How Scientists Work Series
What is the Scientific Method?
Produced by
Centre Communications
Teacher’s Guide by
Gerald O. Gunderson,
B.S., Secondary Education,
Comprehensive Science
M.A., Biological Science
and
Gail Matthews
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© 2003 Centre Communications
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Summary of the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Links to Curriculum Standards . . . . . . . . . .2
Student Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Pre-Test and Post-Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Instructional Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Student/Audience Preparation . . . . . . . . . .4
Description of Blackline Masters . . . . . . . .5
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Internet Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Script of Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
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How Scientists Work Series
What is the Scientific Method?
Grades 5-8
Viewing Time: 20:35 minutes with a
one-minute, five-question Video Quiz
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
How Scientists Work is a series of three programs
designed for middle school students. The series, using
junior science investigators, animation and excellent photography, explores the procedures that underlie all of science. Including both everyday and scientific examples,
each program clearly delineates the procedures of 1) pattern recognition, 2) scientific inquiry and 3) scientific
method. Each procedure is placed in an historical context
featuring key scientists and discoveries.
These instructional programs teach the basic procedure
scientists use to discover and explain the world around
us. This Teacher's Guides and accompanying Blackline
Master activity sheets provide extended practice and
additional learning opportunities.
SUMMARY OF THE PROGRAM
What is the Scientific Method? teaches the procedural
steps for finding answers to scientific questions. Using
these basic procedures: 1) asking a question, 2) forming
an hypothesis, 3) designing and conducting an experiment, 4) analyzing the results of the experiment, and 5)
drawing a conclusion, students can experience how scientists make sense of their surroundings. Students perform various experiments applying these procedures to
come to conclusions, but also learn that variables can
affect the outcome, and not every experiment answers a
question.
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The material in this program will:
1. Demonstrate the scientific method with experiments.
2. Teach five basic steps of the scientific method.
3. Illustrate six elements of any experimental stage.
4. Explain that scientific method is important because it
provides a procedure to test anyone's experimental
results.
5. Show that scientific method forces the experimenter to
explain and ask why they obtained their results.
6. Reveal how science continually advances by the asking of new questions.
LINKS TO CURRICULUM STANDARDS
What is the Scientific Method? correlates to the following standards:
National Science Education Standards for grades 5-8
Science as Inquiry, Content Standard A
2 Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
3 Understandings about scientific inquiry
History and Nature of Science, Content Standard G
2 Nature of Science
3 History of Science
McREL Science Standard and Benchmarks
Nature of Science, Standard 11, "Understands the nature
of scientific knowledge,"
Level III, grades 6-8, #1, #2, #3.
Nature of Science Standard 12, "Understands the nature
of scientific inquiry,"
Level II, #1-5 and Level III, grades 6-8, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8.
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STUDENT OBJECTIVES
After viewing the program and completing the follow-up
activities, students should be able to:
• Design and conduct a simple scientific investigation
incorporating the five steps of the scientific method: 1)
asking a question, 2) forming an hypothesis, 3) designing
and conducting an experiment, 4) analyzing the results of
the experiment and, 5) drawing a conclusion.
• Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze,
and interpret data.
• Review data from a simple experiment, summarize the
data, and logically form a cause and effect connection.
• Begin to state some explanations in terms of the relationship between two or more variables.
PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST
Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test, is an assessment tool
intended to gauge student comprehension of the objectives prior to viewing the program. Explain that they are
not expected to get all answers correct, but they are
expected to try their best. You can remind them that these
are key concepts that they should focus on while watching the program.
Blackline Master #2, Post-Test, can be compared to the
results of the Pre-Test to determine the changes in student comprehension after participation in the activities
and viewing the program.
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INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
Before presenting this program to your students, we suggest that you preview the program and review this guide
and accompanying Blackline Master activities in order to
familiarize yourself with the content. Feel free to duplicate any of the Blackline Masters and distribute them to
your students.
As you review the materials presented in this guide, you
may find it necessary to make some changes, additions,
or deletions to meet the specific needs of your class. We
encourage you to do this. Only by tailoring this program
to your class will your students obtain the maximum
instructional benefits afforded by the materials.
STUDENT/AUDIENCE PREPARATION
Prior to viewing the program, you may wish to give students the Pre-Test, which can help them become more
aware of the scope of the program. It is important that
students work through the material and familiarize themselves with the vocabulary, concepts, and theories that
scientists use to understand this field.
The program concludes with a five-question True/False
Video Quiz that may be used to gauge students' comprehension immediately after the presentation of the program. Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz, is a printed copy
of the questions, which may be reproduced and distributed to the students. The answers to the questions
appear in the answer key of this Teacher's Guide.
