1 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
Pre-Test
Directions: Read each of the following and circle the best answer.
1. The first record of the scientific method being 6. When analyzing what has been observed, such
used was approximately as data collected in an experiment, leads to
a. 600 years ago. a. drawing the conclusion.
b. 3,000 years ago. b. coming up with a question.
c. 50 years ago. c. a scientific inquiry.
d. 1,200 years ago. d. a hypothesis.

2. To find out if a person's experiment was accu- 7. Before the hypothesis can be stated a
rate and true, you can a. theory is proposed.
a. repeat just the pre-experimental stage. b. galactic law is constructed by a group of pro-
b. choose to agree with the hypothesis. fessors.
c. repeat all five steps in the scientific method. c. conclusion is agreed upon.
d. draw your own conclusion. d. problem needs to be stated in the form of a
question.
3. Collecting data is part of
a. coming to a conclusion. 8. If the experiment shows the original hypothesis
b. doing the experiment. to be false, the scientist
c. gathering material. a. should doubt the accuracy of the equipment.
d. stating the problem. b. will not be able to solve the problem.
c. needs to repeat the experiement.
4. During the experimental stage of the scientific d. can state a new hypothesis.
method.
a. a hypothesis is formed. 9. The hypothesis is
b. measurements are often made. a. formed after the conclusion.
c. most scientists draw their conclusion. b. a prediction.
d. a scientific law is written up. c. stated when observations are being record-
ed.
5. Another word for hypothesis is d. the result of many theories being tried out.
a. research.
b. fact. 10. During the experiment a person
c. prediction. a. makes a summary.
d. summary. b. reads all they can about the subject.
c. tries to figure out what might go wrong.
d. keeps a record of what is happening.

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2 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
Post-Test

Directions: Read each of the following and circle the best answer.
1. While following the steps of the scientific method,
when are measurements taken?
a. Just before the hypothesis is made.
b. During the experimental stage.
c. Right after a scientific law is composed.
d. Half way through developing a theory.
2. The scientific method is
a. found and explained on 3,000-year-old
Egyptian temple walls.
b. used by a small, select group in only the
largest universities.
c. made up of five steps.
d. not used by scientists who have the best
laboratories.
3. Part of the experimental stage in the program
occurred when the experimenter
a. observed ice melting on different materials.
b. said her hypothesis was wrong because the
data did not fit her prediction.
c. wondered what kind of material will melt ice.
d. thought ice would melt on a piece of glass
first.
6. A conclusion in the scientific method is based
on what
a. a committee thought would be a reasonable
answer.
b. was observed in the experiment.
c. theories in the past had been proposed.
d. a person expected would happen.
7. A new hypothesis may be made when
a. too many hours are being spent gathering
equipment.
b. an experiment demonstrates the original
hypothesis to be false.
c. there is not enough time to do the experi
ment
d. the equipment breaks down and does not
work.
8. Scientists believe scientific knowledge should
be based on
a. long held beliefs.
b. many years of experience.
c. experiments that record accurate data.
d. a vote by an educated group of people.

4. The hypothesis is 9. One of the benefits of the scientific method is

a. a list of materials needed in the experiment. that it can be used for
b. always right. a. checking the results of a person's experi-
c. the last part of the experiment. ment.
d. an educated guess. b. predicting the chances of rain in the future.
c. learning about future stock prices.
5. The scientific method d. finding the best places to go fishing.
a. should only be used for the most complex
problems. 10. Most hypothesis are usually
b. is not very useful today. a. neither right nor wrong.
c. is seldom used by people doing research. b. right all the time.
d. could be used by almost anyone. c. right half the time.
d. wrong.

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3 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
Video Quiz

Directions: Answer the following either true or false.

1) The five steps in the scientific method are: ask a question, form a hypothesis, design and conduct an
experiment, analyze the results of the experiment, and draw a conclusion.

2) Observing and recording data are part of the experimental stage.

3) Many experiments will require taking measurements.

4) Scientists' answers to the world come in part from what they observe.

5) If more than one variable changes in an experiment the outcome will remain the same.

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4 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?

Fill in the Flow Chart

Directions: A flow chart illustrates the order of a procedure. Sometimes the scientific method
terminology and order of procedures can be confusing. This flow chart will help you remember
the steps in the scientific method. Fill in the blank box with the appropriate word or term listed
below. Remember this flow chart starts at the top and flows down.

using mathematics
gathering materials
drawing a conclusion
asking a question
forming a hypothesis
observing and recording data
performing measurements
designing and conducting an experiment
identifying a single test variable and controlling other variables
analyzing the results of the experiment
knowing how to use a piece of equipment

Any scientific investigation begins with _______________________

Then comes _______________________

Followed by the _______________________ which usually

has six steps:

1 ___________________________________________

2 ___________________________________________

3 ___________________________________________

4 ___________________________________________

5 ___________________________________________

6 ___________________________________________

And finally ________________________________________________

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5 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?

