Identifying a Problem or Question

What do you want to find out?

The problem is the scientific question to be solved or answered. It is stated as a question that can only be answered by experimentation.  Not just a yes or no answer.

Collections, models, inventions, demonstrations, and product comparisons do not use experimentation to answer or solve a scientific question.

Stating a Hypothesis

What should happen?

A hypothesis states what you think is going to happen when you conduct the experiment.

Don’t change your hypothesis even if the results of your experiment are different than what you predicted.

Experimenting

Testing your hypothesis.

Design your experiment to solve the problem or answer the question by changing the conditions that will help you test your hypothesis.

Variables are experimental conditions that can change - amount of light, water, sample size, etc.

►Select only one variable to change - this is the Independent variable

►Keep the rest of the variables the same - these are the Controlled variables or constants.

►The Dependent variable is the results that occur during the experiment as the independent variable changes.

You will also need a control group for comparison - where the independent variable does not change.

For best results repeat the experiment several times.

List all materials used in your investigation. Include what, how much, and what kinds of materials you used.

►Good listing

    6 Big Boy tomato plants                                      

    6 - 12 x 18 x 11 1/2 inch cardboard boxes                    

    1 - clear plastic sheet marked with a half inch grid

►Poor Listing

    Plants

    Boxes

    Grid

Procedure

How you did the experiment.

It is a list of step-by-step directions - much like a recipe in a cookbook.  Anyone who reads it should be able to duplicate your investigation and get the same results.

Results

What happened?

Results can be observable or measurable amounts and can be presented in graphs or tables.

Reaching a Conclusion

Did you find out what you wanted to know? Can you explain what you observed?

Form your conclusion by summarizing the results of the experiment.

►What was discovered by doing the experiment? Include results that do not support your hypothesis.

►Was your original hypothesis correct?   Give possible reasons for the difference

    between your         hypothesis and the results.

Project Report

Your report is the written record of your entire project from start to finish.

The report should be clear and detailed enough for the reader to know:

►what you did

►why you did it

►what the results were

►whether or not the experiment supported your hypothesis

►where you got your research information

By recording everything in your journal as the project progresses, all you need to do in preparing the report is to organize and neatly copy the journal’s contents.

The report can be hand– or typewritten, double-spaced, and bound in a folder or notebook.

It should contain:

►a title page

►a table of contents

►an introduction

►one or more experiments and data

►a list of sources

►acknowledgements