Experimental Design
A. What is scientific method ?"You see, the scientific method is the way scientists learn and study the world around them. It can be used to study anything from a leaf to a dog to the entire Universe.
The basis of the scientific method is asking questions and then trying to come up with the answers. You could ask, "Why do dogs and cats have hair?" One answer might be that it keeps them warm. BOOM! It's the scientific method in action." Image source> |
B. Reference LinksC. Scientific Method StepsThe scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions. Scientists use the scientific method to search for cause and effect relationships in nature. In other words, they design an experiment so that changes to one item cause something else to vary in a predictable way.
Just as it does for a professional scientist, the scientific method will help you to focus your science fair project question, construct a hypothesis, design, execute, and evaluate your experiment. |
D. Practicing the Scientific Method
I explored 1) graphing, 2) identifying variables, 3) developing hypotheses, 4-5) designing a controlled experiment and 6) predicting results with a partner.
E. Experimental Data
Part 1: I was given data to make a graph, below. I used a Google spreadsheet to create a graph and I saved my image file to upload here. My graph demonstration an inverse relationship between concentration of ethylene and time for maturation, days because it was observed that as concentration of ethylene increases, time for maturation decreases. This is be due to the effects of ethylene which is known to be released by plants naturally which causes plants to
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F. Variables
G. Hypothesis
Part 3: I selected weather from a list of environmental variables I developed with a partner.
If the weather is cold, the apples will not mature as fast because when the temperature is not warm, apples take longer to grow because I have observed temperature and seen the apples. If my hypothesis is true, I will see apples in cold mature slower as measured by apples in warm temperature will grow faster Independent Variable: Temperature Dependent Variable: The days the Apples Take to Mature |
H. Experimental Design
Part 5: Experimental Procedure
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I. Control Groups
Part 4: It is important to control variables in an experiment because...
Control Group: The apple trees in an average room temperature. (71ºF) Experimental Group/s: The three types of apple trees in a cold room (32ºF) and in a hot room(104 ºF) |
J. Expected Results
If my hypothesis were correct, the apples would take longer to grow in the room with cold temperature. They would take about 8 days to finish growing in the room with warm temperature.