1.06 The Scientific Method Work File Skills of a Scientist In the ...

1.06 The Scientific Method Work FileSkills of a ScientistIn the lesson, you were introduced to several skills of a scientist. Take some time now topractice those skills.ObservingEach of the following is an example of something that could be considered anobservation.Identify the sense that would be used to make the following observations?1. You are on your way home from school and as you get off the bus you notice a faintodor of smoke in the air. _______________2. You are walking down your street from the bus stop and notice a plume of smokerising from the direction of your home. _______________3. You get to your house, and see that the smoke is coming from your back yard, so youhurry through the house and rush out the back door. Your mom is grilling hamburgersand hot dogs for dinner. You walk up to the grill and tentatively put your finger to a hotdog to check the temperature. It is cold, and the burgers are red. (Not done.)_______________4. You instead, head to the picnic table and grab a drink. It is sweet and lemony and youfollow it up with a mouthful of salty chips. _______________5. Your mom calls over to you, "Don't spoil your dinner by eating too many chips!"_______________Observations, Analogies, and InferencesRemember• observations are the actual data that are recorded during an investigation,• analogies are comparisons of what is already known and what was observed orfound, and• inferences are the assumptions based on the observed facts that they havegathered.Identify each as an observation (O), analogy (A), or inference (I).__ _ 1. Mary discovered that the cell membrane of a bacteria acts like a fence because itkeeps some things in and other things out._ __ 2. Mary walked into the room where her little son was playing, found a brokenwindow, and thought immediately that her son had broken it.1

__ _ 3. Mary noticed that the countertop was warm to the touch.__ _ 4. Mary noticed that the side walk was wet and thought that it may have been thatthe sprinklers had been on recently.__ _ 5. Mary counted and recorded 20 heart beats in 10 seconds.__ _ 6. Mary heard the lecturer comparing the human eye to a camera.Steps of the Scientific MethodList the 5 basic steps of the Scientific Method in order:1.2.3.4.5.Use the Lesson Introduction pages, and the Resource pages - Pre-Experimental,Experimental, and Post Experimental Stages - to complete the following:1. If you asked Professor P. what two skills would be at the top of his list when thinkingabout “doing science” using the scientific method?2. Why is it important that the scientific method not be a rigid set of rules, but rather aguide to how we investigate questions?3. Complete this sentence: A _____________ gives an investigation a specific directionor focus.4. As researchers begin their study, they must examine what they already know abouttheir topic of investigation. Then based on that information, they form a hypothesis. Thehypothesis is a _____________ about what the researcher thinks is going to happen in theexperiment.5. Why is it important to write a hypothesis in an “If this ..., then that…” format?6. If a scientist weren’t present to observe an event, but they gathered all the data andinformation they can about the event, and then based on the data they have, they tell us2

“what they believed” happened. This is making an _________________.7. When we conduct and experiment, the condition we are investigating, the one thingwe want to know about is called the _______________.8. The group of experimental subjects which is left “natural” or left unchanged is calledthe ___________ group and is used as a _______________ at the end of the experimentto see if changing the variable caused any differences between the two groups.9. The group of experimental subjects which has the one condition changed is the______________ group. This is the group in which you would expect to see something“happening” because the variable is being changed.10. What final two steps does the researcher take when the experiment is done?Activity:Using the resource video clip – identify each of the following in the experiment that isdone.1. Preliminary observations made:2. The question:3. The hypothesis:4. The experimental variable:5. What other conditions are “controlled” to keep them the same?6. Which experimental set up was the control group?*Think about this! Which part of the experiment is most “normal”?7. Which two were the experimental groups?3

8. What data was collected (think – what was being measured) and what was the result?9. What conclusion was drawn?10. Important Thought Question: In this experiment, the hypothesis was not right?Did this make the experiment a failure? Explain your answer?12. When a hypothesis is not correct, what should or would a good researcher do?13. What is a question that you might ask based on the results of this experiment?Final Food For Thought:As indicated above, honest reporting of the findings of scientific studies is very importantand can sometimes be a matter of life and death.11. Can you think of one or two products sold in this country that are tested, using thescientific method, before they are sold?orCan you think of any recent stories in the news in which results of scientificinvestigations were purposely withheld from the public in order to sell a product? (If youcan't think of any, talk with your parents and your friends to see if they know of any.)4