Welcome to GattPrep!
Welcome back, scientist-in-training! 👩🏽🔬👨🏽🔬
Have you ever tried to fix a broken remote, figure out why a plant isn’t growing, or test if adding more sugar makes a drink sweeter? Guess what—you were already using the scientific method!
Science isn’t just facts and formulas—it’s a process. It’s a way of thinking. Scientists follow a step-by-step method to ask questions, test ideas, and find reliable answers. That’s exactly what today’s lesson is all about.
By the end, you’ll be able to use this powerful method to investigate problems and make smart, evidence-based decisions in school and real life.
The scientific method is a logical and organized way of solving problems or answering questions based on observation, experimentation, and analysis. Scientists around the world follow this method to make discoveries, create new technologies, and understand how the world works.
| Step | What It Means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Observation | Notice something in your environment. | “My plant is dying.” |
| 2. Ask a Question | What do you want to find out? | “Why is my plant wilting?” |
| 3. Form a Hypothesis | Make a smart guess or prediction. | “Maybe it’s not getting enough sunlight.” |
| 4. Experiment | Test your hypothesis with a planned procedure. | Move the plant to sunlight and observe it. |
| 5. Collect and Analyze Data | Record your results and look for patterns. | “Plant got better in sunlight.” |
| 6. Draw a Conclusion | Decide if your hypothesis was right or wrong. | “Yes! The plant needed more light.” |
Example 1: Cooking Rice
Observation: “The rice is too soft.”
Question: “Did I add too much water?”
Hypothesis: “If I reduce the water, the rice will be firmer.”
Experiment: Cook rice with less water.
Data: Firmer rice.
Conclusion: Less water works!
Example 2: School Experiment
Problem: “Seeds are not growing.”
Hypothesis: “Seeds need sunlight.”
Test: Put one seed in the dark, another in sunlight.
Observation: Only the seed in sunlight grows.
Conclusion: Plants need light to grow.
You notice that your classroom fans stop working in the afternoons.
Use the scientific method to investigate.
✅ Step-by-Step Solution:
Observation: The fans work in the morning but stop in the afternoon.
Question: Why do the fans stop working only in the afternoon?
Hypothesis: Maybe the power supply drops in the afternoon.
Experiment: Use a voltmeter to check voltage at different times of the day.
Data Collection: Voltage drops from 220V in the morning to 180V in the afternoon.
Conclusion: The fans stop due to lower voltage in the afternoons.
(a) The first step in the scientific method is making an __________.
(b) A smart guess or prediction is called a __________.
Answers: (a) observation
(b) hypothesis
A. Form a hypothesis
B. Make an observation
C. Draw a conclusion
D. Analyze data
E. Ask a question
F. Do an experiment
Correct Order:
B → E → A → F → D → C
Question: Why is it important to only change one variable in an experiment?
Sample Answer:
So you can be sure that any change in the results is caused by that one variable and not something else.
The scientific method is a step-by-step process for solving problems.
The steps include: observation, question, hypothesis, experiment, data collection, and conclusion.
This method helps us investigate, test ideas, and find reliable answers in real life and in science labs.
Think about a time when something didn’t go as expected—maybe your phone froze, your food didn’t cook well, or your bicycle stopped working.
Can you write down the steps you took to figure out what went wrong?
Try matching your actions to the scientific method!
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