The Scientific Method & Scientific Inquiry

1. The Scientific Method& Scientific Inquiry

2. The Process of Science • SCIENCE is a way of exploring the natural world • Science DOES NOT attempt to answer questions about: • Supernatural phenomena • Ethical or moral dilemmas • Social or political issues

3. Scientific Inquiry • Science is a process of thinking critically, using observations, inferring, comparing, contrasting and looking for cause and effect • Minds on, hands on

4. Science is accomplished through: • Observation and collection of data • Qualitative – descriptions rather than measurements • Quantitative – recorded measurements (numerical) • Proposing testable and falsifiable hypotheses • Prediction of an outcome • Making unbiased conclusionsbased on the data • Compiling conclusions into theories backed by repeated experiments

5. The Scientific Method

6. Variables • Independent • manipulated by the experimenter • Dependent • measured, counted, or observed in response to the independent variable • Constants • held constant between groups • ensures differences measured are due only to manipulation of independent variable

7. Controlled Experiments • Control Group • treated just like the experimental group EXCEPT they are not exposed to the independent variable; • the group with which the experimental group can be compared • Experimental Group • exposed to the independent variable

8. Analysis & Conclusion • Evidence-based • What do the results MEAN????

9. Practice • Smithers thinks that juice will increase the productivity of workers. He creates two groups of 50 . Group A is given the juice, Group B is not given the juice. Both groups have the same task. After an hour, Smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. Group A made 1,587 stacks, Group B made 2,113 stacks. • Hypothesis? • IV? DV? • Exp & Con grp? • Constants? • Analysis?