Unraveling the Scientific Method: Designing an Effective Experiment at Home

SCI 225 Module 1 Lab: design an experiment applying the scientific method >>> NOTE: this lab was designed as an application of knowledge activity -- to complete AFTER you finish your module ebook readings, watch your module video clips, and learn your module unit content! You will need that information to complete this lab activity! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lab Purpose: This lab is designed to reinforce your skills of critical thinking, inquiry, application of knowledge, and synthesis of information. READ this handout carefully and follow ALL instructions. You will be completing a lab procedure, collecting data, analyzing your data, making conclusions, and addressing critical thinking questions in your lab write-up. For Module 1, you will be focusing on using the steps in the scientific method to design and execute a simple at-home experiment that solves a problem and answers a question. Once you have completed this lab, you will understand the nature of science as a process, how to design an effective experiment, how to develop and test a hypothesis and how to apply the scientific method to your daily activities and life. Lab Background and Summary: Directions: First, go through these two examples before creating your own experiment. Read the following actual historical experiments and fill in the blanks that follow. 1 point each. Then, create your own experiment at home and fill in the table part of the worksheet. 10 points for completing the table. Example 1: A study was created to test the effects of Soca music on people’s sleep patterns. The hypothesis of the experiment was that if people listened to Soca music as