1

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD Name: Ananda Pidatala

crn# 50492
Objectives:
• To obtain a basic understanding of the scientific method and be able to list and define the six (6) major
steps.
• To distinguish between independent and dependent variable and control vs experimental group.
• To compare and contrast science vs. pseudoscience and understand how anecdotal evidence can lead to
false conclusions.
• To apply your understanding of the scientific method to a real-life situation.

Part 1: Overview of the Scientific Method

The word science is derived from a Latin verb meaning “to know” and can be defined as an approach to
understanding the natural world. It developed out of our natural curiosity about ourselves and everything
around us and has served as the basic foundation for discovery in just about everything we know and have
learned. There is no formula for successful scientific inquiry, but there is a general method that researchers
follow in their search for information and explanations of natural phenomena. We call this the scientific
method.

Activity 1: Reflect on an Experience

Reflect back to the last time you made a decision about your health. Maybe it was a decision about whether or
not to go to the doctor, take an over-the-counter pain reliever, or try a new diet.
Ans: I remember while coming to college at 7.30 AM, when I fell off my cycle and injured myself recently. I
continued attending classes inspite of bleeding from my cheek and jaw and pain in my legs.

a. What factors played a role in this decision?

Ans: I avoided going to the doctor and used band aids and painkillers. The main factors that influenced my
decision were the intensity of the pain, and how much it affected my daily routine.

b. Did you talk to anyone? If so, who?

Ans: I went to the healthcare center in the college, and they gave me bandages and advised me to go to the
doctor after classes.

c. Did you do some research or look up some information? If so, where?

Ans: I knew I should take a painkiller and I looked up if I should take after breakfast or I can take the tablets on
empty stomach.

d. Who or what do you trust when it comes to your health?

 2

Ans: I completely trust doctors and nurses when it comes to my health but I also think I don’t have to bother
them for small issues.

e. Write down a few notes describing your decision making process.

Ans: When I look back and think about how I processed the situation:

a. After I fell down and injured my face, knee and toes, I monitored the symptoms for a few days to see if
they would go away on their own.
b. I kept track of how intense is the pain and if it is receding each morning I get up.
c. After checking online, I decided to try drinking more water, getting more rest, and avoided cycling and
started using bus instead.
d. When my pain reduced and the weekend began, I scheduled a visit with a local clinic to rule out anything
serious. Luckily the doctor said my body will take care of the wound and that I did not need any
medication.

Activity 2: Understanding The Scientific Method, Pseudoscience, and Anecdotal Evidence

Believe it or not, part of your decision making process likely involved some aspect of the scientific method.
Watch the video titled “The Scientific Method” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMGRe824kak.

1. Use the information in the video to list and define the steps of the scientific method.

Ans: Steps of the Scientific Method are as follows

a. Observation - Using your five senses (sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing) to notice something in the
world that sparks a question.
Example: You notice your phone is missing.
b. Research - Gathering background information to better understand the topic and avoid repeating others'
work. Use reliable sources like scientific journals and trusted websites.
Example: You think about the last place you saw your phone.
c. Hypothesis - A testable prediction written as an if–then statement. It’s specific and repeatable, usually
having if….. then. Example: If I check my pants pocket, then I will find my phone.
d. Experiment - A test carried out under controlled conditions to examine the hypothesis.
Example: You check your pants (experiment) and don’t find the phone (results).
e. Conclusion - Analyze the data and determine whether the hypothesis was supported or rejected.
Example: Your phone wasn’t in your pants but was in your backpack—so the first hypothesis was
incorrect.
f. Share Results - Share your findings with others and explain your reasoning and what you learned.
Example: You tell your friend what happened and why you replied late.

From the video, please define the following scientific inquiry terms:
Ans:
a. Independent Variable – what you change - gummy bears placed in water
b. Dependent Variable – what you measure – volume of gummy bear before and after it is soaked in water.
c. Experimental Group – the group has one independent variable that receives the change – gummy bears
in water
d. Control Group – all other groups are compared to this normal or unaltered- dry gummy bears
 3

Watch the video titled “What is Pseudoscience?” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-

ifrwJ8xQE&feature=youtu.be. Use the information in the video to define the following terms.

a. Science: Science is the systematic study of the natural world through observation, experimentation, and
reasoning. It aims to explain how things work by collecting evidence, forming testable hypotheses, and
building theories that can predict and describe natural phenomena.
b. Pseudoscience: Pseudoscience is spurious science. It seems inviting and appealing on a fundamental
level but it lacks empirical evidence and procedures seen in actual science. Ex- Oujha boasts and ghosts
theories. If they have scientific basis then they are extrapolated way outside of it. Ex- Mozart effect.

Part 2: Applying the Scientific Method – The Rabbit Island Experiment and Tuberculosis

The Rabbit Island Experiment

In 1874 a man by the name of Dr. Trudeau knew all too well that a large number of people diagnosed with
consumption (now called Tuberculosis) ultimately died. Crowded together in cities like New York, where he
was living with his young family, were tens of thousands of immigrants who were trying to adapt to life in the
U.S. They worked long days in crowded factories and lived in inadequate housing with poor ventilation,
sanitation, and very little food. Despite being ill, they labored for as long as they could draw breath as the
bacterial infection in their lungs worsened and spread, eroding blood vessels and causing bleeding and poor
oxygenation, or causing the lungs to fill with fluid until the sufferer might literally drown. After work, they
would retire to their dank, crowded apartments to be nursed by their families until they died. Often family
members would themselves become infected from their close contact and constant inhalation of organisms
expelled by their sneezing, coughing, bleeding loved ones.