• View the program. The running time is 20:35 minutes.
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DESCRIPTION OF BLACKLINE MASTERS
Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test, is an assessment tool
intended to gauge student comprehension of the objectives prior to viewing the program.
Blackline Master #2, Post-Test, is an assessment tool to
be administered after viewing the program and completing additional activities. The results of this assessment
can be compared to the results of the Pre-Test to determine the change in student comprehension before and
after participation in this lesson.
Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz, is intended to reinforce
the key concepts of the program immediately following
the presentation of the program. The Video Quiz can be
used as a tool to outline salient points before viewing the
program.
Blackline Master #4, Fill in the Flow Chart, is to help
students understand how the scientific method breaks
down, including the steps for experimentation. With a pen
or pencil and a copy of this Blackline Master, students can
identify the steps of the scientific method.
Blackline Master #5, Two Ears Versus Only One Ear, is
fun and serves to engage the whole classroom in one big
experiment that reinforces experimentation with a variable. Materials needed are a leader, a coin, volunteers, a
stool or chair, tennis ball, and a wastebasket.
Blackline Master #6, Ball Bounce, involves an experiment using measurement and math in the form of averaging. Then if you have time, make a graph of the results.
Materials needed: A rubber ball, a measuring stick; and a
copy of this Blackline Master. This exercise reinforces the
steps of the scientific method and allows students to be
the experimenters.
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Blackline Masters #7 and 7a, A Message Traveling
Along Nerves. How much time does it take information to
travel from your eye through the brain, and then to your
hand? For this experiment you will need a ruler at least
12 inches, or 30 centimeters long, and a partner. If students have trouble catching the ruler, use a two-foot ruler,
yard/meter stick, or round wooden dowel.
ANSWER KEY
Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test
1) d
6) a
2) c
7) d
3) b
8) d
4) b
9) b
5) a
10) d
Blackline Master #2, Post-Test
1) b
6) b
2) c
7) b
3) a
8) c
4) d
9) a
5) d
10) a
Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz
1) True
2) True
3) True
4) True
5) False
Blackline Master #4, Fill in the Step Chart
Ask a question
Form a hypothesis
Design and conduct an experiment
Gather materials
Know how to use a piece of equipment
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Observe and record data
Identify a single test variable and control other variables
Perform measurements
Analyze results and draw conclusions
INTERNET SITES
Mankato Area Public Schools Resources
www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/SciProjInter.html.
At this address is an intermediate level guide, which contains information from Experimental Science Projects: An
Introductory Level Guide. Additional material has been
added to help distinguish between different types of scientific studies. More details are also given about the
experimental scientific method, and the steps involved.
Several new sections have been added, most notably one
that introduces experimental errors. As you read about
the various steps, you may want to follow along with an
example science project available online.
University of California at Cleremont - Biology Home Page
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/sci_meth.htm
This site shows the steps that make up the Scientific
Method. It's fun and colorful and demonstrates some
experiments. Then you can fill out a form to answer
experimental questions online.
Center For Improved Engineering and Science
Education
www.k12science.org/currichome.html - for student projects and teacher download
CIESE sponsors and designs interdisciplinary projects
that teachers throughout the world can use to enhance
their curriculum through compelling use of the Internet.
They focus on projects that utilize realtime data available
from the Internet, and collaborative projects that utilize
the Internet's potential to reach peers and experts around
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the world. There is a catalog of projects that that are currently being or have been sponsored by CIESE . Each
project has a brief description and links to the National
Science Standards and NCTM math standards it supports.
SCRIPT OF NARRATION
NARRATOR: Science has become a dominant force in
modern society. Discoveries made by scientists have
reshaped how we look at the world and have led to technological breakthroughs that have put men and women in
space, cured deadly diseases, and made life easier for
millions of people. Underlying many scientific discoveries
are common procedures, procedures people use to make
sense of their surroundings in daily life. In this program
we will present a procedure called The scientific method
What is the scientific method?
NARRATOR: How are we to know if something we hear
about in nature is true? Some people are saying that the
Earth's climate is changing, getting warmer, and if this
warming is actually happening will the weather become
more extreme? For instance, will there be more droughts,
hurricanes, and tornadoes? And will these extreme
events become more intense? Other people say the climate is actually cooling. How are we to know the truth
about these matters?
