Why do we take it as fact that gravity exists or that an
orange is the color orange. These things are known as facts and have been
tested using the Scientific Method. We use facts and observations every day when
describing different things, some of these observations have been tested and
some have not, but no matter how you look at it some form of the scientific
method has been used on everything around us.
Experiment Title:
Scientific Method and Demonstrations Galore
Objective:
The objective of this lab is to use the scientific method,
specifically the section on observations and make observations about different
demonstrations that we will be doing today to see if you can determine the
branch(or branches) of science that are involved in the experiment and also
understand the underlying principles of each demonstration. This is an
introduction lab so feel free to be a little more free form in your lab
notebook write up.
Background:
What does it mean to know something?
Consider something that you have learned in school, namely
the answer to the problem 1+1. Most people would quickly and correctly say that
the answer is 2, but how do we know that for sure?
Over time, people have developed the notion of quantity (and
the absence of quantity), meaning that we have an amount of something.
Somewhere the notion of addition was developed, whereby quantities could be
added and the combination of quantities could also be named. These rules were
also generalized to apply to numbers other than 1. Most mathematical concepts
involve definitions (in our example, counting numbers and the operation of
addition on counting numbers) and logical proof that show a particular
definition to be true or false. Proof that we know addition is inherent in the
underlying logic of quantities and operations.
When someone says or writes something and it is not the
writer’s opinion, we have to decide how much truth exists. If we understand the
topic well and the information matches closely with what we would expect, then
we might be able to say it is true. If the information does not match well with
what we know, or we do not understand the topic well, we cannot specifically
rely on that information without confirming it ourselves or evaluating the
process that created the information. As a general rule, the more a piece of
information is confirmed by different sources, the more we might believe it to
be true.
When we observe the world around us, knowledge becomes a lot
harder to prove. We normally come up with a description of something we
observe. Often we want to know if two or more events are related or if events
cause other events. We often want to know why a particular event occurred.
The scientific method helps us confirm information we are
given and helps us create new knowledge about the world and relationships
between observable events. The scientific method consists of several main
steps:
- Determine what we are studying (ex. effect of wing span and plane length on paper airplane flight)
- Identify what we know today (ex. paper airplanes glide when thrown, different speeds cause them to glide differently, etc.)
- Identify hypotheses (ex. Default hypothesis [What we know or believe today]: wing span will not have an effect on glide length. Alternative hypothesis [What would be a plausible difference]: Short wingspan will cause the plane to fly further)
- Collect data: this might be from an experiment or from another type of data collection such as a survey (ex. The plane with a wider wing span flew 7 feet, the plane with a short wingspan also flew 7 feet)
How does our data update what we know today?
(ex. Our data was not conclusive to disprove our default hypothesis)
The scientific method helps us talk about what happened, but
not necessarily why it happened.
Knowing how to use the scientific method can aid us in many different areas of science. Science has been broken up into many different disciplines and fields of study. The diagram below shows a few selected areas of science. It is our goal in STEM Club to try to do different experiments and introduce different concepts that touch most if not all of these fields of study.
Knowing how to use the scientific method can aid us in many different areas of science. Science has been broken up into many different disciplines and fields of study. The diagram below shows a few selected areas of science. It is our goal in STEM Club to try to do different experiments and introduce different concepts that touch most if not all of these fields of study.
Materials
The
materials for this lab are dependent on each demonstation and are not listed
here. If you would like to know how to recreate a demonstration please refer to
our demonstrations post for the scientific method.
Method
Prepare Experiment
Write in
your lab notebook the title of this lab
We will
be doing a series of demonstrations and introducing key concepts behind each
demonstration, make sure to follow along
Run Experiment
With
each demo, write the name of the demo in your notebook
Write
down any observations you have about the demo
Write
down any ideas that you have about what concepts we are trying to teach
Analyze Data
At the
end of each demo we will give you the key concept we are trying to show with
that
demonstration, make sure to write it down and know that your concept could
be accurate as well
Conclusions
This lab is meant to engage students and their parents in
STEM Club and show them a few of the concepts that we will be teaching over the
coming months/years etc.
Make it your own
As we want STEM Club to be interactive and teaching students
a broad diversity of scientific concepts run your own survey with the parents
and child to tailor your STEM Club lesson plan. Each one of our lessons may
refer to other lessons and concepts that we have taught but will give
information information within each experiment to not have to do a previous one
to be able to do that one. From your survey pick and choose the different
concepts that your students and their parents are most interested in.
Extension Activities to do at home
Think about the demonstrations that you have seen today and
what you want to learn more about. Go online with your parents permission and
look up some other amazing demonstrations. Youtube has a lot of videos so you
will not have to recreate them at home, otherwise there are many websites
devoted to scientific demonstrations for kids where you can learn to do
different experiments on your own.
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