3. What is the Scientific Method?
4 The scientific method is a series of steps
that scientists use to answer questions
and solve problems.
4 It is used to organize observations and
keep your investigation focused.
4 The scientific method has several steps
that must be followed (in the correct
order) to help guide you through your
scientific investigation.
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5. History of the Scientific Method
4 The history of the scientific method is a
fascinating and long one, covering thousands
of years of history.
4 The development of the scientific method
involves some great scientists and
philosophers.
4 The Greeks are credited with developing
the scientific method that we recognize and
still use today.
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7. Aristotle
4 Aristotle is regarded as the father of science and
was the first to realize the importance of an
organized system to carry out scientific
investigations.
4 Aristotle followed three steps in his version of the
scientific method:
4 1. Study what others have written about the
subject.
4 2. Look for similarities amongst those writings.
4 3. Perform an organized study and experimentation
on everything related to the subject.
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9. Muslim Influence on the Scientific
Method
4 A great Islamic scholar by the name of Ibn al-
Haytham took what Aristotle developed and built
upon that.
4 He developed a scientific method that is very similar
to the one we follow today.
4 Here are the steps Ibn followed in his scientific
investigations:
4 1. State a problem based on observations and
experimentations.
4 2. Test a hypothesis through experimentation.
4 3. Interpret the data from the experiment and come
to a conclusion (using mathematics).
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4 4. Publish the findings.
11. Other Scientists
4 There were many other scientists that
contributed to the development of the
scientific method including Sir Frances
Bacon, Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton, and Karl
Popper.
4 Each either added, took away, or changed
some steps of the early scientific method to
eventually produce the modern scientific
method that we use today.
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12. Carl Popper
Galileo Galilei
Sir Frances Bacon
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Sir Isaac Newton
13. The Modern Scientific Method
4 There are 6 steps to the scientific method
we use today.
4 Step 1: Ask a question.
4 Step 2: Form a hypothesis.
4 Step 3: Test the hypothesis.
4 Step 4: Analyze the results.
4 Step 5: Draw conclusions.
4 Step 6: Communicate results.
4 We will go over each step in detail in
separate lessons. 13
15. Variations
4 Of course, as with most scientific methods
and procedures there are variations of the
scientific method that exist even today.
4 In the future you may have teachers that
prefer to include additional steps or even
leave some steps out all together.
4 For this class you will follow the 6 steps
described above since all of the lessons will
build on those steps.
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