Scientific Method

Have you ever wondered why a bright, bouncy ball goes boing, boing, boing. Or how a little bird with soft feathers can fly so high in the big, blue sky. I am that happy, curious feeling inside you that always asks 'why'. I am the fun of making a guess and then doing a little test to see what happens, like dropping a fluffy pillow and a hard block to see which one lands with a soft thump. I am a special helper for finding answers to all your wonderful questions. My name is the Scientific Method.

Long, long ago, even before your grandpa and grandma were little, smart people loved to learn about the world. A man named Aristotle, who lived in a warm place called Greece many, many years ago, loved to watch everything very carefully. He would watch little seeds grow into big, tall flowers. Hundreds of years later, around the year 1000, a smart thinker named Ibn al-Haytham said that watching is great, but testing is even more fun. He showed everyone how to do little experiments to check their ideas. Then, in the 1600s, helpers like Galileo Galilei and Francis Bacon shared my steps with the whole world. They made a recipe for discovery: first you ask, then you guess, then you test, and then you learn something new.

Today, I help grown-up scientists do amazing things. They use my steps to make medicine that helps you feel better when you get a boo-boo. They use me to build spaceships that fly to the big, round moon and faraway planets. But you use me, too. You are a scientist every day. Every time you ask a question and try to figure out the answer, you are using my special steps. When you mix blue and yellow play-dough to see what new green color you can make, that’s me helping you discover something new and exciting. So always keep asking your big questions and testing your fun guesses. With me, you can be a happy explorer every single day.