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The Scientific Method

The Scientific Method. 7 TH GRADE LIFE SCIENCE MS. SUE HURD. STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD…. ASK A QUESTION FORM A HYPOTHESIS (EDUCATED GUESS) TEST THE HYPOTHESIS (EXPERIMENT) ANALYZE THE DATA FORM A CONCLUSION SHARE YOUR RESULTS. PRACTICE…FROGS…. Soooo …what is the main concern?.

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The Scientific Method

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  1. The Scientific Method 7TH GRADE LIFE SCIENCE MS. SUE HURD

  2. STEPS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD… • ASK A QUESTION • FORM A HYPOTHESIS (EDUCATED GUESS) • TEST THE HYPOTHESIS (EXPERIMENT) • ANALYZE THE DATA • FORM A CONCLUSION • SHARE YOUR RESULTS

  3. PRACTICE…FROGS… Soooo…what is the main concern?

  4. THE CASE OF THE MALFORMED FROGS • In 1995, students were taking a field trip to a wetland near Henderson, Minnesota. To their surprise, they found many malformed frogs. Some frogs had missing or extra legs. Others had malformed eyes as well as other malformed body parts. This information was reported and not long after this discovery near Henderson, malformed frogs were turning up in other places in the Minnesota River Valley and in less than a year, there were reports about this phenomena all over the state and even in other states. • Scientists were very alarmed by this problem since frogs are highly sensitive to pollutants in the environment because frogs breathe through their skin and inhabit both the land and water. Scientists studied a number of possible causes they hypothesized might be related to this problem. Some scientists wondered if increased UV radiation from the sun due to CFCs and a thinning ozone could be responsible for this problem. Other scientists thought pesticides might be the problem. Methoprene, a chemical that is used to control insects, was dissolved in water and resulted in malformed frogs compared to a control group. Still others thought it could be caused by predation or some kind of a parasite or virus.

  5. Ask a question: Why are these frogs deformed? • Form a hypothesis: • Test hypothesis: • Analyze data: • Conclude: (was my hypothesis correct?) Do NOT change your hypothesis if your conclusion doesn’t match the question. Do a different experiment and write another hypothesis to test. Test ONLY ONE hypothesis at a time. • Share results:

  6. Hypotheses • The deformities were caused by one or more chemical pollutants in the water. • The deformities were caused by attacks from parasites or other frogs. • The deformities were caused by an increase in exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun.

  7. Prediction… (If, then statements) If a substance in the pond water is causing the deformities, then the water from ponds that have deformed frogs will be different from the water from ponds in which no abnormal frogs have been found. If a substance in the pond water is causing the deformities, then some tadpoles will develop deformities when they are raised in pond water collected from ponds that have deformed frogs.

  8. Practice writing If, then statements in your groups… 1. Is an unknown liquid water or rubbing alcohol? If the liquid is alcohol, then it will have an odor. 2. Can plants sense which way is up? If the plant is laid on its side for several days, then the stem will begin to curve upward. 3. Do cardinals prefer sunflower seeds to millet? If cardinals are offered both sunflower seeds and millet, then they will eat the sunflower seeds first.

  9. You are all scientists…. Each table will be handed a scenario. You will discuss the scenario and write it up like the steps of the scientific method. Make sure you do the following: • Everyone needs to have their name on the paper you are turning in (DO NOT WRITE ON THE SHEET I GIVE YOU) • Your answers must be put in the form as the steps of the scientific method:

  10. Form a question: Why are the plants dying?Hypothesis: The plants are dying because it has been cloudy for days. If I place some plants in light and some in darkness, then the ones in the light won’t die and grow faster then the ones in the dark. Test the hypothesis: A control group will be used. One plant will be placed in the dark, one will be placed in the light for the same amount of time everyday. The growth will be documented and observations taken. At the end of 4 weeks, a conclusion will be drawn. Analyze data: (Skip this since you are not doing the experiment) Conclusion: My hypothesis was correct or, my hypothesis was incorrect. Share results: (Skip this step as well)

  11. VOCABULARY… Hypothesis Independent variable Dependent variable Control group Controlled experiment Variable

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