KYRA: Over time people have developed an outstanding
procedure for uncovering the secrets of nature; it's called
the scientific method. The reason the scientific method is
outstanding is that when you use its five steps to solve a
problem this procedure can be repeated by anyone, to
check out firsthand the truth of someone else's results or
conclusions. It's sort of like one time, when I heard that
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white light was made up of a blend of many colors. Hard
to believe white light is actually a blend of many colors,
right? But with the use of a simple tool like a glass prism
anyone can discover the rainbow of different colors by
passing light through this piece of glass. Using the prism
here to show what light is made up of, is a relatively simple experiment. And experiments are all part of the scientific method. An experiment like that is why I don't have
to take it on faith or believe it because some very well
known person said he or she knew it was true. The scientific method is like that.
NARRATOR: In fact, experiments are an everyday part
of science and the cornerstone of the scientific method.
Let's look in a general way at the steps that make up the
scientific method.
STEP ONE: ASK A QUESTION
ALANA: As you can see I am drinking hot chocolate from
this cup, and the cup is made of a ceramic material. As
you all know, hot drinks are also served in paper and styrofoam containers. Now I wonder, which of these three
types of materials would keep my hot chocolate drink hot
the longest?
STEP TWO: FORM A HYPOTHESIS
NARRATOR: Alana has noticed most coffee shops serve
hot drinks in paper cups. So could it be reasonable to
assume that paper is the best insulator? That is, it should
do the best job of keeping the coffee hot. Now Alana
believes she is ready to make a hypothesis, a prediction:
the paper will hold the heat in longer because it is a better insulating material. In a sense she has made an educated guess as to what is going to happen. So what is her
next step?
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STEP THREE: DESIGN AND CONDUCT AN
EXPERIMENT
NARRATOR: How can Alana find out what really is the
truth about the materials that make up these containers?
One way is to design an experiment, which will actually
demonstrate to Alana which container has the best insulating material. Suppose she puts the three types of containers side by side, heats up some water and pours
equal amounts of the hot water into each of the containers. It would be good to measure and record the temperature in each container at the very beginning to verify they
are all the same. Then she would record the temperature
again five minutes later and repeat this procedure until
twenty minutes has passed. She would write-down the
measured temperatures for each kind of container at the
five-minute interval At the end of the 20 minutes, the
experiment would be completed.
STEP FOUR: ANALYZE THE RESULTS OF THE
EXPERIMENT
NARRATOR: Here is a graph plotting the temperature
change for each container. We can see after 20 minutes,
the temperature in the ceramic mug was 110 degrees
Fahrenheit, or 43.34 degrees Celsius, the paper 112
degrees Fahrenheit, 44.44 degrees Celsius, and the styrofoam retained the heat the best at 120 degrees
Fahrenheit, or 48.89 degrees Celsius.
So Alana's prediction that the paper would be the best
insulator turned out to be rejected. Perhaps there are
other reasons paper is used more often in coffee shops.
Paper may be cheaper or more recyclable.
STEP FIVE: DRAW A CONCLUSION
Based on our observation, Styrofoam is the best insulator
for keeping the hot chocolate hot the longest. In addition,
the whole procedure may raise some new questions: Why
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is styrofoam a better insulator? Or if the paper were thicker, would the results have been different?
One way to look at the basic steps used in the scientific
method is to divide them up into three stages: pre-experimental stage; experimental stage, and post experimental
stage.
STAGE ONE - Pre-Experimental Stage
Finding a question and forming an hypothesis.
SAM: Over time people have wondered about many
things and asked many questions about the world around
them. "Why is the sky blue?" "Where does rain come
from?" "Where did I leave my wallet?" Well people
haven't just wondered and asked questions, they've tried
to answer their questions using something called a
hypothesis. That is to say people would form an educated guess as to what the cause of the problem they were
experiencing was. And then they would perform an
experiment to see if their guess was correct. For
instance, I have these silver objects. You'll notice that
they're tarnished. My question is: Why do bright silver
objects become a dull gray tarnish over time? I wonder
if it's anything like a nail becoming rusty? My hypothesis
is that perhaps the silver in this object reacts with oxygen
in the air much like iron in a nail reacts with the oxygen in
the air to form rust.
NARRATOR: So Sam noticed that silver tarnishes, and
he was curious to know why this happens. He then
formed a hypothesis that if silver is exposed to oxygen
then tarnish will develop. These are the first two steps in
the scientific method: 1) finding a question and 2) forming
a hypothesis. Let's look at some different questions and
see what hypotheses might be proposed to answer them.
Had you ever wondered why archeologists are always
digging up ancient ruins? Did these ruins actually sink by
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some force of nature? Or might it be that they're covered
up?
