Scientific Method 8/26/16

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/The_Scientific_Method_as_an_Ongoing_Process.svg/850px-The_Scientific_Method_as_an_Ongoing_Process.svg.png

This week we were reviewing the scientific method. The scientific method has  six parts. First, you ask a question. Such as, are double stuf oreos really  double stuffed? Then, you create a hypothesis. "I think that double stuf oreos are double stuffed." After you make that hypothesis, you will test your hypothesis. For mine, I might weigh the whole cookie, or just the stuffing, or seeing which is bigger. Then, you would analyze the data and develop a conclusion. I would say, "Double stuf oreos are double stuf!" if that was what I got. Then, you can share your results with the world. They might like to know. 


S&EP: SP6: Constructing Explanations

I constructed an explanation of the scientific method when I filled out my worksheet. My worksheet had links to websites where I could click and find the answer to a question.

Example:

Observation or Inference

What is the difference between an observation and an inference?

An observation is something that you see, hear, touch, taste, or feel. So if I saw that Joelle’s shirt was green, I would observe that Joelle’s shirt was green. And inference is an educated guess that might not always be correct. Like if I wasn’t looking and inferred that Lizzy’s shoelaces were blue, that would be an inference. But I might be wrong. Lizzy’s shoelaces might be purple. That’s an inference.

This is the article where I went to see the answers to the question, which are highlighted. 

       It is important to distinguish between observations and inferences. The colors and color changes, the temperature and temperature changes, the smells that you may come across in this lesson and throughout this course are directly observed and they can be classified as observations. When you do something with that observation, like draw a conclusion or offer an explanation or decide that a chemical reaction occurred, then you are making an inference. The inference may or may not be a correct one. Correctness is not what makes the difference between observation and inference.
An observation is the awareness of some condition; inference is the result of a mental process which attempts to explain or catalog or speculate about that observation. So far we have had several examples of observations (and measurements as well), but we have not really talked about inferences. A few examples might help to illustrate the point.

          

https://sites.google.com/a/oakgrovesd.net/science-websheet/observation-or-inference