

• A procedure should be written in such minute
  detail that another group of scientists (or
  students) from another organization (or class)
  could follow your directions and repeat this
  experiment exactly.

8
Data recording

• Before you begin the experiment, design your data
  table for recording the data you will collect.

9
Now it is time to do the experiment

• Collect the materials you need
• Conduct the experiment at your table not at the
  counter
• Clean up when you are done and put everything
  away
• Used pipets go in the trash, glassware gets
  washed and put back exactly where it was
  (organized by size)

10
Data Analysis

• First step of analysis is to graph the data.
• Think about whether this needs to be a line or a
  bar
• Think about which data goes on which axis
  (Independent y, dependent x)
• Then write a one or two sentence description of
  any patterns the data reveal.

11
Data Analysis

• Questions to answer
• Which brand would you use at home and why?
• What other information would you want to know
  before picking a brand to buy?

12
Conclusion

• Write this in paragraph form
• You must start out with a statement indicating if
  your hypothesis was correct and how the data
  supports this.
• Then link this lab to the concept being studied.
  We are studying the scientific method so you will
  need to say how this lab demonstrates the
  scientific method.

13
Conclusion

• Discuss problems or challenges that could have
  affected the results. This does not mean that
  you did anything wrong. The problem could be due
  to the equipment available or other physical
  factors beyond your control. If you did make a
  mistake, you need to state it here or you will
  lose points in the lab grade.

14
Conclusion

• Make at least one suggestion how to correct the
  problem or improve the quality of the lab.
• Scientists often have to make small adjustments
  and repeat the experiment many times before they
  get truly trust worthy data.