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Scientific Method. Purpose. What you want to find out A question Also called a Problem. Research. Background Information Found in Library On Line Text books. Hypothesis. An Educated Guess Must have background information to make this guess. Experiment. Test your hypothesis
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Purpose • What you want to find out • A question • Also called a Problem
Research • Background Information • Found in • Library • On Line • Text books
Hypothesis • An Educated Guess • Must have background information to make this guess
Experiment • Test your hypothesis • Includes a step by step procedure to test hypothesis.
Example: • Do ants prefer Sprite or Dr. Pepper? Dr. Pepper has caffeine, so ants will probably prefer the Dr. Pepper to Sprite. To find out we can pour equal amounts of Sprite, Dr. Pepper, and water (5mL) equal distances from an ant pile (5 cm). Observe and count ants at each pile for one hour. After an hour 40 ants had gone to the Sprite, 28 ants to the Dr. Pepper and 2 to the water. Ants prefer Sprite my hypothesis was wrong.
Scientific Method so far. • Problem – Do ants prefer Sprite or Dr. Pepper? • Research – Caffeine in drinks • Hypothesis – Ants prefer Dr. Pepper • Experiment – Pour equal amounts of sprite and Dr. Pepper equal distances from ant pile.
Experiments include: • Controlled experiment – all but one variable stays the same. Allows comparisons Variables – the items likely to change.
Independent Variable (Manipulated Variable) The variable that you change in the experiment on purpose. (type of drink next to ants) Dependent Variable (Responding Variable) The item that you are looking for in the experiment. This would be your data. (How many ants went to each drink) Types of Variables
Control Group • This does not include the manipulated variable to use for comparison. • Ex: water in the ant experiment
DATA (ANALYSIS) • Written observations • (usually in a chart) • Put in Graph to analyze • Line graph – trends over time • Bar graph – comparisons • Circle (pie) graph - percentages
RULES FOR GRAPHING • Must have a title • Each axis must be labeled • Manipulated variable on x-axis • Responding variable on y-axis • Numbers in consecutive order (start with 0) • Make a key if needed
CONCLUSION • An answer to your problem (what you learned – this must support your data) • State whether your hypothesis was right • What could have affected your results.