STEP 1 – Consider Your Question or Problem

(What am I testing and how can I do it?)

The most important thing is to design an experiment that matches up with your question or problem. If you were testing human heart rate during exercising, you wouldn’t be dealing with different brands of tennis shoes! This is a very hard step to the Scientific Method because there are so many things to look at or consider. YOUR DESIGN SHOULD PRODUCE AN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION!  You might want to look back at your hypothesis for some help.

  STEP 2 – Think About All the Variables

  (What might change in my experiment?)

A variable is a difference or a part of your experiment that can change. For example, if you were to do an experiment on plants, some of the things that you could change include the amount of water or light, and the kind of dirt or plant. You need to list all the things that can change in your experiment. Maybe you could let a parent, teacher, or friend check over your list.

  STEP 3 – Set-Up a Controlled Experiment

  (How do I keep the variables from changing?)

In your experiment design you can only have one variable that changes. The variable that changes should be the one that you are testing. For example, if you chose to do an experiment on light and plant growth, you would make sure that the variable that changes is the amount of light. If you have more than one variable that changes, that would make it an uncontrolled experiment. An uncontrolled experiment is an experiment that will not give you the answer to your question OR give you the wrong answer. Now use the list of variables that you made and make sure none of them change except the one you are testing!

  STEP 4 – Doing the Experiment

  (What materials do I need?)