Vocabulary
What is a hypothesis?
an educated guess of what you think will happen.
Story: Mathew wanted to know if plants grow better in the sunlight or in the shade. He thought plants would grow taller in the sunlight. He put one plant on the sunny windowsill and one plant in the dark closet. He watered both plants the same amount each day and measured their height for two weeks. At the end, the plant in the sunlight grew much taller than the plant in the closet.
What was Matthew's question?
Do plants grow better in sunlight or shade?
What is the first step of the scientific method?
ask a question
True or False: A hypothesis is always correct.
false - it's a prediction you test
What is data?
Story: Mathew wanted to know if plants grow better in the sunlight or in the shade. He thought plants would grow taller in the sunlight. He put one plant on the sunny windowsill and one plant in the dark closet. He watered both plants the same amount each day and measured their height for two weeks. At the end, the plant in the sunlight grew much taller than the plant in the closet.
What was Matthew's hypothesis?
plants will grow taller in the sunlight
What step comes after "ask a question"?
make a hypothesis
Why do scientists repeat experiments?
to make sure results are accurate and correct.
What does "gather materials" mean?
collecting the tools and items you need to do the experiment.
Story: Mathew wanted to know if plants grow better in the sunlight or in the shade. He thought plants would grow taller in the sunlight. He put one plant on the sunny windowsill and one plant in the dark closet. He watered both plants the same amount each day and measured their height for two weeks. At the end, the plant in the sunlight grew much taller than the plant in the closet.
What did Matthew make different in his experiment?
the place where the plant grows - sunlight vs shade
Why did Matthew water both plants the same amount?
to keep the test fair
What step comes after forming a hypothesis?
gather materials
What does "ask a question" mean?
deciding what you want to find out.
Story: Mathew wanted to know if plants grow better in the sunlight or in the shade. He thought plants would grow taller in the sunlight. He put one plant on the sunny windowsill and one plant in the dark closet. He watered both plants the same amount each day and measured their height for two weeks. At the end, the plant in the sunlight grew much taller than the plant in the closet.
What data did Matthew collect?
measuring the height of the plants for two weeks.
What step means writing down what you learned?
draw a conclusion
What is a conclusion?
the end where you explain what you learned.
Story: Mathew wanted to know if plants grow better in the sunlight or in the shade. He thought plants would grow taller in the sunlight. He put one plant on the sunny windowsill and one plant in the dark closet. He watered both plants the same amount each day and measured their height for two weeks. At the end, the plant in the sunlight grew much taller than the plant in the closet.
What was Matthew's conclusion?
plants in sunlight grow taller than plants in shade.
Put all six steps in order, starting with step one and ending with step six.
ask a question, form a hypothesis, gather materials, do the experiment, collect data, draw a conclusion
Why is the scientific method important?
it helps scientists solve problems and answer questions in a fair way.
What is an experiment?
a test to see if your hypothesis is correct.