What should a good science experiment contain

Most children love the hands-on aspect of planning a science experiment. In order to create a successful science experiment that produces valid results, it is important to follow a process known as the scientific method.

To determine a focus for an experiment, identify a problem that must be solved or a question that needs to be answered through experimentation.

This is how scientists work to solve problems we face in everyday life. Encourage your child to explore his environment to locate a problem that needs solving.

For a child, the question can be informal and might be something as basic as trying to determine why a houseplant is not thriving. In order to decide how to proceed with the experiment and solve the problem, have your child determine a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things happen or work. In the hypothesis, a formal prediction is made as a possible answer to the problem or question. The hypothesis should be testable, explaining what to do as part of the experiment to investigate the problem and stating what will happen as a result of the experiment.

The hypothesis might be written as follows. Hypothesis: If a philodendron is watered only once per week, then plant growth will increase. To test if the hypothesis is correct, develop an experiment. Step 3: Scoop a teaspoon of each substance in the jars, only adding one substance per jar. Stir it up! Step 4: Observe whether or not each substance dissolves and record the findings! Your child will likely note that that sugar and salt dissolve, while the flour will partially dissolve, and the baby powder will remain intact.

The grainy crystals of the sugar and salt are easily dissolved in water, but the dry, powdery substances are likely to clump up or remain at the bottom of the jar.

Get started today with the above ideas, and bring the scientific method home to your child during your next exciting science experiment! All Posts. What Exactly is Scientific Method? Explore the scientific method, weather, animals, and more, all through exciting lessons and activities with Kids Academy Summer Camp!

Most popular. This window will close in a few seconds… Click here to start download Click here to close this window…. Full price. Free Trial. Total due today. Cancel anytime. This procedure should include: Any important amounts or measures you will be using. Your variable what it is you plan to change and how you will change it. Your control constant measurements during the experiment. How you are going to measure the change you observe.

Diagrams or drawings so your ideas are clear. Conduct experiments, gather data and record observations As you do experiments, record all numerical measurements made. Two things to be aware of while doing your experiment and making observations: If you did not observe any differences between the control and experimental groups then the variable you changed may not affect your experiment.

If you did not observe a consistent, reproducible trend in your experimental runs, there may be experimental errors affecting your results, or something affecting the results you may not have thought about If you suspect experimental errors, the first thing to check is how you are making your measurements.

Is the measurement method questionable or unreliable? This one is easy to do at home, and the results are absolutely delicious! Learn more: Growing a Jeweled Rose. Everyone knows that glitter is just like germs—it gets everywhere and is so hard to get rid of!

Use that to your advantage, and show kids how soap fights glitter and germs. Kids learn about surface tension as they engineer these bubble-blowing wands. Stock up on wood craft sticks and find out! Play around with different designs to see which one works best. Learn more: Teachers Are Terrific and eHow. Gather some water, paper towels, and food coloring to teach the scientific magic of capillary action. Learn More: Homeschool 4 Me. So simple and so amazing! Learn more: Steve Spangler Science.

Use your engineering skills and items from around the house to design and build a cell phone stand. You can do so many easy science experiments with a simple zip-top bag!

Learn more: Grade School Giggles. Put all their engineering skills to the test with an egg drop! Challenge kids to build a container from stuff they find around the house that will protect an egg from a long fall this is especially fun to do from upper-story windows.

Learn more: Buggy and Buddy. STEM challenges are always a hit with kids. We love this one, which only requires basic supplies like drinking straws. Explore the power of the sun when you build your own solar ovens and use them to cook some yummy treats. This experiment takes a little more time and effort, but the results are always impressive. The link below has complete instructions. Learn more: Desert Chica. This experiment works due to the insolubility of dry-erase marker ink in water, combined with the lighter density of the ink.

Learn more: Gizmodo. There are a lot of easy science experiments you can do with density. This one is extremely simple, involving only hot and cold water and food coloring, but the visuals make it appealing and fun. This density demo is a little more complicated, but the effects are spectacular. Slowly layer liquids like honey, dish soap, water, and rubbing alcohol in a glass.

Kids will be amazed when the liquids float one on top of the other like magic except it is really science. There are plenty of bridge-building experiments out there, but this one is unique. Learn how to build it at the link, and expand your learning by exploring more about da Vinci himself. Learn more: iGame Mom.