In this Post, we will learn what is the scientific method and how can we adopt these methods and steps while doing the science fair projects for school students or kids
Scientific method definition
Scientific Method is not but, it is a method or process used by scientists or technologist while doing the research or experiments on a certain topic.
Who invented the scientific method
Francis Bacon was the first scientist to finalize the concept of the scientific method
Explain the Characteristics or Steps of the scientific method
The scientific method involves 7 to 8 scientific method process
- Identify the problem or Topic to perform the research or experiment
- Define the problem clearly to understand, removing the uncertainty
- Now Gather the data about the problem or data in all the aspects
- Definition and data gathering, form the hypothesis about the problem
- Now do the experiment or activities to validate the hypothesis
- During the experiments take the readings and results
- Validate these readings or results to confirm things are going as expected in the definition of problem or hypothesis
- Keep repeating the whole process until we get reasonable solutions which are acceptable in nature.
Explanation of Scientific method steps
Problem :
All the science experiments or research start with the questions, what is the problem?, why this issues?, what causes these problems?, and so on
In this step, our goal is to define the problem very crisp and clear so that everyone understands in the same way
Gather Information
In this step, we try to gather as much information as possible to understand the problem better that would help to solve it or provide a solution to it
Hypothesis
After collecting or gathering information relevant to the given problem researching, you will be able to make some opinion to answer the problem. This is called a hypothesis, which includes
- The objective of the science experiment
- What’s being measured in this experiment
- What are the expected results out of these science experiments
- What is the reason behind to expect those results?
Materials to be used in the science experiments
In this section, you will list all the materials required to perform the science experiment to understand the problem and provide the solutions, including all the tools or software being used
Procedure
In this section, you will write the detailed step by step instructions to perform the science experiments, how will you measure it, what data you will collect it, etc
Experiment
In this step, you will perform the actual science experiment as described in the above method
Analysis / Summary of Results
In this Step, we will take all the readings or results coming out of the science experiments
Conclusion:
In conclusion, write the question or problem with the required data, evaluate the hypothesis, learnings and outcomes of this science fair project
Scientific Method with Examples in Science Fair Projects
Can the plant grow without sun light?
Problem : Can the plant grow without sun light?
Gather Information : Read Photosynthesis
Hypothesis :
- Without sunlight, carbohydrates cannot be produced and hence, no food generation in the plant
- Without sunlight, photosynthesis does not occur
- Without sunlight, plants cannot grow
- Without sunlight, plants may die
Experiments :
Let us setup 5 environments to perform this experiment in controlled environment
- Plant 1: Zero Sun Light
- Plant 2: 25% Sun Light
- Plant 3: 50% Sun Light
- Plant 4: 75% Sun Light
- Plant 5: 100% of Full Sun Light
Keep in this way plants for 7 days and observe, the development and growth of the plant with the above sunlight scenarios
Conclusion :
This experiment proves that the sunlight is very important for the growth of the plants due to the reason that chloroplast reaction takes place within the plant due to the sunlight, more the sunlight the better the growth thof the plant.
Why is the scientific method important
This method minimizes the influence of bias or prejudice because it follows the stand best practices and also well documented