Catalyst (5 minutes)
*get out a new loose leaf sheet of paper to start your week’s
catalyst!
(1) Have you ever conducted an experiment before?
Have you ever seen an experiment being done?
If so, describe what you did or saw.
(1) Name some of the steps that you know you have
to do when you conduct an experiment.
(1) Pretend that you wanted to know whether a
mouse liked cheese or peanut butter better.
What kinds of things would you do to answer this
question?
PUT YOUR NEW CATALYST SHEET IN THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR FOLDER!
YOUR SYLLABUS IS DUE
TODAY!
* Ms. McGuirk will accept late assignments!
However, you will be marked off for every
day it is late! So, of course it is always
better to turn in your homework on time.
But, late is better than a zero!
The Scientific
Method
A Way to Solve a
Problem
What is the Scientific
Method?
• It is the steps someone takes to identify
a question, develop a hypothesis, design
and carry out steps or procedures to
test the hypothesis, and document
observations and findings to share with
someone else.
• In other words, it’s a way to solve a
problem!
Scientists have to take the
time to think logically when
they are investigating a
question or problem.
• They break things
down into many
steps that make
sense.
7 Steps to the Scientific
Method
• Most people agree that there are 5
to 8 main steps of the scientific
method
• In this class, we will use the following
7 steps:
7 Steps
• 1) Choose a problem/ question
• 2) Research your problem/ make
observations about your problem
• 3) Form a hypothesis
• 4) Write your procedure
• 4) Experiment to test the hypothesis
• 5) Record results/data of experiment
• 6) Communicate the conclusion
1) Choose a problem or question.
•Choose something that can be
answered with an experiment.
•It should be something that
interests us, or deals with our
everyday lives!
Do PCA scholars prefer hot
Cheetos or spicy Doritos?
OBSERVATION
• An observation is
the act of
gathering
information based
on the five senses.
I see a lot of scholars eating
hot Cheetos at lunch everyday.
What is the sense I am using for my observation here?
2) Research your question
• Sometimes, if our
question is complex,
we may need to
gather more
information by
conducting some
research.
• We can conduct
research by making
observations.
Examples:
•Observe the world around
you.
•Ask other people for advice!
• Look in books or use the
internet to find more
information!
3) Develop your hypothesis
• A hypothesis is
a possible answer
to your question.
• Some people call a
hypothesis an
educated guess.
After making my observations
by asking scholars what kind
of snack they liked and seeing
what they ate at lunch, my
hypothesis is that PCA
scholars prefer hot Cheetos
to spicy Doritos.
4) Write your procedure
• List of all of the
materials you will
need.
• List each thing you
will do.
• Number each step
• in order.
• Write down
everything you will
do.
My Procedure
Materials
• 20 PCA 6th graders
• 20 PCA 7th graders
• 40 cups of hot Cheetos
(each cup the same size)
• 40 cups of spicy Doritos
(each cup the same size)
• 40 cups of water
Procedure
(1) I will choose 20 PCA 6th
graders and 20 PCA 7th
graders at random
(2) Each day for 5 days, I will
test 4 6th graders and lunch
and 4 7th graders until I test
all 20.
(3) Each scholar will be able to
eat one cup of hot Cheetos &
one cup of spicy Doritos
(4) In between eating each cup,
they will drink a cup of water
(5) After they have eaten both
cups, they will pick which one
they enjoyed better.
5) Experiment to test the
hypothesis!
• Get your materials,
follow your
procedures, and
make observations.
• Write down your
observations, this
is called your data!
My Data:
• 14 6th graders preferred hot Cheetos
• 6 6th graders preferred spicy Doritos
• 9 7th graders preferred hot Cheetos
• 11 7th graders preferred spicy
Doritos
6) Organize your data
• Write down as
much data as you
can about what you
see during your
experiment.
• Make tables,
charts, or graphs
using your data.
What do our PCA Scholars prefer:
Hot Cheetos or Spicy Doritos?
7) State your conclusion
• In the conclusion, scientists answer the
question that the experiment asked.
• Look at your data and decide what it tells
you about your hypothesis. Summarize
your data.
• Communicate your results with others.
My Conclusion
• Based on my results, 23 PCA scholars
preferred hot Cheetos, while 17 PCA
scholars preferred spicy Doritos.
Therefore, it is my conclusion that
PCA scholars prefer hot Cheetos to
spicy Doritos. My hypothesis was
correct!
Once a scientist completes
an experiment, they often
repeat it to see if they get
the same findings and
results.
• This is really what we call
verification, or checking
things out to make sure
everything was valid and
will happen again and
again.