Two Ears Versus Only One Ear

This activity is fun and serves to engage the whole classroom in one big activity, which reinforces experimentation with a vari-
able.

Materials Needed - Leader, coin, volunteers, stool or chair, tennis ball, and wastebasket.

Observation: When there is a lot of activity around horses, you will often notice their ears move back and forth a great deal.
The two ears of cats and dogs do the same thing when they are trying to find from where a sound is coming.

Problem: Compared to only one ear, how do two ears help humans?

Hypothesis: Below, make an educated guess as to what two ears can do that one ear cannot.

Experiment: When the leader is ready to start this experiment you should put your head down, and then close your eyes. A
quarter will be tossed into the room. When the coin lands, continue to keep your eyes closed, but point to where you think it
landed. Wait for the leader to tell you to raise your head and open your eyes, but continue to point to where you think the coin
landed. Also, look around to see where the other students are pointing.

1) How close to where you were pointing was the coin? ___________ feet/meters

2) Did most of the students seem to point close to where this coin landed?

3) So far, what do you think you have learned about finding where a sound is coming from?

4) We are going to change this experiment by covering one ear with the palm of your hand. This is being done so only one
ear will hear the coin hit the floor. Heads down and eyes closed when the leader is ready. Point once again to where you think
the coin landed. How close did you come this time? ___________ feet/meters

5) How well did the group do this time using only one ear?

This third step in our experiment will need a student volunteer. The student should sit on a stool that has been placed in front
of class. Once seated the student should then close both eyes. The teacher will then snap his or her fingers to one side of
the volunteer's head, and the student will then point to where they believe the sound came from. After pointing to the spot, the
leader will snap the fingers again but in a different place. After this is done a few times you should be getting the idea. Just
for the fun of it, the leader should snap his or her fingers exactly above, behind, and in front of the person's head, as well as
to one or the other side of the head.

1) Does something different happen when the sound comes from a place directly behind the head or directly in front of the per-
son?

2) Why did this happen?

3) Next, the student should cover one ear and see if he or she can locate the source of the snaps. Explain what happened:

4) What can you say about your hypothesis?

5) What did you learn about two ears compared to one ear when it comes to finding where a sound is produced?

In the last part of the experiment, a volunteer should try to toss a tennis ball into a wastebasket with his/her eyes closed. What
the leader needs to do is ask the students to make a low-pitched hum while the basket is being moved to some spot in the
room. The humming is needed so the volunteer cannot hear where the teacher is moving. The humming should stop when the
teacher stops. Then the bottom of the basket should make a little noise when it is put down and touches the floor. This is the
signal for the person who has his or her eyes closed to attempt to toss the ball into the basket. Some people will really sur-
prise you.

Cover one ear and repeat the experiment.

6) What were the results?

Did you know an outfielder in baseball gets a lot of help by the sound produced when the ball is hit? The player's two ears
get clues as to where the ball is going by the sound of the bat hitting the ball. Some owls find their food with their two ears.
The same is true for bats.
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6 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
Ball Bounce

Observations: Almost any material, when in the shape of a sphere, will bounce when dropped onto a firm surface. Some
materials seem to bounce higher than others do. Many different questions can be asked about the height of the bounce of dif-
ferent materials. Some questions that might be asked: How high will a wooden sphere bounce? Will a steel ball bounce?
Would it make any difference in the height a ball would bounce if one ball was solid and another was hollow?

Today let us look at another question.

Question: How high will a rubber-ball bounce when dropped from various heights?

Hypothesis: Make a prediction as to what you think will happen to the height of a bounce if a rubber-ball is dropped from dif-
ferent heights. In a way you need to make an educated guess as to how high each bounce will be.

Dropped from 10 inches or 50 cm, I predict the bounce will = ________.

Dropped from 20 inches or 100 cm, the bounce will = ________.

The materials needed - at least two people, a yard (meter) stick, a rubber-ball, and a hard surface. If a rubber-ball cannot be
found try a golf ball or some other object that has the shape of a sphere.

Data Recording: The first step in this experiment is that one person should drop the ball, and another person should observe
how high the ball bounces. Record your observations in the chart below. To be consistent always place the bottom of the ball
at the level from which it is going to be dropped from. Then observe the height at which the bottom of the ball bounces. Be
sure to drop the ball from the same place three times, and record the height of the bounce each time. Then, later on, you can
add up each of these sets of numbers and divide by three to get the average height of the bounce. False data could show up
if the ball was dropped only once from each level. This is because a person could make errors in the way the ball is released
or the way the person observed the height. A set of three drops should reduce the effect of errors.

