How To Plan An Experiment
- 1. Objective: You will design an experiment, collect data, analyze and graph data and formulate conclusions based on your data.
- 2. How to plan an experiment.
- 3. Make observations….. What materials are available? What are some possible independent variables you can investigate? How will you collect data?
- 4. State your problem What is your independent variable? What is your dependent variable? Construct your problem statement in the form of a question? (Include your independent and dependent variables.)
- 5. State your hypothesis What’s YOUR educated guess as to what the outcome of your experiment will be? Don’t forget to include WHY you think the way you do.
- 6. List your materials Make sure to list ALL materials used. Identify the size of beakers, test tubes, etc. that you are using. Remember….if someone were to replicate your experiment, they would know EXACTLY what they need to perform the test EXACTLY as you did!
- 7. Design your experiment Write your procedures in step by step format. Be specific and detailed. Remember….by reading your procedures, someone should be able to replicate your experiment EXACTLY the way you did it!
- 8. Draw a data table When collecting data, you need to be organized. With a data table ready BEFORE the experiment, your data will be recorded in an organized manner and you can avoid any confusion when analyzing and graphing your data.
- 9. Graph your data Decide on the type of graph that will best represent your data. See graphing guidelines……
- 10. Analyze your data and state your conclusions Does your data support your hypothesis? What does your data prove in terms of your problem statement? Mention data! How valid is your experiment? (What went wrong?) What would you do differently next time?
- 11. Remember…. No one experiment you do in this classroom will be valid! You are only going to run an experiment ONCE and it takes MANYYYYYY trials to validate the outcome of any experiment. Don’t be afraid to be wrong. We’re here to discover! Use your conclusions to explain any problems that led to the invalidity of your experiment.
- 12. Give your experiment a TITLE Be creative but make sure that it reflects what you are investigating.