Idea 1of 6
A question that can lose
What makes a question scientific?
Today you'll discover
- the one thing a scientific question must risk
- why 'is gravity strong?' is not one
- how to sharpen a question until it can fail
Think firstTwo questions about a falling ball
Which question could a measurement actually prove wrong?
Decide first, then press Next. The ring lights up where the loop begins.
A ring of eight boxes with arrows between them: question, hypothesis, safety review, plan, collect data, analyse, conclude, communicate, with a dashed arrow closing the ring. After a prediction, the question box is named, then the hypothesis box. The last step asks which version of a pendulum question is testable.
See the whole ideathe big idea and the key word, in one place
The big idea
A scientific question is one a measurement could prove wrong.
Compare them'Is gravity strong?' cannot lose. 'Does it fall at 9.8 m/s², within 5 %?' can. Only the second is a question an experiment can answer.
Key word
- testable
- a question or claim that names something a measurement could contradict
Ready to use it?
- Rewrite a vague question so that a measurement could prove it wrong.