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    Assignment The Scientific Method

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    tvalentine99
    This document discusses the scientific method and provides two examples of how it can be applied. The scientific method involves making an observation, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment to test the hypothesis, and explaining the results. The first example tests whether a silver spoon is real or fake silver. The second examines why plants lean toward windows by growing them in a controlled environment with only one light source. Both examples are able to go through the full scientific method process to reach a conclusion. The document argues that the scientific method is important for advancing knowledge and understanding natural phenomena.

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    Assignment The Scientific Method

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    tvalentine99
    178 views4 pages
    This document discusses the scientific method and provides two examples of how it can be applied. The scientific method involves making an observation, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment to test the hypothesis, and explaining the results. The first example tests whether a silver spoon is real or fake silver. The second examines why plants lean toward windows by growing them in a controlled environment with only one light source. Both examples are able to go through the full scientific method process to reach a conclusion. The document argues that the scientific method is important for advancing knowledge and understanding natural phenomena.

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    Assignment the Scientific Method

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    This document discusses the scientific method and provides two examples of how it can be applied. The scientific method involves making an observation, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment to test the hypothesis, and explaining the results. The first example tests whether a silver spoon is real or fake silver. The second examines why plants lean toward windows by growing them in a controlled environment with only one light source. Both examples are able to go through the full scientific method process to reach a conclusion. The document argues that the scientific method is important for advancing knowledge and understanding natural phenomena.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    178 views4 pages

    Assignment The Scientific Method

    Uploaded by

    tvalentine99
    This document discusses the scientific method and provides two examples of how it can be applied. The scientific method involves making an observation, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, conducting an experiment to test the hypothesis, and explaining the results. The first example tests whether a silver spoon is real or fake silver. The second examines why plants lean toward windows by growing them in a controlled environment with only one light source. Both examples are able to go through the full scientific method process to reach a conclusion. The document argues that the scientific method is important for advancing knowledge and understanding natural phenomena.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Running head: THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 1

    The Scientific Method

    Tiffany Nicole Cooper

    University of Phoenix

    Luciana Robinson

    SCI/230

    December 17, 2010


    Running head: THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD 2

    The Scientific Method

    

    To start out I would like to first explain what the “scientific method” is. Scientific

    Method is the 'tool' that scientists use to find the answers to questions. The Scientific Method

    allows scientists to solve difficult problems by taking a series of four smaller steps: observation,

    questioning, hypothesis, and explanation.

    1. Observation: an observation can be something totally new, or it can be on something

    that is old, but with a new “outlook” on things. Often observations are a new way of looking at

    things or realization that the world is at odds with a current idea that is accepted. According to

    Pruitt, N. L., & Underwood, L. S. (2006) “In science, observations lead to questions.” The

    observation that I am making as a personal example is: “have you ever wondered if your silver is

    real or fake?” In order to make the experiment to this work, I will use two pieces of silver (I will

    be using spoons.)

    In my “web” experiment my observation is “Have you ever noticed if you place a plant

    near a window, that after a while, the plant grows or leans toward the window?

    2. Questioning: scientific questions can be answered by experimentation or observation

    of the material universe. My real-life example question is “Is my silver spoon real or fake?”

    My web question is “Have you ever wondered why the plant grows toward the window?”

    Hypothesis: an idea about the solution to a problem, based on knowledge and research. My

    hypothesis on my real-life situation is “When I do the experiment, will I find that my silver

    cutlery is real.”

    When trying to figure out my questions for my web experiment, I come up with “What

    reasons or factors can you list that might cause a plant to lean or grow toward a window?” My
    hypothesis is “plants respond to light which they need to make their food, and that is why they

    lean towards the window.”

    4. Experimentation (or testing): the process of testing a hypothesis by collecting data

    under controlled, repeatable conditions. In order to do conclude if my silver is fake or not I

    would first take a coffee mug, and place the spoons in the mug with a similar solid piece. Stick a

    dried pea to the handle of each spoon with a dab of butter. Pour boiling water into the mug, and

    if the peas fall of simultaneously, the item is real. If the pea falls off after the pea on the one that

    was real falls off, then your suspected spoon is a fake.

    In order to conduct an experiment to find out why plants lean towards the window, I

    would make a controlled environment and make sure there is no other light available to the plant,

    other then what I would provide. I could use a fish tank and a dark room, and put the plant in the

    fish tank with only the lights that are in there to help the plant grow.

    5. Explanation: Well according to Pruitt, N. L., & Underwood, L. S. (2006) “A scientific

    explanation is nothing more than the best hypothesis—the one that has passed the widest and

    most comprehensive series of tests—about a natural phenomenon. In other words, a scientific

    explanation is a mature hypothesis.” In my personal experiment, since silver conducts heat

    quicker than any other metal except gold, mercury, and platinum, it helped prove that my silver

    cutlery was not a fake!

    In my web experiment, the explanation is the window is where the nutrients of light is

    provided to the plant, therefore, it tends to makes the plant lean towards the light in order to

    receive the fullest amount of nutrients it possible can.

    When you look at both of the experiments that were conducted (one being how to tell if
    your silver is real or fake and the other being why do my plants grow towards the windows, you

    can see the steps that I took to find out if my observations could be followed through the whole

    scientific method, or if I would get half way through and find myself at a dead end. In both

    experiments, I found that I could follow through with the scientific method because I could

    follow through from observation to explanation. Without the scientific method being around, I

    do not think that this world would have gotten as far in intelligence as we have. Without being

    able to follow the sequence of the scientific method, we would have not been able to conclude if

    my silver was real or fake, or that plants grow towards light because they need the nutrients that

    the sun provides for it. With the experiment of the plants, I was able to determine that if I would

    grow a plant in a controlled environment, I am able to see a difference or a change in the

    direction the plant is growing.

    References:

    Pruitt, N. L., & Underwood, L. S. (2006). Bioinquiry: Making connections in biology (3rd ed.).

    Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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