Forming Scientific Questions

From scientific questions to research projects

Tips on Asking Good Scientific Questions

1.Ask several questions about a topic

2.Eliminate questions that cannot be answered with DIRECT OBSERVATION or by GATHERING EVIDENCE

3.Break broad questions into smaller questions (that can be answered one at a time)

4.Write questions so they can be answered by an experiment.

1. Some people work better in the morning, and other people work better in the afternoon.

2. Taking something that belongs to another person is wrong.

3. Snakes travel in pairs.

4. Animals behave in strange ways before an earthquake.

5. People shouldn’t use things unless they can be recycled.

6. Basketball is a better sport than soccer.

7. You will remember best whatever you read just before you fall asleep.

8. Maria’s bike is faster than Charlie’s bike.

9. Each year when the weather gets cold, birds fly to warmer regions.

10. Trucks use more gasoline than cars.

Choose one of the scientific questions you identified and rewrite it to make it a better scientific question. State what kind of evidence you would need to collect to answer the question. How do you think a researcher could collect that evidence?

“Fact” QuestionsExample: “How many hermit crabs live under

the rock?”• What data would you collect to answer this question?• What would your hypothesis be?

– It’s hard to make one. – Guessing the number is like guessing the number of jelly

beans in a jar. – May be able to guess how many crabs, but it won’t tell you

anything about why there are so many or so few.

Let’s fix it:“How many hermit crabs live under a rock?”•Ideas:

“Comparison” Questions

Example: “Are certain areas better for sea anemones than others?”

• COMPARISON questions are GREAT!• This question is very broad with vague wording.

Think about:– What determines where sea anemones are?– What are some examples of areas with different

conditions important to sea anemones?

Let’s fix it: “Are certain areas better for sea anemones than others?”•Ideas:

“Why?” QuestionsExample: “Why are there a lot of limpets in

the intertidal ?”• Think about reasons for this pattern

– What is the environment?

• Think about a more specific question• Ideas:

“How?” QuestionsExample: “How do snails react to seastars?” • Think about the ways snails may react to seastars• Think about why they react that way (or not)• Ideas:

Write down 5 questions that YOU could find the answer to, and that you actually want to

KNOW