Scientific Questions

Ball Activity

• Decide how you are going to answer the question with the materials provided

• What you did do to answer the question? (Procedure)

• What is your data? (Results)• What is the answer and WHY?

(Conclusion, use your data as support!)

Which Ball is the Best?

• Procedure:

• Results:

• Conclusion:

Conclusion:Which Ball is the Best?

“Which Ball is the Best?”

• What question did you really answer?

Scientific Questions

Scientific Questions

• Observable & measurable• Have the time, technology &

resources• Ethical (humane, good/right)

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Non-Scientific Questions

• Unobservable– Supernatural events– Opinion/personal preferences

• Limited by time, technology & resources– What is the smallest particle that

could exist?

• Harmful to others

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Consider these non-scientific questions:

• What color is best?• What do fish think about when they see a

shark?• Why do dogs sniff trees or bushes?• Which type of tupperware is the best?• Where do people hurt their back the

most?• How do our brains work?• Who thinks Fabio is the cutest?• Which type of car is the best?

Refining Scientific Questions

• Make the question more specific (what will you record)

• Narrow the scope of the question to something that is simple to observe

• Science is about supporting and disproving

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Refining Scientific Questions

• If the question is too broad it will be hard to answer!– What color is the best?– What color do humans like best?

• Often, all it takes to make a question “scientific” is to make it more specific– What color do 14 year old girls at

THS like best?

Refining Scientific Questions

• Some things cannot be observed– What do fish think about when they

see a shark?

• Narrow the scope of the question to something that is simple to observe– How close must a shark be before a

fish reacts?

Refining Scientific Questions

• You can’t prove anything 100% in science, but you can support ideas– Will eating spinach and fresh foods

make you live longer?– Does Bigfoot really exist?

• Try to figure out what is disprovable (falsifiable)– How close must a shark be before a

fish reacts?

In your mind, change each to be a scientific question:

• What color is best?• What do fish think about when they see a

shark?• Why do dogs sniff trees or bushes?• Which type of tupperware is the best?• Where do people hurt their back the

most?• How do our brains work?• Who thinks Fabio is the cutest?• Which type of car is the best?