What Is a Scientific Method Interactive Activity?

Scientific Method Interactive Activity

Almost any sort of lab class could be turned into a teaching experience for the scientific method. Instead of just having students go through the motions, make them actually employ all of the steps of the scientific method in their assignment.

One example of a project that you could assign to students is whether a fetus is a human being. Here is how you would have students engage in such an experiment to create a scientific method interactive activity.

Activity Through the Scientific Method

Ask a Question

In the case we have given you, you have already provided the question for the students: Is a fetus a human being? Perhaps for more advanced students, you would want to allow them to develop their own questions. That aspect is really up to you and your observations of the class.

Background Research

Provide materials which explain the controversy of defining a fetus as a human being to prove that it is not just a scientific issue. Furthermore, give the students handouts that track the development of a typical fetus.

Constructing the Hypothesis

Here is one of the most crucial points of the entire experiment. "Is a fetus a human being"? is not really a hypothesis in the true sense of the word. Therefore, you will need to provide some guidance for your students as they develop the hypothesis. They may very well come up with different hypothesis, but one solid example to guide them towards would be: "If a human being is defined as one who has a heartbeat, then a fetus is a human being."

Remind students that defining "human being" is an important aspect of creating this hypothesis.

Experiment

This part of the scientific method is very open for interpretation. Students could test out their hypothesis in a number of ways. Here are some examples:

Interview leading researchers in the field to find out what makes a human being a human being.
Provide charts that show the ways in which the heart can or cannot function without the other organs of the body.
Create a model fetus and label the different stages of development.
Shadow a researcher who actually performs tests to see how much a fetus is functioning at a certain level.
Dissect an animal fetus to analyze the function of the different organs and see if this project sheds any light on the human development.
Research experiments that focus on the heart and whether or not it is the center of the human body.

Analyzing Data/Drawing Conclusions

Through their research, interviews, and experiments, students might find out that the heart functioning by itself does not make a human being or they might discover that the heart is the source of life. Perhaps in drawing conclusions, they will find that they need to rework their definition of "human being" or that they were indeed, correct all along.

Have students create some sort of graphic representation of what they found out and/or what they did.

Share the Results

Whether you simply have students present their projects in front of the lab class or they all participate in a mandatory science fair, be sure that students share their results with the class.