Home >> Science & Nature >> Science

The Six Parts of an Experimental Science Project

Science places a great deal of focus on how and why things work. A scientist may have an idea about how something works, but needs to conduct an experiment to find out if he's correct or not. The idea he has is a theory and the tools used to test a theory are known as the scientific method. Conducting an experiment involves six steps that will show your evidence in a way that allows others to test your results.

Research
- Begin your project by doing research on the general topic using the Internet, books, magazines and interviews. Become familiar with previous experiments on the subject so that you can expand on them. While doing research, write down questions you have that other projects didn't answer about your chosen topic.
Problem
- Narrow down your research into one specific problem, one question you would like the answer to. For example, instead of testing several types of vegetable seeds for rate of growth under a variety of conditions, test one type of seed in various conditions. An alternative to this would be to test a variety of seeds under only one condition. Using too many variables makes the problem difficult. You can always add other tests to your project later.
Hypothesis
- A hypothesis is a statement that you intend to prove or disprove through experimentation. For instance, you may want to prove or disprove a statement that claims tomato seeds sprout more quickly in warm conditions. A hypothesis is a statement ("Tomato seeds sprout more quickly in warm conditions"), not a question ("Do tomato seeds sprout more quickly in warm conditions?")
Experiment
- An experiment involves three main variables: the independent variable, controlled variables and the dependent variable. An independent variable is the one you change to provide a result, such as temperature. Controlled variables never change, such as tomato seeds. The dependent variable is what you're measuring, such as growth rate. An experiment should involve several test subjects under the same conditions. This means that only one tomato seed is not enough, you need three or more for each temperature you test.
Results
- A good way to show results is with graphs or tables. Visual evidence is easier to understand than words alone. Show the growth rate of each seed at each temperature on a colorful graph or summarize each group of seeds in a pie chart. Use a different color for each dependent variable.
Conclusion
- Your conclusion should answer and summarize your hypothesis as simply as possible. At the same time, your conclusion should leave room for questions that further experiments can expand on. For example, if you didn't show the degree of temperature that's too hot or too cold for tomato seeds to sprout at all, others may expand on your work to find out.

Science