The SCIENTIFIC METHOD

1: Question
• Recognize the problem/question being looked at.
• What do you want to solve or figure out?

2: Research
• What do you already know?
• What do you need to find out?
• Gather and collect any information.

3: Form a Hypothesis
• An educated “guess” or prediction of what you think might
happen and why based on what you already know or have
already observed.
• Must be testable and related directly to your question.
• Using the format:
If... then... because.
4: Materials
• A complete list of all the materials you will need to conduct
the experiment.

5: Procedure
• Clear and concise.
• Step-by-step to show the procedure in a logical manner.
• Designed to test the hypothesis and answer the question.
• Know what the variable is (what is being changed).

6: Data & Observations

• Any and all information collected during the experiment.
• Sometimes in the form of a table, chart, graph,
illustration...
• Written description of what was noticed during the
experiment, often with accompanying
diagram/picture/illustration of some kind.

7: Discussion
• Analyze the observations you made and data you
collected.
• Describe anything that happened during the experiment
(problems, interesting observations, etcetera).
• How could you improve the experiment?
• Any possible human-errors or inaccuracies?

8: Conclusion
• Restate your hypothesis.
• Was your hypothesis correct?
• Why or why not? Explain.