And have you ever noticed that worms come out after a
rainstorm during the night? Why? We might guess that
it's because they were drowning, or another hypothesis
might be that they come out to mate.
SAM: The number of questions that can be selected to
launch the arduous and glorious journey down the road of
the scientific method is endless. And once a quest has
been selected such as "Where did this candlestick come
from?" and "Why did it tarnish?" there are many hypotheses that can be offered to explore this phenomenon.
NARRATOR: Finally, formulating a new hypothesis can
impact our lives in a variety of ways. For instance, when
Albert Einstein formed the hypothesis that light was made
up of particles, scientists knew, that if this hypothesis
were true the consequences would change our understanding of how light behaves.
STAGE TWO - The Experimental Stage
After completing the first stage in the scientific method,
finding a question and then formulating your hypothesis
or prediction, it is time to enter the experimental stage of
the scientific method. While experiments can look very
different, the following parts are essential elements of
any experiment.
#1 Gather materials - This procedure can be as simple
as finding a piece of paper and pencil or finding equipment as complex as a high-speed computer with vast
amount of memory.
#2 Know how to use a piece of equipment - Sometimes
in doing your experiment you will have to learn how you
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use a tool, such as a graduated cylinder or stopwatch.
Other times you will already know how to use your tools.
#3 Observe and record data - Obviously, a record of the
experiment must be kept whether it's done with a pencil
and paper or video camera. Remember the importance
of the scientific method is that experiments can be done
again by other scientists, it must be repeatable.
#4 Identify a single test variable and control other
variables so only one condition is being tested - This
procedure is at the heart of every experiment. For example, the text variable here is the distance of a light meter
from the light source. As we can see, light intensity
increases as we approach the light.
#5 Perform measurements - Many experiments will
require taking measurements. This may involve:
• timing with a stop watch
• measuring distances with a yard/meter stick
• reading temperatures on a thermometer
#6 Use mathematics - When carrying out some experiments it is necessary to use mathematics. For example,
if records were kept for a week, division would be needed
to find the daily average of the number of birds found in a
half acre of wetlands.
Generally, in every experiment using the scientific method
you find some combination of the above six procedures.
Now let's look at two experiments and see how the preceding six components of the experiment play a role in
each experiment.
Experiment One
LOUISA: I have noticed at night ants do not seem to be
active in the out-of-doors, while in the daytime I have
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seen them traveling over the ground. Scientists often
have curiosities about the behavior of a certain animal
species. My question is: How does the level of ant activity outside of an ant hole change from sunrise to sunset?
I propose this hypothesis: If the temperature of the air is
the warmest, then the greatest number of ants will be
observed at that time of day. What I have here is an
anthill between two slabs of concrete. What we can do is
count the number of ants that come out of the hole for a
period of one minute at the beginning of each hour starting at eight in the morning and then stopping at eight in
the evening. Also, the temperature will be taken each
time the ants are counted.
Experiment Two
ZACK: When I water this yard I hope the water will sink
into the soil not just run off. What is the best kind of material for absorbing water? My hypothesis is that dark
organic soil will absorb water the best.
NARRATOR: Let's do an experiment to determine which
kind of soil is best for absorbing water. Here are three different kinds of soil: packaged organic rich soil, packaged
fine sand, and packaged coarse gravel. They each have
a different kind of texture: they may feel smooth, or
coarse, or even spongy to the touch. Take these coffee
filters, and place one in each funnel. Then place 200ml of
material from each by volume, in the coffee filters.
Position the funnel in a graduated cylinder, then pour
100ml of water onto each material. After five minutes collect the water that has not been absorbed.
Compare and Contrast Experiment No. #1 with
Experiment No. #2
Let's examine and compare the previous two experiments
and see how the different parts of the experimental stage
were used.
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Gathering materials: In experiment one the materials
needed were: an ant hole, ants, paper, pencil, a clock,
and a thermometer. In experiment two we needed: three
different types of material, coffee filters, funnels, graduated cylinder, a tool to measure volume, a clock, and a pen
and paper to record the results.
Learning how to use a piece of equipment: Neither
experiment uses complex equipment, only simple measuring instruments.
Observe and record data: In experiment one the ants
emerging from the hole were simply counted and the temperature measured, then the results written down on a
piece of paper. In Experiment two the results from the
measurement of the water's volume, which had not been
absorbed by the different soils, were recorded.
Identify a single test variable and control the other
variables: The test variable in experiment number one is
the air temperature. In experiment number two, the kind
of soil is the test variable.
