Applications of the Scientific Method

APPLICATIONS OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD WORKSHEET

Date:

Objective

To understand and see the steps of the scientific method applied to a lab experiment and to identify what soil environment is best for preventing erosion

Materials

• Erosion and Soil Video (also provided in the lesson)

Procedure

1. Watch the video provided in the lesson.
2. Stop the video at 0:50 to complete the Purpose and Hypothesis sections below.
3. Fill in your responses to the Data, Analysis, and Conclusion sections after finishing the video

Purpose (10 pts)

Pause the video at 0:50 and describe, in your own words, what you believe is the purpose of this demonstration? What questions are you attempting to answer? How will this experiment impact your understanding of soil and erosion?

The purpose of this video is to show us how water can shape or change the land we live on (otherwise known as erosion). During this video, I hope to answer the question: Of the three different soil types in the video, which one is affected the most by water? This experiment can help us understand how soil and erosion has shaped the land we currently live on.

Hypothesis (10 pts)

Pause the video at 0:50 and, based on your knowledge of soil and erosion, what do you think will be the outcome of this demonstration? State your hypothesis in your own words.

Data (30 pts)

Please use Data Table 1 below to describe the outcome of the water being added to each bottle. Use your own words.

(10 pts per row = 30 pts)

	Outcome of Water being Added
Soil	As water was being added to the regular soil, the water that came out was very cloudy and had a lot of soil particles in the water.
Soil with Dried Leaves	As water was being poured into the soil with dried leaves, the water that came out was still dirty, but it had a lot less soil particles than the regular soil water.
Soil with Grass	As water was being added to the soil with grass, the water that came out was very clean. Compared to the other two soil types, this one had very few soil particles.

Data Table 1

Analysis

After watching the entire video, answer the following questions about the lab demonstration. These questions will help you to process what you learned.

1. Describe the similarities and differences between each of the bottles. (10 pts)
2. What was the control in this experiment? What were the independent and dependent variables? (10 pts)
3. Why did little-to-no soil run out of the bottle containing the grass? (10 pts)

Conclusion (20 pts)

Write 3-4 sentences about what you learned through this experiment. Your response should include, but not be limited to, answers to these questions: Did your results match your hypothesis? Why or why not? How could this experiment be improved?