Transcript Science and Problem Solving What is Science? The knowledge obtained by observing the natural world in order to discover facts and to formulate laws and principles.

Science and
Problem Solving
What is Science?
The knowledge obtained by
observing the natural world
in order to discover facts and
to formulate laws and
principles that can be verified
or tested.
What is the
scientific method?
A step-by-step process for solving problems.
Some problems are as simple as: Which
fertilizer helps tomato plants grow tallest?
Or some problems are as complex as: Which
medical treatment will cure cancer?
What is the first step?
The first step of the scientific method is
determining and stating the
question/problem.
You must always state the problem in
question form using a question mark (?) at
the end of the statement.
Making Sure Your
Question is Testable
What is an opinion?
Based on the personal
thoughts and feelings
of someone.
How many students in
Green pod like UT
football?
What is testable?
Not based on personal
thoughts and feelings.
Based on facts that result
in numerical data.
How many students are
in each 7th grade pod
this year?
Look at the following scenarios. An
opinionated question has been
stated. These type of questions are
not testable using the scientific
method.
With your group, design a testable
research question.
Which slide is Carson’s favorite at
the park?
What flavor Dunkin Donut
munchkin is the most popular?
Does Ms. Porter enjoy football?
What is the most popular cake
topping?
Is this lady crazy?
Step 2: Collect Information
After you state a testable question/problem,
you must collect information that will help
you with finding an answer to your
question/problem.
As you collect information, you must
determine the controls and variables.
What is a control (constant)?
A part of the experiment that stays the same.
There may be more than one control in each
experiment.
Example: If you are testing which soil plants grow
in best, then your controls could be the amount of
sunlight and water given to each plant. Also, the
type of pot the plants are growing in.
What are variables?
Variables are the part of the experiment that changes.
There are two types of variables:
1. Independent variable
2. Dependent variable
There are only one of each in an experiment.
Independent Variable
The variable that is intentionally changed by
the scientist.
Example: When testing soil, the scientist will
change the types of soil he/she is using in
the experiment. Types of soil is the
independent variable.
Dependent Variable
The variable that will change as a result of the
independent variable.
Example: When testing soil, the scientist will
change the types of soil (independent) and
the height the plants grow will change as a
result of the different soils. Height of
plants is the dependent variable.
Scenario #1
Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he
thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating crabby
patties at the Krusty Krab.
He asked 100 customers with a history of bad breath to try his new
breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint
after they finished eating a crabby patty. The other fifty (Group B)
also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich,
however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the
secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the
breath mint that would cure their bad breath.
Two hours after eating the crabby patties, thirty customers in Group
A and ten customers in Group B reported having better breath than
they normally had after eating crabby patties.
Scenario #2
SpongeBob noticed that his favorite pants were not as
clean as they used to be.
His friend Sandy told him that he should try using
Clean-O detergent, a new brand of laundry soap she
found at Sail-Mart.
SpongeBob made sure to wash one pair of pants in
plain water and another pair in water with the
Clean-O detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a
total of three times, the pants washed in the
Clean-O detergent did not appear to be any cleaner than
the pants washed in plain water.
Scenario #3
Sponge Bob notices that his pal Gary and his girlfriend are
suffering from slimotosis, which occurs when the shell develops a
nasty slime and gives off a horrible odor.
His friend Patrick tells him that rubbing seaweed on the shell is
the perfect cure, while Sandy says that drinking Dr. Kelp will be a
better cure.
Sponge Bob decides to test this cure by rubbing Gary with
seaweed for 1 week and having his girlfriend drink Dr. Kelp for 1
week. After the week of treatment, Gary’s slime is gone, but not
his girlfriend’s slime.
Scenario #4
Squidward loves playing his clarinet and believes it
attracts more jellyfish than any other instrument he
has played. In order to test his hypothesis, Squidward
played a song on his clarinet for a total of 5 minutes and
counted the number of jellyfish he saw in his front
yard. He played the song a total of 3 times on his
clarinet and repeated the experiment using a flute and a
guitar. He also recorded the number of jellyfish he
observed when he was not playing an instrument.
Step 3: Form a Hypothesis
A hypothesis is an educated prediction or
guess about the conclusion of the
experiment.
A hypothesis is always written in the
following form:
If I test ___(IV)___, then I think the ___your
opinion___ will _____(DV)___.
#2
If I test different types of soda, then I
think Brand Y will have the most
sugar.
#3
If I test different heights for
dropping a ball, then I think 20 feet
will have the highest ball bounce.
#4
If I test different batteries, then I
think Energy Star will last the
longest.
#5
If I test different depths of water,
then I think the deepest part will
have the coldest temperatures.
Step 4: Testing Your Hypothesis
When you plan….
You must include:
1. List all lab materials/tools you will use.
2. Step-by-step procedure describing how the
materials/tools with be used.
3. The set-up of the experiment.
4. The observations and measurements that
will be made.
Step-by-Step Procedure
You must be specific.
The goal of a well-designed experiment is to
allow anyone who reads it to understand the
process you are using and to allow someone
else to complete the experiment just by
following your directions.
Peanut Butter
Sandwich
With your group, write a specific procedure
for creating a peanut butter sandwich.
Step 6: Draw Conclusions
Writing a conclusion…
1. Restate your hypothesis. Then, state whether the
conclusion supports the hypothesis.
*If it does not, that’s ok! Proving a hypothesis is wrong is
just as helpful as supporting it.
2. Clearly and thoroughly state the results of the
experiment.
3. Tie in the results with a conclusion sentence
based upon what the experimenter was trying to
discover.