Are you a problem solver? Ever wonder how to improve or make something? You are a SCIENTIST!

Scientists question the world around them to improve or invent something new. Scientists are a lot like a detective because they look for clues to help answer their questions. The general process that they follow is called the scientific method. Below are the steps to the scientific method that we will follow throughout our investigations this year.


QUESTION
What is your problem? What do you want to investigate?
Your question has to be measurable meaning you have to be able to test it.

RESEARCH
Sometimes you may have to find out more about your topic to make a hypothesis or explain your results.

HYPOTHESIS
This is a prediction of what YOU think will happen; it should be a complete sentence.

EXPERIMENT
Before you begin testing your question, you need to plan how you will test it by gathering materials and coming up with a procedure (directions).
Then you can test your question.

DATA
Make observations and record your data. Then organize the data into a table, chart, or graph (bar graph, line graph, etc.).

RESULTS
Look at your data. Do your results answer your question?
Where you right about your hypothesis? Support your answer with data.

CONCLUSION
Why do you think that you got the results that you did?
What changes would you make to your experiment?
What further questions do you have?