STEPS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD

 

NATURAL SCIENCE

The natural Science component for the General Education oart if the Licensure Examination for teachers includes Biological Science-General Biology: Physical Science with Earth Science

 

DEFINITION OF SCIENCE

       Science is derived from the Latin Scientia, which means knowledge. It is defines as a systematic procedure of gathering knowledge about the world and organizing and condensing that knowledge into testable laws and theories.

       As knowledge increased, some methods have proven more reliable than others, and today the scientific method is the standard for science. The use of the scientific method make new discoveries is called scientific research and the people who carry out this research are known as scientist.

 

STEPS OF SCIENTIFIC METHOD


1.          Define the problem.

2.          Gather preliminary data, find out all available and accessible sources.

3.          Formulate a hypothesis.

4.          Test the hypothesis, gather sufficient data to be able to solve the problem or explain the phenomenon.

5.          Analyze and interpret the data in No.4

6.          Draw a generalization or conclusion.

7.           Verify generalization by applying to similar situations. 

Illustration:

       While playing house with her sister, Dorothy boiled some seaweeds.

When they’ve finished playing, she threw the cold seaweed extract away, but it accidentally splashed on the vegetable seedbed of her father. A few days later, Dorothy was surprised to see that some portion of the seedbed have faster growing vegetables than the other portions.’

To find out the seaweed extract has anything to do with the phenomenon, Dorothy decided to use the scientific method in her investigation. What would be her first step?

 

1.          gather preliminary data

2.          formulate a scientific hunch

3.          state the problem

4.          look into the seedbed intrinsically to find the answer right away.

5.          design an experiment to prove her theory

 

To get accurate results from her experiment, Dorothy should conduct:

1.          a controlled experiment

2.          atrial and error experiment

3.          an uncontrolled experiment

4.          a structured laboratory activity

5.          an unstructured activity

 

What scientific attitude was exhibited by Dorothy?

1.          thrill of finding something new

2.          curiosity and intuitiveness

3.          critical outlook

4.          willingness to study and work hard

5.          keen power of observation


BACK