SCIENCE MEETS REAL LIFE

Science Meets Real Life



Science Meets Real Life

Part I

Introduction

A scientific method is a procedure utilized to methodically examine observation, solve a problem, and test hypothesis. It is the process through which experiments are conducted which can be used come up with certain observations to solve problems (Bartholomew, 2004). Scientists employ this scientific procedure to research about affect and cause relations of various elements. In other words, the scientists develop experiments so that modifications in one point cause something else to diverge in a foreseeable manner.

The Steps of Scientific Method

There are five steps of scientific methods to conduct an experiment or for solving a problem. Those steps are as follows:

State the problem

Make observation

Form a hypothesis

Do the experiment

Draw conclusion

In order to comprehend the concepts of scientific method, employing these procedures on the following two scenarios will help in understanding the concepts (Bartholomew, 2004). We will implement the above mentioned steps in the two given scenarios.

Scenario I

You arrive home late at night. You walk up to the front door, unlock it, and reach in to turn on the light switch located just inside the front door. The light does not come on. Now what will you do?

State the Problem

The light does not come on when the bulb is switched on.

Make Observation

By turning the switch on, the light does not come. To confirm the problem, turning the switch off and on again is also an observation part. Through observation of a problem, the scientific methods are set in motion. Exploring the reasons of the problem is also a part of the observation stage of the scientific method. Maybe the bulb burned out or maybe the power has gone out etc.

Form a Hypothesis

After the observation and forming questions, a hypothesis is formed (Russell, 1985). A hypothesis is a supposition as to why the problem occurred. The light did not come out as the bulb burned out. The hypothesis for this scenario is as follows:

Hypothesis statement: “The bulb has burned out and by changing the bulb, the light will turn on.”

The hypothesis is based on:

The exploration study depicts that if a bulb which has been functioning properly suddenly does not turn on then it depicts that it may have burned out.

By changing that burned out bulb with a new bulb, the light will turn on.

Do the Experiment

To conclude if the hypothesis and observations are correct, an experiment needs to be conducted (Russell, 1985). In this scenario, the experiment would be to buy a new bulb and replace it will the old one. To see the result of the experiment, we turn the switch on. The light comes on by switching on the bulb.

Draw Conclusion

By replacing the burned out bulb with a new bulb, the light comes on. This experiment proved that the bulb was burned out and the light came on by replacing it with a new bulb. The result confirmed the hypothesis.

Scenario II

I love gardening, and I grow tomatoes in my ...