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Introduction: Scientific Inquiry

 

Goal:

Goal:

What is a scientific inquiry?

In this lesson, you will be a scientist and participate in a real scientific inquiry. But what is an inquiry? An inquiry is when you ask a question, make a prediction about what you think will happen, and test your ideas with an experiment.

For this experiment, you will learn more about sinking, floating, and density. Click each image to learn more about each new vocabulary word.

ALTTEXT: Enter key opens full-screen view with caption; escape key exits full screen.
boat floating on the water and a rock that sunk to the bottom.

When something sinks, it falls to the bottom of the water. When something floats, it stays on top of the water.

ALTTEXT: Enter key opens full-screen view with caption; escape key exits full screen.
child putting objects in water to see if the sink or float.

Density is a measurement of how solid something is. The more solid an object is, the more it sinks.

Question

Why do you think scientists start with a question?

Scientists start their inquiry with a question because they want to find the answer. By making predictions and doing experiments, scientists can find answers to the questions they are curious about.