Lincoln High School Biology
Introduction to the Scientific Method
Investigating Cricket Chirping
Purpose
 To practice the process of the Scientific Method
 To learn how to use an Online Lab Simulation
 To determine which environmental variables influence how fast a cricket chirps
 To practice constructing data charts and graphs.
 To practice doing a lab report write up
Procedure:
1. Go to https://www.gc.maricopa.edu/biology/glacier/scientific_method/
2. Do the tutorial on scientific method first to review the steps
3. Follow the instructions for investigating the role of environmental variables on
cricket chirps.
4. Write your results in your data table- record data as you go
5. Graph your results using Create-a-Graph (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/)Print out your data table and graph and attach to your final report
Hint: Cricket Chirp Rate is the dependent variable and will be on the y-axis on all
graphs!
Remember: (DRY MIX) Dependent/Responding Variable on Y axis,
Manipulated/Independent Variable on X axis
Cricket Lab Data: (Type your answers in a word document)
Introduction: What do you know about the scientific method?- Write a few paragraphs
explaining the process that scientists use to answer questions
Question: (What question are you trying to answer with this lab?)
Observations/Background Information: (What information do you know before you
start experimenting?)
Hypothesis: (What is your “Educated Guess”- based on your observations and
background information?)
Effect of Wind Speed on Cricket
Chirp Rate
Wind Speed
Chirp Rate
(m/sec)
(chirps/min)
Data Collection:
(Create a data table to collect your data based on the
variables you have chosen)- Make sure to label your
variables with units
Independent Variable: __________________________
(What did you CHOOSE to change?)
Dependent Variable: ___________________________
(What changes as a result of your I Variable?)
HINT: It will be Chirp Rate
Analysis of Results: Graph Your Results so that you can
visualize your data
Discussion of Results: (Discuss what your results were and what deductions can be
made from your results)
Conclusion: (Your conclusion should include a review of your original hypothesis and
whether it was correct or not. Being wrong is okay as long as you discuss why your
hypothesis was wrong. In addition, you should discuss other experiments that could be
done to further investigate this question and what you learned by doing this experiment)