The Scientific Method Form

Jake Carter                     Frederick A. Douglass
                                543 North Waller
                                Chicago IL 60644
                                (312) 534-6176

Objectives:

For grades 6, 7 and 8.  To teach the scientific method, via Stare-E-O's picture
depth perception.  

Materials:

5 Stare-E-O's pictures
1 Scientific Method Record sheet
A pin or Pencil
A pair of working Eyes

Strategy:

To Identify the objects in the Stare-E-O pictures the students must diverge 
their eyes as if looking at a faraway object.  There are two dots in the 
picture, these two dots will fuse, forming a third central dot.  When the 
divergence is correct, slight, controlled variations in the placement of the 
random dots are perceived by the brain as depth clues.  The shapes will appear 
to float above a textured background. 

Students must record their data on the scientific method sheet.  The same 
procedure must be followed for each of the four Stare-E-O's pictures.  

Performance Assessment:

Students are given an experiment or science fair topic (make up a number of 
examples) ask them to follow the method outlined in the scientific method form. 
Purpose: (What do you want to find out?) Hypothesis: (What do you think will 
happen?) Materials: (What do you need to use?) Procedures: (What will you do to 
find out?) Results: (What happened?) Conclusions: (What did you learn?) 

Conclusions: 

The Chicago Systematic Initiative goals for elementary school children is that 
they understand and have a working knowledge of the scientific method of 
inquiry.  In using this simple form of inquiry a child can apply it to their 
daily methods of acquiring and using knowledge.