SCIENTIFIC METHOD
The scientific method is a set of ideas or a procedure that scientists use to investigate things they want to understand. By using the method, you can be sure you’re carrying out your project correctly. The scientific method allows you to investigate an experiment in a step-by-step method.
Problem: What are you going to solve in the lab? The problem or purpose explains exactly what you hope to accomplish in the investigation.
Hypothesis: How do you think it is going to turn out? Use the facts you already know to come up with a guess that might really make sense.
Materials and Apparatus: List what equipment you will need to complete the experiment. (Include diagrams of set up apparatus if required to do so in this section.
Procedure: What you must do to complete the experiment. Write down the steps you need to follow.
Data and Work: Include the tables, observations and work you did during the experiment.
This section is where you keep very careful notes on everything you do and everything you find out.
Be sure you write down or draw what really happened, even if it’s not what you thought would happen.
At the end, you look over all your data and think about it very hard.
You think of the results of your procedure, or how everything turned out. Analysis Questions: You do not need to write out questions, but you must answer in sentences that include the question.
Conclusion: You must say what you found out during the lab. You figure out whether your results agreed with your hypothesis or not. Put everything you observed together and try to make some sense out of it.
**Hint** The conclusion should answer the problem.
Remember!
- Be neat. Your lab should be organized and easily readable.
- Hand in a good copy. You can take a rough copy of data tables into the lab and then recopy for your hand-in report.
- Hand in lab reports on time!
Learning activity
- Name two basic storage and chemical handling apparatus.
- Name one accurate apparatus for measuring liquid volume.
- How do you determine the mass of an object?
- Name two safety devises to prevent chemical splash.
- Very often, safety rules in the laboratory are written negatively and start with ‘don’t do this, don’t do that, you should not……..
Rewrite your Rules of the Laboratory positively by starting with ‘Do this, Always,
See also