Scientific Method and Important Vocabulary

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What is the first step in the scientific method?

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Ask a Question. It often starts with making an observation about something you see in nature.

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What is a hypothesis?

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A hypothesis is an educated guess about what you think will happen in your experiment.

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What do you do after creating a hypothesis?

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Make a Prediction. You predict the outcome based on your hypothesis.

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What is involved in conducting an experiment?

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Setting up a test to see if your hypothesis and prediction are correct, deciding on the independent and dependent variables.

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What is the independent variable?

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The factor that is changed to observe how it affects the dependent variable.

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What is the dependent variable?

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The variable that changes as a result of the independent variable manipulation.

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What is the purpose of collecting and recording data?

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To keep track of observations and measurements, which helps analyze the results later.

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What do you do after collecting data?

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Draw a Conclusion. Look at your results and decide whether your hypothesis was right or wrong.

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What is the final step in the scientific method?

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Report Results. Sharing your findings with others and possibly repeating the experiment for validity.

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What is a control group?

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The group in the experiment that is not being tested. It is used to compare to the test group.