Bringing knowledge to children and children to God

SCIENCE

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

(We expect all of our students to be able to describe the scientific process. However, depending on their level of sophistication, this may entail no more than stating that the first step of the process is to observe...as was the case in our class on first grade English Language Learners.)

LESSON 1

In this presentation we learn that the first step to the scientific process is to observe. (Ultimately, our goal is to notice patterns or trends that we can summarize using a concise statement, called a scientific law.)

Our second step is to ask a question or decide on a problem that's based on our observations.

The third step is to form a hypothesis...a tentative explanation for our observations which also has the potential for answering our question or solving our problem.

Step four is to conduct an experiment to test our hypothesis.

The fifth step is draw a conclusion based on the results of our experiment.

And finally, we would ideally like to apply what we learned (or revise/refine our hypothesis).

LESSON 2

The presentation linked here leaves out the first step (observe) and inserts "do research" in between "ask a question" and "form a hypothesis."

LESSON 3

This video clip is more detailed and might be deemed appropriate for older students, but should definitely be screened in advance in that it makes claims and contains visual material that might be considered controversial or offensive by some.