Standard 1

What is the basis for your experiment. What do you want to know?

Examples:How does Alka Seltzer relieve an upset

stomach?

Are left-handed people more creative than right-handed people?

Is Bounty Paper towels really the quicker picker upper?

You have a question…but now you have to do some research…this research is your background material.

The background material is the basis for structuring your experiment…

Example: Background material: Alka Seltzer

The stomach has a pH of 2, which is acidic. When a stomach begins to feel sour, it means the pH is lower or more acidic. The pH needs to be neutralized with a base—Alka Seltzer has calcium which may be a base that could raise the pH of the stomach acid.

The hypothesis statement has three parts:Part I

Identifies what you will be testing in your experiment.“If I add Alka Seltzer to an acidic solution”

Part IIMakes a prediction about what you believe will be

the outcome of your experiment“Then I predict it will raise the pH of the solution”

Part IIConnects the prediction to the background

material. “because Alka Seltzer has a calcium—which is a base”

If I ___________________ Part I __________then I predict that ___________Part II ___________ will occur because _________Part III___________.