 The passage below describes some of the steps of the scientific method.

Select th
e part of the passage that describes developing the hypothesis.
 Hint: To develop the hypothesis, you use prior knowledge to propose a possible e
xplanation and to make a prediction that can be tested.

Jonathan was a line cook in a restaurant, and he was making a new pasta dish. T
herecipe instructed him to add salt to the pasta-
cooking water. Jonathan knew thatadding salt to water would cause the water to
reach a higher temperature before itboiled. Because pasta should cook faster at a
higher temperature, Jonathan speculatedthat the added salt would make the pas
ta cook more quickly. Jonathan made fourpots of pasta with salted water and ano
ther four pots with unsalted water. Hecompared the amount of time it took the p
asta to cook to see if it cooked faster inpots with salt. His results showed that alt
hough the water from the salted pots boiledat a slightly hotter temperature, the p
asta cooked at similar rates in all the pots. Hediscussed the results of the experi
ment with his coworkers. They decided not tobother adding salt to the pasta wate
r.
Submit

 The passage below describes some of the steps of the scientific method. Select th
e part of the passage that describes identifying the question.
 Hint: To identify the question, you pose a question that focuses on a problem.

Carrie pushed Josie and Josie's little brother, Mitchell, on swings. Carrie noticed t
hatMitchell always swung back in less time than Josie. Carrie asked Josie if she th
oughtthe weight on a swing was related to the time it took to return. To find out,
Josiestood back four feet and released a swing three times, once with a light weig
htattached to it, once with a medium weight, and once with a heavy weight. Carri
emeasured how long it took the swing to go forward and back each time. Theyrep
eated the tests on ten swings. They decided that weight on a swing wasn't relate
dto swinging time, since for each swing the time was similar with all three weight
s.Then, Carrie noticed that swings with shorter chains always swung back sooner.
Shethought that chain length would determine swinging time and that shortenin
g a swing'schains would shorten the time it took to swing back.
Submit
The scientific method is a process, or set of steps, that people use to investigate
the world around them. The diagram below shows the major stages of
the process.

Identify the question and develop the hypothesis

The first step in a scientific investigation is to identify the question that you want
to answer. When you identify the question, you use previous observations and
background knowledge to pose a question that focuses on a problem.
After you've identified your question, you need to develop your hypothesis. A hyp
othesis is a possible explanation or answer to a question. You develop the hypo
thesis by proposing an explanation and making predictions about what you expe
ct to observe if the explanation is correct. It is important that you have a way to t
est the predictions of your hypothesis.
Test the hypothesis and analyze the data
A hypothesis is a possible explanation. To decide if there is support for the explan
ation, you need to test the hypothesis. There are different ways that you can te
st your hypothesis: you can make a series of observations, or you can design and
carry out an experiment. Sometimes, you can use multiple methods to test the s
ame hypothesis. The method or methods that you use depend on your initial que
stion and on your hypothesis.
Any method that you use to test your hypothesis will require that you gather and
then analyze data. When you analyze the data, you examine the data and look
for patterns. The patterns that you look for depend on the predictions of your hyp
othesis. For example, imagine your hypothesis predicts that fertilizer will make pl
ants grow taller. When you analyze your data, the pattern that you look for is a d
ifference in height between plants that receive fertilizer and plants that do not. W
hen you look for patterns in your data, you can make charts, graphs, or tables to
help you understand the patterns.
Draw a conclusion, revise the hypothesis, and communicate the findings
After you analyze your data, you use the results to draw a conclusion by decidi
ng if the results support your hypothesis. If the results match the predictions of y
our hypothesis, then you can conclude that the results support your hypothesis.
If your results do not support your original hypothesis, you can revise the hypot
hesis and make new predictions.
Whether or not your results support the hypothesis, it is important that you com
municate your findings so that others can judge your approach and learn from yo
ur results. You communicate the findings by telling others about your investig
ation. You can tell others about the question, the hypothesis, the experiment or o
bservations, the results, and the conclusions. You can also use graphs and other
summaries of the results to communicate your findings.