The way science works - Sonoma Valley High School
Download
Report
Transcript The way science works - Sonoma Valley High School
Science
starts with a question
Science a specific, methodical process of
answering a question
Science can only answer questions about
things that can be observed & measured
Science
starts with an observation
Then a question is asked based upon the
observation
Next a hypothesis is formulated
• Example: notice male birds are more brightly colored
than female birds
• Ask “why”
• Hypothesis: If females like bright males, then males
that are brighter will have more offspring, because
females choose them more often.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Conduct an experiment to test the
hypothesis
Collect data
Analyze data
Make a conclusion
Share results
Test only one thing at a time: the
variable (what changes)
• Independent variable: what the researcher
controls (how much water a plant gets)
• Dependent variable: what changes as a
result of the experiment (how tall the plant
grows)
• Control variables: Keep as many things the
same as possible (anything that can affect
the results – sunlight, soil type, etc.)
Have a large sample size
Scientists
can collect two types of data
Quantitative – factors that can be measured and
represented with numbers.
Qualitative- factors that cannot be described
with numbers
Think: Look at the picture of
the plants. What is a
quantitative trait that you
could measured and a
qualitative trait that you could
described about these plants?
Law – What happens
Theory- Why & how it happens
•
For example- The law of gravity says larger
objects pull smaller ones towards them.
Einstein’s theory of Space-time explains why
that happens.
Mathematics
- the “language” of Science
Models - used to represent things that
are too large, too complex, or too small to
study directly
1.
2.
3.
4.
What are the first 2 steps in the scientific method?
What is the difference between a dependent and
independent variable?
What is the difference between a law and a theory?
What is the format for writing a hypothesis?