Transcript The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method
Science is a process of observation and
investigation to learn about the world
Scientific Method
• Investigations follow
this general pattern
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Scientific Method
• Dr. Edward Jenner and the Small Pox
Vaccination
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Scientific Method
Smallpox running rapid in the late 1700s
while Dr. Jenner was in med school
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Scientific Method
Overheard a woman (milk maid) say that
she couldn’t get smallpox because she
had already had cowpox
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Scientific Method
• Smallpox = rash, pus-filled blisters all
over the body, scabs, blindness,
pneumonia, death
• Cowpox = flu like symptoms for humans
Scientific Method
• Step 1: Identify the Problem
• Problem: Ask Why or How?
• Always starts with “To determine…”
Scientific Method
• Dr. Edward Jenner thought about the
milk maid’s comment and decided to
find out if it was true
• Problem: To determine if exposure to
cowpox makes people immune to
smallpox.
Scientific Method
• Step 2: Gather Information
• Need to know what you are talking
about
• Research all your information
• Where could you get information from?
Scientific Method
• Jenner spent years in and after medical
school learning about cowpox and
smallpox.
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Scientific Method
• Both are viruses that act similarly
• there are 2 types of cowpox, only 1
makes people immune
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Scientific Method
• Step 3: Form a hypothesis
• An “educated guess”
• If……..then….. statement
Scientific Method
• Jenner’s Hypothesis:
• If people are exposed to cowpox, then
they will be immune to smallpox.
Scientific Method
• Step 4: Test Hypothesis
• Do experiments,
• gather data
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Scientific Method
• Step 4: Test Hypothesis
• Set up variables:
– Independent variable; what you change
– Dependent variable; what changes as a
result of what you changed
– Controlled variable; what stays the same
so that only the independent variable
changes
Scientific Method
• Step 4: Test Hypothesis
• Set up variables:
– Independent variable; exposure to cowpox,
or no exposure
– Dependent variable; if people get smallpox
or not
– Controlled variable; same testing
procedure, same exposure to cowpox…
Scientific Method
• Step 4: Test Hypothesis
• Do experiments, gather data
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Scientific Method
• Jenner exposed people to cowpox to
see if they would get smallpox after
• 8year old boy, James Phipps got
cowpox but recovered quickly. When
exposed to smallpox never got sick.
• Tested many more people
Scientific Method
• Step 5: Analyze Data
• Take averages, %s, graphs
• Looking at the overall picture of the data
Scientific Method
• Step 5: Analyze Data
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Scientific Method
• Step 5: Analyze Data
Jenner found most people exposed to cowpox
did not get smallpox
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Scientific Method
• Step 6: Draw Conclusions:
• Make general statements that the
evidence backs up
Scientific Method
• Step 6: Draw Conclusions:
• In conclusion, Jenner found that cowpox
allows the body to build an immunity to
smallpox
• published his findings in a book
Scientific Method
• “vacca” latin word for cow
• Vaccination named after Jenner’s
findings
• Jenner became inventor of first
vaccination
• By 1979, smallpox was considered
eradicated from this earth