Inquiry and the Scientific Method

Inquiry learning by asking questions

Scientific evidence scientific research and evidence must

objective describe only what actually happened as exactly

as possible reported without bias or opinion

reliable could your experiment be repeated by someone

else valid

did you really test for what you thought you did communicated clearly with no room for

misunderstanding when referring to other people’s work, cite the

source

Theories vs. Laws

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? Law

tells us what will happen does not try to explain or say why

Theory often an attempt to explain a law explains how or why something

occurs and is verified by known facts theories do not turn into laws may need to be changed due to new

observations

Scientific Process/Method (see Scoring Rubric for Inquiry Experiments hand out) title question hypothesis materials procedure variables and controls data collection data presentation/processing/graphs conclusion/analysis evaluation/discussion

No need to take notes on this. We

will DO this in labs, not simply

talk about it.

Science, Technology, Engineers Science

to learn about our natural world Technology

a way of using scientific knowledge to create devices, such as mobile phones and medical instruments

Engineers people who use scientific knowledge

to create or improve inventions that solve problems

http://www.kellybike.com/2nd_mountain1.html

Mr. Jansen tells you that a bike with larger 29 inch wheels might be “faster” than a normal mountain bike with 26 inch wheels. Therefore, he puts on his iPod Shuffle, cranks up Aerosmith, and rides his trail five times with the 29 inch wheeled bike and then five times with his 26 inch wheeled bike. His times on the 29 inch bike were 3:22, 3:24, 3:21, 3:29, and 3:21 with an average of 3:24 (min. and sec.). The times on the 26 inch wheeled bike were 3:35, 3:39, 3:35, 3:40, and 3:31 with an average of 3:36 (min. and sec.)

1. What could be a reasonable hypothesis for his experiment?

2. What is the dependent (responding) variable? Independent (manipulated) variable?

3. What would be a good title for this experiment?

4. List three controls he should have.

5. What type of graph would be appropriate for this data? Why?

6. What conclusion can you make from the data?

7. What could be some improvements for this experiment if he were do it again?