Scientific Method
Scientific Method Assignment- Due April 15, 2020
Purpose:
- To help you become familiar with the scientific method and scientific approach to questions,
- Demonstrate the value of a systematic approach to problem solving,
- Help you evaluate and de-mystify data collection and how it is both interpreted and re-interpreted
- Provide practice for improvement of written communication skills.
Assignment:
Watch Youtube videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi0hwFDQTSQ (Links to an external site.)
Be sure to review the steps required in the scientific method- compare what the video explains about the steps, to the steps described in your text on page 10. Familiarize yourself with the process.
Think about an instance in which you found the answer or solution to an everyday puzzling question or phenomenon through a process similar to the scientific method. Consider the various mental steps you took to solve that problem. The problem does not need to be related to environmental issues, but cannot be about car engines or computer problems, finding a solution to an everyday problem is also not a rehash of a high school lab experiment. Your assignment will be evaluated on whether you took the time to think about an everyday problem, demonstrate you understand how the method is applied and the steps involved, and the originality of your example.
- In 1 – 2 pages (i.e., at least one full page of text, double spaced, 12-point font), give an account of the event in narrative form, clearly describing each step of what happened in the order it happened, and your thought process at each step. This will be a few paragraphs, in essay form. Please write carefully and communicate your meaning clearly. (10 points)
- In list form, as shown below, identify how the steps you took correspond to the steps in the scientific method. Include all of the steps shown in the example below (10 points):
Observation: One morning, my car didn’t start.
Question: Why won’t my car start?
Hypothesis: The battery is dead.
Prediction: If I get a jump start from another car, the car will start.
Experiment: I woke up my friend who, after some uncomplimentary remarks, attempted to jumpstart my car from hers.
Test result: The car still didn’t start.
Conclusion: Reject the Hypothesis
Hypothesis 2: The alternator is broken. And so on…
- Finally, also in list form, using the same steps you used in part 2, provide an example of how you could use the scientific method to answer a question having to do with an environmental problem or issue (10 pts). Make sure that the test you set up is feasible to make measurements and that collecting the data is realistically feasible. For example, your question might be: Does nutrient runoff from golf courses degrade water quality? For your example, identify the question, a hypothesis, a prediction, how you would test that prediction, and what your test would allow you to conclude. The complete assignment should be approximately 2-4 pages long. This assignment will be graded on content (Does it reflect a good understanding of the scientific method and include all elements of the scientific method?), whether you have worked to find an original everyday problem, and clarity of expression. Note: The scientific method as we have described it in this course is a simplified version of the scientific method as actually practiced. Science proceeds in a way that is not so standardized; but the simplified version serves to demonstrate the elements that are employed. For more on scientific method, see: http://teacher.pas.rochester.edu/phy_labs/appendixe/appendixe.html
