Using the Scientific Method Objectives Students will be able to ...

Using the Scientific Method
GED Content Area: Science
Focus: Scientific Method
Activity Type: Graphic Organizer and GED Practice
Objectives
Directions
Activity
Correlated to
New Readers
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Workbooks
Students will be able to:
Appreciate the purpose of the Scientific Method
Understand key terms related to the Scientific Method: observation, hypothesis,
test, experiment, result, conclusion
Relate the Scientific Method to an experiment
Answer GED questions based on the Scientific Method
1. Print the handout “Using the Scientific Method” (next page). Pass out the handout to
the class.
2. Explain that the scientific method is the way scientists learn about the world around
us. This involves several steps, often in the form of experiments. Discuss the 5 steps
in the chart on the handout and define the highlighted words.
3. Have a student or students read the first passage out loud. Ask the class to fill in the
chart. They can fill in the chart individually or in pairs (discussing these concepts can
help students develop their thinking skills).
4. Discuss the students’ answers. Samples: 1. Observation: Where there was
Penicillium mold, there were also dead bacteria. 2. Hypothesis: The mold must
produce a chemical that kills the bacteria. 3. Test: Grow more of the mold separately
and then return it to the bacteria. 4. Result: When the material is returned to the
mold, the bacteria died. 5. Conclusion: Penicillium kills bacteria.
5. Have students read the passage at the bottom of the page and answer the GED
practice question. Choice (4) is correct because the doctor saw that when the
chickens ate whole‐grain rice with thiamine, they did not have the disease. Choice
(1) is incorrect because the chickens were used in the experiment; they had nothing
to do with the disease. There is nothing to support choice (2); the passage only
mentions the conditions in the Dutch East Indies. (In fact, beriberi was widespread.)
Choice (3) is incorrect because the passage points out that before the experiments,
scientists incorrectly thought beriberi was caused by bacteria. Choice (5) is incorrect
because the doctor found that the polished rice lacked thiamine, so the two types of
rice don’t have the same nutritional value.
Pre‐GED Workbook Science : Hypotheses, pp. 16‐17, Conclusions, pp. 18‐19, Think
Like a Scientist, pp. 40‐41
GED Science: Analysis Questions, pp. 58‐61, Evaluation Questions pp. 62‐65
GED Scoreboost: Draw Conclusions, pp. 20‐21
Pass the GED Science Test, The Scientific Method, p.45

Using the Scientific Method
1. Read the passage and fill in the Scientific Method chart.
How Penicillin Was Discovered
In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming was studying Staphylococcus bacteria growing in culture dishes. He
noticed that a mold called Penicillium was also growing in some of the dishes. A clear area existed
around the mold because all the bacteria that had grown in this area had died. In the culture dishes
without the mold, no clear areas were present.
Fleming hypothesized that the mold must be producing a chemical that killed the bacteria. He decided to
isolate this substance and test it to see if it would kill bacteria. Fleming transferred the mold to a nutrient
broth solution. This solution contained all the materials the mold needed to grow. After the mold grew, he
removed it from the nutrient broth. Fleming then added the nutrient broth in which the mold had grown to
a culture of bacteria. He observed that the bacteria died.
1. What was the observation?
2. What was the hypothesis?
3. How was the hypothesis tested?
4. What was the result of the experiment?
5. What conclusion could be drawn?
2. Answer the GED‐type question based on the Scientific Method.
In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people in the
Dutch East Indies. The disease was beriberi. Symptoms of
the disease included weakness and loss of appetite; victims
often died of heart failure. Scientists thought the disease
might be caused by bacteria. They injected chickens with
bacteria from the blood of patients with beriberi. The
injected chickens became sick. However, so did a group of
chickens that were not injected with bacteria.
One of the scientists, Dr. Eijkman, noticed something.
Before the experiment, all the chickens had eaten wholegrain
rice, but during the experiment, the chickens were
fed polished rice. Dr. Eijkman researched this interesting
case. he found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin
necessary for good health.
Which of the following conclusions is based on the
experiment described in the passage?
(1) Humans can catch beriberi from diseased
chickens.
(2) Beriberi only occurs in the Dutch East Indies.
(3) Scientists have not yet determined which
bacteria cause beriberi.
(4) Adequate intake of thiamine prevents beriberi
disease.
(5) Whole grain rice and polished rice have
equivalent nutritional value.
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