24 Hour Science Project - A Simple Explanation of the Scientific Method

When many parents think of the scientific method,vocabulary. What happens is you remember the story,
they remember having to follow it with their high schoolthen the story triggers the memory for the word, or in
biology or chemistry labs. However, when you reallythis case the process called the scientific method.
think about it, what you are talking about is the method,Often a short term or 24 hour science project will be
or the process you need to go through to make anthe first chance to officially use the scientific method,
experiment valid. It does not matter if you areso it will be easy to use one of these experiments as
experimenting with a quick 24 hour science project orthe hook to a story you create to explain the process.
a longer complicated high school lab The same stepsIf you were doing an experiment about ice melting, you
are followed. The only difference is the amount of timecould create a story to go along with it. May-be a little
you spend on each step. If you follow the steps in thegirl was taking her thermos to day camp and wants to
process, you should have a successful project withknow what size ice cube last the longest. You then
logical, valid results.have easy to remember story points to use when
The basic steps of the scientific method include:reviewing the steps. Instead of saying what was the
Observation, Questions, Hypotheses, Experimentationhypotheses, you cans say what ideas did she come
and Results. One fun way to explain the meaning ofup to find out about how long the ice took to melt?.
these steps is to tell a story about a common real lifeWhen they answer, you can slip in a comment
happening that any child can easily relate to. What thisreminding them that they are called hypotheses.
does is help with make a connection betweenOnce you get the hang of this, you will realize that
unfamiliar scientific terms and something familiar. It iseveryday people use these same steps in every day
easier to remember a story than remembering schoolproblem solving.