Dropped from: Height of Bounces in inches (do 3 times) Average Height of Bounces
5 inches (10 cm) 1- 2- 3-
10 inches (25 cm) 1- 2- 3-
15 inches (38 cm) 1- 2- 3-
20 inches (50cm) 1- 2- 3-
25 inches (63 cm) 1- 2- 3-
30 inches (75 cm) 1- 2- 3-
35 inches (88 cm) 1- 2- 3-
40 inches (100cm) 1- 2- 3-
45 inches (113 cm) 1- 2- 3-
50 inches (125 cm) 1- 2- 3-

If you have a piece of graph paper you should graph the average bounce height for the different drops.

A good experiment should have only one variable: only one part of the experiment is changed.

1) What part of this experiment was the variable?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Conclusion: (How did your hypothesis compare to the pattern of different bounces?)

If you used a rubber-ball to do this experiment, do you realize a mathematical equation could be used to represent the graph
that resulted from the experimental data? It would be very close to x = 3/4y, where x = the height of the bounce and y = the
distance the ball fell. In other words, the bounce would be about 75% of the distance the ball fell. This would be true for each
level the ball was dropped from in your experiment.

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7 Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
A Message Traveling Along Nerves

Observation: It is surprising how quick we are when it comes to jumping out of the way of something
coming toward us. Or how fast we are when we need to put on the breaks of bicycle we are riding. We
seem to be very quick when it comes to grabbing a ball as it goes by us. The time it takes for a mes-
sage to enter your eyes and reach the tip of your fingers must be very fast. Let us try to figure out a
way to find the amount of time it takes information to move along our nerves.

Problem: How much time does it take information to travel from your eye through the brain, and then
to your hand?

Hypothesis: I believe it will take ________ seconds for information to travel from my eye to my finger-
tips.

Experiment: Materials - a ruler at least 12 inches or 30 centimeters long, and a partner. If you have
trouble catching the ruler, use a two-foot ruler, yardstick, or round wooden dowel.

A partner will hold a ruler at one end so it hangs vertically, and the "bottom" end is dangling between
your index finger and thumb. Your finger and thumb should be at zero inches/centimeters, and about a
half an inch or one centimeter away from the ruler on each side. This space on each side will be
enough for the ruler to fall in. When your partner thinks you are ready, he or she will drop the ruler
without warning. As the ruler falls, it is up to you to stop it as quickly as you can by pinching your finger
and thumb together. Record in the chart below the distance at the point at which you stopped the ruler.

Be sure each person does this at least three times, and keeps a record of what happened. If it is too
hard to stop the ruler with the finger and thumb, use both hands. Just clasp your palms together when
the ruler is dropped.

Trial Drops Distance Ruler Fell

1 _______________
2 _______________
3 _______________

Total (add all 3) _____________ Average Distance = ____________

To get an average: After adding up the three numbers, divide the total
by three to get the average distance.

(Continued)

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7a Name ____________________

HOW SCIENTISTS WORK SERIES

What Is The Scientific Method?
Table: Time it takes an object to fall a specific distance.

Distance in inches Distance in centimenters Time in seconds

0.8 2 0.06
1.6 4 0.09
2.4 6 0.11
3.2 8 0.12
4 10 0.14
4.8 12 0.15
5.6 14 0.17
6.4 16 0.18
7.2 18 0.19
8 20 0.20
8.8 22 0.21
9.6 24 0.22
10.4 26 0.23
11.2 28 0.24
12 30 0.25
12.8 32 0.26

Use the above table of numbers to convert the average distance into a unit of time.

1) The time for a "message" to travel from your eye through the brain to your hand is equal to ________
seconds.
2) To what would this number be close?
(a) one-tenth of second. (b) one-fifth of a second. (c) one-third of second. (d) one-and one-fourth seconds.

3) Conclusion: Does this message take more than a second , or less than a second to travel about one
meter, the distance from your eye to the tip of your hand?

4) Was your hypothesis, your prediction, high, accurate, or low?

5) The time for a "message" to travel from your eye through the brain to your hand is equal to ________
seconds.

Because the distance from your eye to the tip of your hand is about one yard/meter you can find how fast
the message is traveling. Do this by dividing one yard/meter by the time for you to catch the ruler in sec-
onds.

6) One yard/meter divided by _______ seconds = _________ yards/meters per second

To find out how fast the message travels in an hour multiply this number by 60 seconds and then by 60
minutes.
7) ? /meters per second x 60 seconds x 60 minutes = ________ yards/meters per hour.

8) How might a person who has not gotten enough sleep react if he or she had to stop a falling ruler?

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