Steps in the Scientific Process

1.    Purpose (a question or a problem to be solved)
2.    Research (A summary of what you read about your science topic)
3.    Hypothesis (what you think the answer will be; an educated guess)
4.    Materials (a list of everything you need to complete your project)
5.    Procedure (steps to carry out a controlled experiment)
6.    Results (your observations, what happened during the experiment)
7.   Conclusion (the answer--if you found one--to the original question or problem; was your hypothesis correct?)

Question: A question may come from anywhere. A good experimental question will usually be stated in this form: How does _____ affect ________ ?

Sample Questions:

• How does drinking coffee affect teeth?
• How does a gas or an electric burner affect how fast water will boil?
• How does light affect how a plant grows?
• Does Miracle Gro affect the way a plant grows?
• How do soil, compost, and dirt affect plants and how fast they grow?
• Will the type of lotion affect how much moisture is left on the skin?
• How does salt affect how fast ice will melt in a cup of water?
   

RESEARCH: Find out what information there already is on your topic. Read about what other scientists have done before. Try to discover the scientific principle that is being proven in your experiment and read about it.

HYPOTHESIS: This is the part of the experiment where you make a guess as to what you think will happen. It shouldn't be a wild guess, but an educated guess. This means you should use what you have learned through your research and find out what others have observed before you decide what you think will happen.

MATERIALS: This is just a list of what you need to complete your experiment. Be sure to write it in list form (like your mom's grocery list).

• Small glasses
• Rubber bands
• Spray bottle filled with water
• 30 pennies
• Six different brands of toilet paper
• Chart to record results

PROCEDURE: This is like a recipe, step-by-step instructions for what you will do to test your hypothesis.  It should be written in the order in which your experiment will be done. Your procedure must be complete and clear enough that another person could follow it and do the exact same experiment you do.

RESULTS:  This is the part where you tell what happened. You could use a chart or table to record your results and then make a graph to display the results.

CONCLUSION: Here are some general guidelines for writing your conclusion:

1. Answer your experimental question based on your results. Was your hypothesis right?

2. How reliable is your conclusion? That is, how certain are you that your results are accurate? Describe any uncontrolled variables and tell how they might have affected the results.

3. What else did you learn that wasn't part of your experimental question?

4. Ideas for further experimentation. Here you should tell what other questions you might investigate and how you would improve on the experiment you just did.