Scientific Method
This initial step of the scientific method involves using your five senses to gather factual information about the world around you.
What is making observations?
In the "If, Then, Because" format, the independent variable (what you change) directly follows this starting word.
What is "if?"
This is the single factor that the experimenter intentionally changes or manipulates on purpose.
What is the independent variable?
The independent variable is traditionally plotted on this horizontal axis of a graph.
What is the x axis?
This type of graph is best used to track changes over continuous time.
What is a line graph?
After stating a question and forming a hypothesis, a scientist carries out this step to gather data.
What is conducting an experiment?
In an "If, Then, Because" hypothesis, the section following this word explains the scientific reasoning or principle behind your prediction.
What is "because"?
This is the factor that you measure or observe in an experiment to see how it responds to changes.
What is the dependent variable?
A descriptive graph title should explicitly clearly state the relationship between these two key variables.
What are the independent variable and dependent variable?
This type of graph is ideal for comparing discrete, separate categories of data, such as favorite lunch choices in a middle school.
What is a bar graph?
In this step, scientists organize raw measurements into tables, charts, or graphs to look for patterns and trends.
What is Analyze Data?
An experimental procedure must be written step-by-step with enough precise detail so that another scientist can perform it identically, a quality known as this.
What is repeatable?
All factors in an experiment that must be kept exactly the same across every test group to ensure a fair test are called these.
What are constant variables (or constants)?
When numbering an axis, incrementing consistently by equal amounts (such as 0, 5, 10, 15) ensures this crucial graphing rule is met.
What is even spacing (or maintaining a uniform scale)?
When showing how individual parts or percentages contribute to a whole 100%, this graph type is the most effective choice.
Before spending time and resources setting up a brand-new experiment, scientists perform this step to find out what is already known about their topic
What is do background research?
"Pour water on the plant" is an inadequate step in a procedure. What else could you have said to be more specific?
What is "pour x amount of water (open ended)"
An experiment tests three different shoe brands on a track to see which allows a runner to sprint fastest. The runner, track surface, wind conditions, and distance ran are all examples of this.
What are constants (or controlled variables)?
Bar graphs should almost always start at this value.
What is 0?
This graph type plots individual data points as dots to show whether a relationship or correlation exists between two continuous numerical variables without connecting dots directly to the next.
What is a scatter plot?
A student compares their experimental results against their original prediction, deciding whether their hypothesis was supported or refuted during this critical step.
What is draw conclusions?
For the test question "Does watering a plant with soda make it grow bigger" what could a full hypothesis statement be?
What is "If I water a plant with soda, then it will die, because soda contains harmful chemicals" (open-ended)
A student tests how different amounts of fertilizer affect tomato plant height. If they also change how much sunlight each plant receives, the experiment is flawed for this major scientific reason.
What is changing more than one independent variable at a time (failing to isolate variables)?
A student plots exam scores that range from 65% to 95%, but sets their Y-axis scale to go from 0 to 1,000. The graph becomes tiny and unreadable because they are missing this.
What is appropriate scale?
An ecology student wants to display how the total area of a forest is divided into five different tree species categories. This chart choice best represents the data.
What is a pie chart?