Transcript Ch. 1 Section 2 Scientific Inquiry

• Key Concepts
• What is scientific
inquiry?
• What makes a
hypothesis testable?
• What attitudes are
important in science?
• Key Terms (write in your
ISN with enough room to
define):
• Scientific inquiry
• Hypothesis
• Variable
• Manipulated variable
• Responding variable
• Operational definition
• Data
• Communicating
• How should we define “scientific inquiry”?
• Scientific inquiry refers to the diverse ways in which
scientists study the natural world and propose
explanations based on the evidence they gather.
• What are the steps to “scientific inquiry”?
• Posing Questions
• Developing a hypothesis
• Designing an experiment
• Collecting and interpreting data
• Drawing conclusions
• Communicating
• This section tells you how scientists use the
scientific method (called scientific inquiry in your
textbook).
• We’re going to practice designing experiments
so you can see the process at work. As you
learn the experiment process, I hope that
memorizing the steps will be easier for you
because you will understand them 1st hand.
• If you don’t understand a part of the process,
ask 
•Posing Questions
• Begin with a problem or question about an
observation
•Developing a hypothesis
• Hypothesis: a possible explanation for a set
of observations or answer to a specific
scientific question.
• Must be testable. What makes a
hypothesis testable?
• Designing an experiment
• Variables – factors that can change in an
experiment
• Controlled experiment – an experiment in which
only one variable is changed at a time
• Collecting and interpreting data
• Data – facts, figures, and other evidence obtained
through observations
• Drawing conclusions
• Communicating - sharing ideas and experimental
findings with others
• Manipulated variable
• Also called “independent variable”
• The one variable that is purposefully changed to test a
hypothesis
• Responding variable
• Also called “dependent variable”
• The factor that may change in response to the manipulated
variable
• Operational definition (this will not be on the test)
• A statement that describes how to measure a variable or
define a term.
• Why is “pose questions” at the center?
• Scientists possess certain important attitudes, or
habits of mind, including curiosity, honesty,
open-mindedness, skepticism, and creativity.
• What DOES make a hypothesis testable? Let’s
design some experiments and find out --
• Design an experiment to determine whether birds
eat a larger number of sunflower seeds or millet
seeds.
• What is your manipulated variable (what are you
changing)?
• Type of seed
• What is your responding variable (what is being
affected)?
• Number of seeds eaten
• What other variables would you need to control?
• Species of bird, number of birds, way in which the
seeds are provided, type of container, time period
birds have access to the seeds
• If you want to design an experiment:
• Make sure you know what you want to test.
• In this case, it was what type of seed was more desirable.
• So, you would test the type of seed (manipulated) against how many were
eaten (responding). That will tell you… tada… which seed was more
desirable.
• What might a resulting data graph look like??
Number of Seeds Eaten
45
40
35
30
25
Number of Seeds Eaten
20
15
10
5
0
Millet
Sunflower
• Propose a hypothesis that could explain the observation that
crickets seem to be noisier on some nights than others.
• 1. Perhaps the cricket chirps more when the temp is higher
• Must be testable – is this testable?
• What is our manipulated variable?
• Air temperature
• What is our responding variable?
• Cricket chirps
• Why is this considered a controlled experiment? How do we set it up?
• How can we make sure it is “controlled”?
• Only one variable is being tested at a time: air temperature. We must control the
number of crickets, food, etc.
• Choose one of the following:
• Write a hypothesis
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What boils faster – water, water with salt, water with sugar?
Does temperature affect the life of a battery?
What is the effect of music type on plant growth?
What color water evaporates the fastest?
What holds boards together better, a nail, a bolt, or a screw?
• Design your experiment
• What variables will you need to control?
• What is your manipulated variable? What is your responding variable?
• Predict your outcome
• What do you expect to happen?
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Remember: when it comes to experiments, simplify.
Make your hypothesis simple.
Make your variables simple.
Make your data collection simple.
• You want your results to be clear. If you have a lot of extraneous (not
needed) information, it will be harder to read your results and know
what really happened in your experiment.
• This does not need to be finished today, but get as much done as you
can in your ISN. We may come back to it.
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The steps!
The key terms!
How to design an experiment!
How to develop a hypothesis
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What is a hypothesis?
What are data?
What is classifying?
Why is honesty important for scientists?
Why is it important to control all variables except for one (in an
experiment)?
• What is a testable hypothesis?
• What are graphs used for?
• Review! Practice with friends! Be able to speak about these things
easily and clearly! You will be tested on chapter 1 sections 1 and 2
only. We will talk more about this tomorrow.