The Scientific Method

Preliminary Stage

First Step: This is your purpose or your question. This is what you are trying to find out the answer too. If you want it to be a purpose but it in the form of a statement but if you want it as a question then put it in the form of a question.

EXAMPLE: Which flavor of bubble gum last the longest? (Question form)

EXAMPLE: The purpose of this experiment is to find out which bubble gum flavor lasts the longest. (Purpose form)

Second Step: The second step to the scientific method is to create your hypothesis. This is usually done AFTER you complete some background research. You need to know some information about your project before you can decide on a reasonable hypothesis, which is why you need to do background research first. Your hypothosis is ALWAYS presented in the form of a statement.

EXAMPLE: Bubble gum brand XYZ’s flavor YADA will last the longest.

Experimental Stage

Third Step: The third step to the scientific method is to gather and list your materials. You have to have a list of all your materials you used in your experiment. Don’t forget, in order to prove your hypothesis as fact other scientists must be able to complete the experiment and get the same results and they can’t do that if you didn’t tell them what equipment you used. You do not have to list your paper that you took notes on or your pen that you wrote with just the item pertinent to the experiment itself.

EXAMPLE:

Fourth Step: The fourth step is your procedures; this is ALL the steps you took to complete your experiment. You have to list your steps IN DETAIL listing specifically what you did and how. This part of the scientific method can get tedious but it is very crucial. Again, in order to prove your hypothesis as fact other scientists must be able to complete the experiment and get the same results as you did and if you don’t tell them what you did, in what order and how it was done then they won’t be able to copy you exactly. One way to think of it is if you had a blind person that had to copy your every move. Say out loud what you are doing and how and write that down as your steps. This should help you write in detail your procedures.

EXAMPLE:

  1. 1. Give each person a piece of YADA flavored gum.
  2. Have them start chewing all at the same time.
  3. Start the stopwatch when the gum enters their mouth.
  4. Every 15 seconds ask the subjects to take the gum out of their mouth and tell you, using the flavor scale, how much flavor their piece of gum has.
  5. Continue to step 4 until the each subject says their gum has no flavor.
  6. Repeat steps 1-5 with each new flavor of gum.

Analysis Stage

Fifth Step: The fifth step is your results. Your results are usually in the form of numbers. These would be your measurements, your times, weights or however you are measuring your results. These need to be put into some type of chart. You need to try and get your results into a bar, line or pie graph. Find the best chart for your numbers. This is easily using Excel’s chart wizard*.

EXAMPLE:

Sixth Step The last step is your conclusion. This is where you put your numbers that you measured in the results section and put them into words. This is also where you answer your question (if you put step 1 in a question form) and you state whether or not your hypothesis was right or wrong.

DON’T FORGET – your hypothesis can be wrong and it DOESN’T mean you failed your science fair project. The project is NOT graded on whether or not your hypothesis was right or wrong it is graded on your ability to USE and FOLLOW the scientific method.

EXAMPLE: Bubble gum brand XYZ’s flavor YADA did not have the longest lasting flavor. The results shoe that MADA is the longest lasting flavor so my hypothesis is wrong.

backtotop