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Hypothesis: a testable explanation of an observation
Control group: the group that does not get the treatment
Experimental group: the group that gets the treatment
Independent variable: the variable that is changed
Dependent variable: the variable that is measured

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The scientific method is a process by which scientists observe, predict, test, and analyze their work continuously. If the experiment disproves the hypothesis, scientists will revisit the hypothesis and redesign the experiment. This can happen multiple times until they have reached the point where their experiment supports their hypothesis. The experiment can never prove the hypothesis but it can definitely support it.

Scientists will then share their results with the scientific community and other scientists can then precede to test out the experiment. If other scientists can continually support the hypothesis, then a theory may be developed. Examples of theories are gravity, cell, and evolution. These could still be disproved, but there is enough evidence that supports these ideas.

Overall, scientists are constantly refining and revisiting their hypotheses. The scientific method is an ongoing, inquiry-based, process that is constantly changing and being reformed.

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1. Scientific Process
2. Cell Structure & Function
3. Cell Transport
4. Mitosis & Meiosis
5. DNA & Protein Synthesis
6. Genetics & Biotechnology
7. Evolution
8. Plants
9. Matter & Energy
10. Ecology
11. Human Body Systems
12. Cumulative Review
13. Answers

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Learning Science | Scientific Method Song | Lyric Video | Kid's Songs | Jack Hartmann

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Daniella designed an experiment to test how osmosis works in cells. She prepared 3 eggs by placing them in vinegar to dissolve the shell. One egg was place in water. One egg was placed in a salt solution. One egg was placed in a sugar solution. What was the purpose of placing the egg in the water?
a. It was the independent variable
b. To make sure there were multiple groups tested
c. It functioned as the control group
d. It functioned as the experimental group

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The scientific method is a process for experimentation that is used to explore observations and answer questions.

The interactive diagram below may help you understand the scientific method and how it is applied to an experiment. You can click on parts of the diagram to learn more. Use the "return to top" button to return to the diagram for more exploration.

1. Ask a Question

The scientific method starts when you ask a question about something that you observe: How, What, When, Who, Which, Why, or Where?

For a science fair project some teachers require that the question be something you can measure, preferably with a number.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

2. Do Background Research

Rather than starting from scratch in putting together a plan for answering your question, you want to be a savvy scientist using library and Internet research to help you find the best way to do things and ensure that you don't repeat mistakes from the past.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

3. Construct a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. It is an attempt to answer your question with an explanation that can be tested. A good hypothesis allows you to then make a prediction:
"If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen."

State both your hypothesis and the resulting prediction you will be testing. Predictions must be easy to measure.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

4. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment

Your experiment tests whether your prediction is accurate and thus your hypothesis is supported or not. It is important for your experiment to be a fair test. You conduct a fair test by making sure that you change only one factor at a time while keeping all other conditions the same.

You should also repeat your experiments several times to make sure that the first results weren't just an accident.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

5. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion

Once your experiment is complete, you collect your measurements and analyze them to see if they support your hypothesis or not.

Scientists often find that their predictions were not accurate and their hypothesis was not supported, and in such cases they will communicate the results of their experiment and then go back and construct a new hypothesis and prediction based on the information they learned during their experiment. This starts much of the process of the scientific method over again. Even if they find that their hypothesis was supported, they may want to test it again in a new way.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

6. Communicate Your Results

To complete your science fair project you will communicate your results to others in a final report and/or a display board. Professional scientists do almost exactly the same thing by publishing their final report in a scientific journal or by presenting their results on a poster or during a talk at a scientific meeting. In a science fair, judges are interested in your findings regardless of whether or not they support your original hypothesis.

For detailed help with this step, use these resources:

The six steps of the scientific method include: 1) asking a question about something you observe, 2) doing background research to learn what is already known about the topic, 3) constructing a hypothesis, 4) experimenting to test the hypothesis, 5) analyzing the data from the experiment and drawing conclusions, and 6) communicating the results to others.

A simple example of the scientific method is:

Ask a Question: Why does Greenland look so large on a map?

Background Research: Learn that Greenland is a quarter the size of the United States in land mass. Also learn that Mercator projection maps are made by transferring the images from a sphere to a sheet of paper wrapped around the sphere in a cylinder.

Hypothesis: If I make a Mercator projection map, then the items in the middle of the map will look their true size and the items at the poles will look larger than they really are.

Experiment: Use a sphere with 1-inch by 1-inch squares at each pole and the equator to make a Mercator projection map. Measure the squares on the Mercator projection map.

Analyze Data and Make Conclusions: The middle-of-the-map squares average 1 inch per side while the squares at the poles average 3 inches per side. In conclusion, the projection process used to make Mercator projection maps creates distortion at the poles, but not at the equator. This is why Greenland, which is close to the North Pole, looks larger than it is.

Communicate: Make a video, write a report, or give a presentation to educate others about the experiment.

Who invented the scientific method?

The scientific method was not invented by any one person, but is the outcome of centuries of debate about how best to find out how the natural world works. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was among the first known people to promote that observation and reasoning must be applied to figure out how nature works. The Arab Muslim mathematician and scientist Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (known in the western world as Alhazen) is often cited as the first person to write about the importance of experimentation. Since then, a large number of scientists have written about how science should ideally be conducted and contributed to our modern understanding of the scientific method. Those scientists include Roger Bacon, Thomas Aquinas, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, John Hume, and John Stuart Mill. Scientists today continue to evolve and refine the scientific method as they explore new techniques and new areas of science.

Scientists do use the scientific method, but not always exactly as laid out in the organized steps taught in the classroom. Just like a chef might make a few changes to a recipe because of the ingredients at hand, a scientist may modify the scientific method by skipping steps, jumping back and forth between steps, or repeating a subset of the steps because he or she is dealing with imperfect real-world conditions. But scientists always strive to keep to the core principles of the scientific method by using observations, experiments, and data to support or reject explanations of how a phenomenon works. While experimenting is considered the best way to test explanations, there are areas of science, like astronomy, where this is not always possible.

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This project guide provides a detailed introduction to the steps of the scientific method.