Summer Course 2020

1. JOSHUA THOMPSON - 6/13/2020
Introduction to the Scientific Method
HOWTOWRITELIKEASCIENTIST

2. COURSEEXPECTATIONS
Classroom Etiquette
- Ask TONS of questions!
Virtual Etiquette
- Keep your video on at all times
- Keep yourself muted until you are ready to speak
- Use the chat box to ask questions, but don’t be shy of the mic!

3. - Have a degree in Physics with
a math background
- I am trying really hard to get a
PhD in geophysics
- I teach at Rutgers University
You all are way better than
college students
- I love research
JOSHUATHOMPSON
WHO AM I?

4. INTRODUCEYOURSELF!

5. 1. We will always start with a short quiz!
- Don’t Panic! It will not be anything too difficult. I promise
2. Talk about a super famous math person who is not so famous today
- No, not like Einstein.
3. Discuss essential writing techniques
4. We will skim a science journal
5. We will also write!
LEARNINGOBJECTIVES

6. WHATDOYOUTHINKWRITINGLIKESCIENTISTIS
ABOUT?

7. WRITINGLIKEASCIENTIST
- Writing like a scientist has many parts to it!
- Many of those pieces are NOT writing at all
- Many scientist believe that the writing part is the easiest part!
- For a scientist to write, he needs something to write about

8. HOWTOWRITELIKEASCIENTIST
Today we will focus on the scientific method and data collection!

9. ASKALOTALOTALOTALOTOFQUESTIONS!

10. ASKINGGOODQUESTIONS

11. ASKINGGOODQUESTIONS
What makes a good question?
- Easy to answer
- You get the information you need

12. FORMULATINGQUESTIONS
Tips:
- State what you know
- Guess what the answer might be
- Who/where to ask
- Find a good time
- Research
- Ask yes/no questions

13. EXAMPLESOFGOODQUESTIONS
- Why is the sky blue?
- This could be a better question.
- I need to first google this questions!
- A simple google search says:
- Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all
directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is
scattered more than the other colors because it travels as shorter,
smaller waves.

14. EXAMPLESOFGOODQUESTIONS
- So try to learn as much as you can on your own
- Then, you can ask better questions!!!

15. THESCIENTIFICMETHOD:AMETHODFORASKING
QUESTIONS

16. WHATISTHESCIENTIFICMETHOD?
- TA good scientist learns about the world by using the scientific
method. The scientific
method tests a hypothesis, which is an educated guess based on
what information we already have.
- All fields of science use the scientific method as a framework to
make observations, gather data, and draw conclusions.

17. SCIENTIFICMETHOD
1. Gather information
2. Form a hypothesis
3. Test with an experiment
4. Write down results
5. Analyze results
6. State conclusions
7. Share your results

18. GREG’SFLAGTOREWHENANNA’SSCISSORSSLICED
GATHER
INFORMATION
FORMULATE
HYPOTHESIS
TEST WITH
EXPERIMENT
WRITE
DOWN
RESULTS
ANALYZE
RESULTS
STATE
CONCLUSION
SHARE
RESULTS

19. GATHERINFORMATION
- Ask a questions!
- Google your questions and write down your research

20. HYPOTHESIS
- Make a prediction based off your research!
- It’s important to do a lot of research and google a lot.
- This will make your prediction stronger!

21. TESTWITHEXPERIMENT
- Experiments can be many many different things!
- This can be in a lab
- Or just observing something

22. DATA:RECORDRESULTS
- Gathering information
- This is the heart of the scientific method
- If there is no information or data, then, there is no proof of the
hypothesis

23. WRITEDOWNYOURESULTS
- Experiments can be many many different things!
- This can be in a lab
- Or just observing something

24. ANALYZEYOURRESULTSANDSTATECONCLUSIONS
- Make conclusions about your data was your hypothesis write or
wrong.
- What could be changed
- Can you change your hypothesis to fit your data?

25. SHAREYOURRESULTS
- This is where a scientist would write his results down
- The writings would get published into a journal
- Other scientist can use the writings to make other hypothesis

26. LET’SJUSTFOCUSONCOLLECTINGDATA

27. - Every plant, every person, and every interaction we take part in can be mapped,
counted, and measured
- These measurements are data
- Once you know how to find these invisible numbers, you will see numbers everywhere!
- Examples of data are:
- Each night recording how many hours you sleep
- How many times you walk through a door way
- How many times you take out the trash or wash dishes
WHATISDATA?

28. - Record the high temperature of the day
- There is a low and high temperature every day
- You can google this information
- Record if it rained that day or not
PROJECTFORNEXTWEEK

29. - Think about other things in your daily life you can record?
- How many hours you watch TV
- How often you fall asleep playing video games
- How often you wear short socks
PROJECTFORNEXTWEEK

30. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA
- After collecting data it is
important to visualize the
data in an easy way for
people to understand.
- What information can you
get from this?
- What is this graph telling
us?
- What is missing?

31. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA
- We will be doing this with
your data that you gather!
- Sometimes the data gives
you a lot of information
and sometimes it does
not!

32. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA:WHATSTHEBESTGRAPH?

33. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA:WHATSTHEBESTGRAPH?

34. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA:BEYONDWEATHER
- The best thing about
graphs is that they can
represent anything!
- Area is like drawing a
rectangle
- If the area is decreasing,
then the rectangle keeps
getting smaller and
smaller
- Force can be something
like pushing with your
palm on the flat rectangle
- Every dot represents
pressure

35. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA
- Pressure is stronger with a
smaller area or rectangle
- Pressure decreases with
an increasing area

36. - We learned how to ask good questions
- The Scientific Method
- Greg’s Flag Tore When Anna’s Scissor’s Sliced
- We learned about data and how to visualize data
- Next time - You should have data collected about the weather
- If we have time in class, we will collect data about last week?
- Let’s go ahead and write out the different days
- Make sure to say what units your are using in your temperature recording!
REVIEW

37. THENEXTSTEPFORDATA
- What does this graph tell
us?