Perform measurements: The only measurement in the
first experiment was to use a clock and thermometer to
determine the top of each hour. In the second experiment
we needed to measure the volume three times, first the
volume of material, secondly the volume of the water
poured onto the soil samples, and finally the volume of
the water not absorbed.
Use mathematics: the first experiment employed counting and timing while in the second one we chose to compare volumes of water absorbed by each type of material
expressed as an equation:
The initial volume of water poured: 100ml
Minus the Volume of water collected in the cylinder: 88ml
Equals the volume of water absorbed: 12ml
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We've seen that while each experiment is unique, both
experiments shared a common set of elements.
STAGE THREE - Post-Experimental Stage
In performing the scientific method, once the experiment
is completed, it is time for the post experimental steps of
analyzing the results of the experiment and drawing conclusions.
In the experiment to determine which kind of soil, sandy,
organic, or gravelly- is best for absorbing water, it was
found that organic soil most readily passed water through
it. At the beginning of the experiment the hypothesis was
that the organic soil would be the best absorber of water.
The question now was why did the organic soil pass the
water most readily? The answer was found when we
learned that the organic soil contained large amounts of
mica, a mineral that was put in the soil for the purpose of
draining water.
Louisa found out that in the spring when she conducted
the experiment, her hypothesis was not true. Let's put
them into a graph.
In the first graph we can see ant activity plotted against
time. We see that the ant activity remained about the
same until the sun started going down and then activity
increased.
In graph two, temperature is added and we can now see
that temperature is not affecting ant activity as much as
time of day.
In these final two steps of the scientific method we tried to
explain and understand why the hypotheses were not
confirmed. In the soil experiment we had to learn about
soil content in order to understand and explain our
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results. In the ant experiment, we found that during the
Spring, time of day was the determining factor as in indicator of ant activity, not temperature. Explaining or finding the cause of the experimental results is the most
important part of the scientific method.
An application of the scientific method
Now that we have seen the six parts of the experimental
stage of the scientific method, let's follow Kyra, as she
conducts an experiment.
KYRA: Let's suppose I walk around this kitchen and see
what I can discover by just touching different objects.
Some objects feel warmer than others do, and then there
are ones that actually feel cold to the touch. The colder
ones are metal. It seems the warmer ones are cloth and
plastic. Stone and glass seem neither warm nor cold.
These observations could lead to the question: Why do
some of these objects feel warmer than others? I then
could make a hypothesis predicting that if you were to
place an ice cube on the surface of each material the item
that felt the warmest would melt the ice the fastest.
NARRATOR: In order to test this hypothesis Kyra needs
to get an object that is made of each of the following
materials; aluminum, wood, and styrofoam.
KYRA: Warmest, middle, and coldest.
NARRATOR: All of the objects tested should have a flat
surface and the same amount of mass. She also needs
ice cubes of the same size. In the experiment, place an
ice cube on each surface and then observe which one
melts the fastest. Remember the prediction? Since the
Styrofoam feels the warmest the ice cube sitting on it
should melt the fastest. But to Kyra's surprise the result
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of the experiment is just the opposite of what was expected. The ice cube on the aluminum melted the fastest, and
the ice that lasted the longest was on styrofoam, which
had felt the warmest. So let us analyze the results of this
experiment. Maybe when a material feels cold to our
hand it is actually losing heat to it. When the experiment
was started she did not consider that the materials tested
were the same temperatures as the room and the temperature of her hand was much warmer than the materials or the room. The styrofoam felt warmer than the other
materials because there is very little matter in it, mostly
very small air pockets, and when she touched it, her hand
did not lose any heat to it. But when her hand touched the
more compact and solid aluminum, heat left her hand and
went into the metal. Her hand actually was cooled
because of this. Because the materials tested had the
same temperature of the room, what she experienced
were different amounts of energy loss.
The scientific method is important because it provides a
procedure to test anyone's experimental results. People
no longer have to rely on someone's authority, since they
can perform the same experiment and observe if they get
the same results and draw the same conclusion. We
have also seen that the scientific method forces the
experimenter to explain and ask why he or she obtained
their results. In this way science continually advances by
the asking of new questions.
VIDEO QUIZ
True or False
1) The five steps in the scientific method are usually: ask
a question, form a hypothesis, design and conduct an
experiment, analyze the results of the experiment, and
draw a conclusion.
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2) Observing and recording data are part of the experimental stage.
3) Many experiments will require taking measurements.
4) Scientists' answers to the world come in part from what
they observe.
5) If more than one variable changes in an experiment the
outcome will remain the same.
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