Ch. 1: Scientific Investigations

1. Ch. 1: Scientific Investigations Vocabulary: observe, prediction, investigate, experiment, record, data, conclusion

2. Observing the World • At some point in time, you might have noticed something you thought was weird: • Why does bread grow white and blue mold? • How do birds fly? • When the astronauts were on the moon they were able to bounce when they walked. Why don’t we bounce when we walk?

3. Setting Up an Investigation • Once you have thought about what you want to know, it’s time to set up an experiment to find out why it works. • Let’s use bread mold as our example.

4. Setting Up an Investigation: Question • The first thing you need to do is ask yourself the question you are curious about • This question can be phrased anyway you want as long as you can test it using your senses. Question: Does Bread Mold Grow Faster in Warm or Cold Temperatures?

5. Setting Up an Investigation: Hypothesis • The second thing you need to do is make an educated guess about your question. • This educated guess is called a hypothesis. • Remember this is not just a random guess, make sure you read about the subject you are curious about before you start on your experiment. • Someone might have done the experiment before you and has already found the answer. • If you can find that, you’ll save yourself a lot of work.

6. Setting Up an Investigation: Hypothesis • I’ve read about bread mold, so I think my hypothesis will be: Hypothesis: Bread mold grows faster in warmer temperatures.

7. Setting Up an Investigation: Materials • Before you work on your experiment, you have to look for things you can use to test your hypothesis. • In order to make the test fair you have to use the same type of materials for each part of the test. • For example, I can’t use a piece of wheat bread and a piece of rye bread for my experiment, because both of them mold at different rates. • Remember: All your materials need to be the same to make sure your test is as fair as possible!

8. Setting Up an Investigation: Experiment • The third thing you will need to do is investigate your question. • To do that you will need to design an experiment. • An experiment is a series of steps you will use to test your hypothesis. • Don’t forget, one of your most important parts of your experiment is the control. • The control is the part that you have not done anything to, that you can compare to the parts that you are trying to test.

9. Setting Up an Investigation: Experiment • Experiment: Step 1: Place three pieces of bread in plastic bags. Step 2: Place one plastic bag in the freezer. Step 3: Place one plastic bag on the heater vent. Step 3: Place one plastic bag on the counter at room temperature. Step 4: Check the bags every day and measure the amount of mold on them using a ruler. Step 5: Record data in Science notebook. Step 6: Repeat steps one through five for one week.

10. Setting Up an Investigation: Experiment • One more reminder: Don’t forget to make one of your steps for your experiment checking on your test and recording your data. • You’ll need data for the next parts of the Scientific Investigation.

11. Gathering and Recording Data • As time passes, part of your experiment will require that you write stuff down, so that you don’t forget what you have already done. • This is called gathering data. • In this case I said I would check on my bread samples once a week. • Try to be as consistent as you can when you check on your data. • If you can do it at the same time every day your test will be the most accurate. • If possible, try to take pictures of the experiment as it is going on.

12. For my experiment, I wrote down: Data: Day 1:Freezer: No mold Counter: No mold Heater: No mold Day 2: Freezer: No mold Counter: No mold Heater: No mold Day 3: Freezer: No mold Counter: No mold Heater: No mold Day 4: Freezer: No mold Counter: 1 cm mold circle Heater: No mold Day 5: Freezer: No mold Counter: 3 cm mold circle Heater: 1 cm mold circle Day 6: Freezer: No mold Counter: 6 cm mold circle Heater: 1 cm mold circle Day 7: Freezer: No mold Counter: 8 cm mold circle Heater: 1 cm mold circle Gathering and Recording Data

13. Gathering and Recording Data • Now that I have my data, I need to do something with it. • I decided to make a graph. • I thought that it would look the best as a graph, but I could also have made a chart or a table to present my findings.

14. Gathering and Recording Data

15. Coming to a Conclusion • After you get done studying your data you are ready to start drawing a conclusion. • Drawing a conclusion does not mean that you will draw a picture. • Instead, it means gathering your ideas to see if you were right and comparing it to your hypothesis. • Usually your conclusion is a few paragraphs that tells what you found out and how you found it out..

16. Coming to a Conclusion • I’m going to draw my conclusion now: Conclusion: My hypothesis said that I thought bread mold would grow best in warmer temperatures. I was wrong. I found out that bread mold doesn’t like to grow where it too hot or too cold. It grows best at room temperatures. I know this from my data. It showed no growth on the bread in the freezer, a little on the one on the heater vent an a lot of growth on the counter. I figured out that the data was telling me that bread mold grows best at room temperature.

17. Making More Predictions • When you have finished with your experiment, try another. • There are only a few ways to learn about the world around you and experiencing it with your senses is one of them. • Good luck on your future experiments!

18. Questions about Chapter 1 • Why do we need observations to work with Science? • What do you need to do after you make an observation? • What is a hypothesis? • When do you need to record data? • What do you use to reach a conclusion?