Scientific Method: Steps of Discovery

Section role: supports the 'Mapping the Path of Discovery' section while the teacher defines the formal steps of the Scientific Method and connects them to the students' recent 'Dissolving Race Challenge'. Slides: (1) Title — 'Mapping Your Path of Discovery'; (2) What Did You Ask? — bullet: your initial curiosity from the 'Dissolving Race' (e.g., 'Which liquid dissolves the tablet fastest?'), introduces 'Question'; (3) Your Best Guess — bullet: your prediction before the race, introduces 'Hypothesis' as a testable prediction; (4) Setting Up the Race — bullet: what you changed (liquid types) and what you measured (dissolving time), introduces 'Variables' with visual of different liquids; (5) Independent and Dependent Variables — bullets: the liquid type (Independent), the time (Dependent), clarifying how one affects the other; (6) Gathering the Facts — bullet: recording the dissolving times from the race, introduces 'Data Collection'; (7) What Did You Learn? — bullet: using the recorded times to answer your original question, introduces 'Conclusion'; (8) The Full Cycle of Science — bullet: visual summary of Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Data Collection, Conclusion. Hooks back to the 'Dissolving Race Challenge' (Section 2) by using it as a direct example for each step. Sets up the 'Scientific Sleuth Review' (Section 4) by formalizing the steps. Closing slide: 'Which step do you think is the most important for a scientist and why?' — hands control back to the teacher for a brief class discussion.

Lara from Teachy