The Scientific Method - Why Your Child Should Be Using It Often

The scientific method is not just something that you learn in grade school in order to pass science class. The scientific method is something that all of us use on a daily basis in order to make sense of the world around us. The scientific method is basically the process that we go through in our minds to ask questions and find answers. The scientific method roughly follows the following pattern:

1. The first step is to make an observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. In other words, you observe a problem or a question and define exactly what the issue is in order to make more sense of it.

2. Formulation of a hypothesis to explain the phenomena. A hypothesis is a theory or an idea of how something can be worked out or how a problem can be solved. Through the process of the scientific method you will work to prove that your hypothesis is in fact true.

3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena. In some cases your hypothesis is part of a sequence of events and you are curious to see how altering a specific occurrence will alter the overall result of a process. Your goal is to predict quantitatively (meaning with physical evidence) the results of new observations.

4. Now you take action. You perform a series of experimental tests of the predictions/hypotheses. With more complicated scientific experiments (not necessarily anything that your child will encounter in their schooling) several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments are meticulously planned and carried out. In the case of a child's science project or simple day-to-day use of the scientific method, the process of experimentation is much cruder. You can test your ideas in a matter of seconds in some cases and many of the testing that we all do is done mentally and in our homes, schools, or workplace, not in a laboratory.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation. In other words, 'If at first you don't succeed, try again.' Many times our initial theories or predictions of what might happen in an experiment are wrong. There is no shame in guessing wrong. What is important is that you continue trying to formulate new ideas and solutions until you find a hypothesis that works.

The scientific method is not as complicated as you may think, and it is important that your child be using the basic outline of the scientific principle in his or her daily life. For example, say that your child is drinking juice from a plastic cup and notices that a puddle has formed under the cup. What should your child do? A child without an understanding of the scientific method is stuck and may call on a parent to just solve the problem for them. On the other hand, when a child understands how to solve problems the situation can be controlled without parental intervention. A child with an understanding of the scientific method may follow the following steps:

1. Identify the problem: There is a puddle of juice underneath my cup

2. Form a hypothesis: Maybe there is a hole or crack in my cup

3. What other phenomena are present with this hypothesis: If there is a hole or crack in my cup it should still be leaking until the juice is gone.

4. Take action: lift the cup off the table and see where the drips are coming from, find the location of the crack.

5. Repeat the process if hypothesis is not proved: I didn't see a hole or a crack, maybe it is just water condensing on the outside of the cup. Repeat the process to see if water is in fact forming on the outside of the cup.

Science Fair Projects - Making a Winning Science Project Step 1b - The Scientific Method Part 1

If you are getting ready to prepare your very own science experiment for the science fair, it's time to make sure you know everything you need to about the scientific method. The scientific method provides a basic structure that you will use when conducting your experiment. It describes the background of the experiment, the process that you will use during your research, and the steps you will take in order to come up with a conclusion to your project. Plus - During the science fair, you'll have to show the judges that you have followed the scientific method and that you understand what each step means.

No matter what type of scientific research you are conducting for your science project, you will have to use five scientific steps. Cool fact: these scientific steps are also the steps that professional scientists use when they conduct their experiments - including scientists at NASA that build space ships! Here they are:

* Research
* Problem
* Hypothesis
* Project Experimentation
* Project Conclusion

Now, here's what you need to know about each of these steps in order to create a really cool science project: Research During this step, you are deciding what experiment you want to conduct by researching different things that interest you. Research means that you get more information that might help to plan your experiment. There are many ways to get information during research. For example, you can use your own experiences, you can look information up in a book, or you can use an experiment that you may have already done in class as a starting point. I got the idea for one of my science fair projects while eating dinner one night. I realized that I could taste salty foods in one part of my mouth and sweet foods in another. I asked my dad why this happened and he said that different taste buds taste different foods and are located in different parts of the mouth. We looked online for information about where the taste buds were exactly and compared the pictures online with our own tongues in the mirror. That year, my project was about finding out where taste buds are in the mouth for everyday foods, like milk and bread, and vegetables. From that example, you can see that I started with a question that I had through simple observation. My dad and I researched the answer to my question together using books and by looking at our tongues in the mirror. Heads up: When you do your research for your own scientific experiment, make sure that you are doing the research on your own. I might have used my dad to help answer my question at first, but I used library books, experiments, and interviews (I called my doctor) in order to do my project on my own. Problem The problem part of the scientific method provides the whole purpose for the research and experiments. The problem is usually an open-ended question that you need to solve through the experiment. An open-ended question is one that cannot be answered in one or two words, such as, "Are there taste buds in the mouth." In my particular case, my problem was that I wanted to find out where taste buds were for different foods. So my open-ended question was "Where are specific taste buds for common foods?"

Expect to be surprised when writing your question. When I came up with my problem, I realized that I couldn't limit the answer to what I thought I'd learn. For example, I knew that my tongue had taste buds, but my dad had also mentioned that taste buds can occur in other parts of my mouth. That's why my question didn't say, "Where on the tongue are specific taste buds for common foods?"

Make sure you can answer your question through experimentation. Your experiment should help you to come to a conclusion about your initial problem.

Hypothesis A hypothesis is my favorite part of the scientific method because it is a statement about what you think will happen. You write the hypothesis after you have already done some of your research, but before you perform your experiment. Your experiment will prove whether your hypothesis is right or wrong. Here's an example of the hypothesis I used in my experiment: "I believe that different parts of the mouth respond to different tastes. I base this hypothesis on:

1. The front of the tongue tastes sugar, but the sides do not.
2. The sides of the tongue taste salt, but the front does not.

Here are some tips to help you with your hypothesis.

* When creating your hypothesis, it is okay to state why you think your experiment will have a particular conclusion. Remember: you have already observed through research that different parts of the tongue taste different things.
* As you go through your experiment, you might discover that you were wrong in your hypothesis. If this happens, congratulations! You've experienced something that professional scientists experience everyday...and that's why you're doing the experiment after all! Don't go back and change your hypothesis, though. It's expected (and absolutely fine) to discover that your hypothesis was wrong (sometimes the science fair judges like to see that, too!)
* It might also help to write the hypothesis down so that you remember what it is. Write it down before you start the experiment, just in case the experiment turns out differently than you thought it would.

Now you're ready to do your experiment. To learn how to do this cool next step, you'll want to read part 2 of this article. Visit this link to finish learning how to do an great science fair project. Or if you are really serious about doing an awesome project, just download your free copy of "Easy Steps to Award-Winning Science Fair Projects" from the link below right now.