E.L. Trudeau, however, was not poor, nor was he a member of the factory-worker class. He decided to travel to
a place where he had spent a lot of time as a boy and a young man, the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New
York. There he could rest a bit, think, take long walks in the open air, and make a plan.

Dr. Trudeau’s condition worsened during the arduous trek north by rail and carriage. In fact, the young man
was so frail and sick that he had to be carried into the house of an Adirondack outdoorsman and wilderness
guide. But a remarkable thing happened. Dr. Trudeau began to feel better and in time, he could hike and hunt
and enjoy life with his friends once again. Eventually, he resumed his correspondence with doctors and
scientists and sent for his wife and child. After some time, he began to build a medical practice in the distant
little outpost of Saranac Lake and began to think about the cause and cure of what more and more scientists
were calling Tuberculosis.

In the 19th century, a portion of the medical community believed that diseases like Tuberculosis were caused by
an unfortunate combination of bad “family blood” (after all, the poor were certainly not well-bred, and they
were more likely to become sick and to die early) and mysterious causative agents including ill-defined
environments that included dank conditions, bad “humours,” obnoxious smells, and miasmas. But, in 1882,
Robert Koch demonstrated to most of the scientific establishment’s satisfaction that the tiny bacterium
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) was in fact the cause of the disease. Moreover, he could grow, pure
cultures of the finicky MTb and infect cells of experimental animals and animals themselves, causing the
disease. Koch said: “If the importance of a disease for mankind is measured by the number of fatalities it
 4

causes, then Tuberculosis must be considered much more important than those most feared infectious diseases,
plague, cholera and the like. One in seven of all human beings dies from tuberculosis. If one only considers the
productive middle-age groups, Tuberculosis carries away one-third, and often more.” Koch’s work led to the
more general “germ theory of infection,” which stated that infectious diseases were caused by germs
(microscopic organisms we know now as viruses, bacteria, fungi, and) that cause disease in people and animals.

Dr. Trudeau had followed Dr. Koch’s work with interest. He worked hard to learn how to culture MTb
organisms, and was the first to do so in the United States. Intrigued by the correlation between healthy outdoor
lifestyle and efficient anti-tubercular defense in his own case, he devised a simple experiment. The experiment
spoke to both the MTb “germ” as the sole causative agent of Tuberculosis and a possible therapy for the
disease. The experiment was described in his 1886 paper, “Environment in its Relation to the Progress of
Bacterial Invasion in Tuberculosis.” The following is an excerpt from that paper.
5
 6

Questions

Refer to the text on page 3 to answer questions 1 and 2.

1. State the observation.

Ans: Dr. Trudeau first observed that poor people living in crowded, dark, damp, ill ventilated and unsanitary
conditions—especially in cities—were more likely to develop and die from tuberculosis. These people did not
recover because they kept working even during sickness.

He later falls sick with tuberculosis and moves to farther cleaner areas because he could afford to take a break
and surprisingly recovers. After this he makes second observation that while people in cleaner, more open, and
natural environments appeared to recover better or not get sick at all.

2. In your own words, explain Koch’s germ theory of infection.

Ans: Koch’s germ theory of infection states that every disease has its disease causing microorganisms (germs).
In the case of tuberculosis, the disease is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. If a healthy
person or animal is exposed to this bacterium, it can develop the disease. It proves that germs—not bad air or
poor blood—are the true cause of infection.

3. From the excerpt on page 4, please write a plausible hypothesis for experiment 1.

Ans: If rabbits are infected with the tuberculosis bacillus and kept in dark, damp, and unhygienic conditions
with little food and no exercise, then they will become more severely ill and have a lower survival rate than
those kept in healthier environments. But if the infected rabbits are allowed fresh air, abundant food and
exercise then their survival rates increase. Uninflected rabbits which are deprived of fresh air, food and exercise
do not die of tuberculosis.

4. What is the dependent variable in the Rabbit Island Experiment? Also, list all of the independent variables
you can think of in the experiment. (Hmm, maybe Dr. Trudeau’s experiment was not so simple after all!)

Ans: a. Dependent Variable: Survival rate of the rabbits (measured over time).

b. Independent Variables: There were many independent variables working together making the
experiment complex.

• Environment (dark cellar vs. open field vs. island with fresh air and sunlight)
• Food quality and quantity
• Exposure to TB bacillus
• Exercise opportunity
• Ventilation and dampness
• Light exposure
 7

The data from the experiment that Dr. Trudeau performed in his research is shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Analyzing the Rabbit Island Experiment

5. Write a narration for figure 1 above describing the results of the experiment. Please explain why rabbits in
Groups 1 and 2 are emaciated compared to Group 3.

Ans: Figure 1 shows how three groups of rabbits survived over four months after being subjected to different
environmental conditions and infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Group 1 rabbits were kept in a dark basement with little food, no fresh air, and no exercise. Most of them
died quickly.
Group 2 rabbits were not infected, but they lived in cold, damp, and dark conditions with poor food. They
also became weak and unhealthy but didn't get infected with tuberculosis.
Group 3 rabbits were infected like Group 1, but they lived on an island with fresh air, sunshine, good food,
and space to move around. They stayed the healthiest and had the highest survival rate.

Rabbits in Groups 1 and 2 were emanciated and became very thin and weak because of the bad living
conditions. But Group 3 rabbits stayed strong because the healthy environment helped their bodies fight the
disease better.
6. Based on the data, what environmental conditions might be best for tuberculosis patients?

Ans: The data suggest that tuberculosis patients benefit most from environments with good ventilation which
provides:

• Fresh air
• Sunlight
• Clean, dry surroundings
• Adequate, nutritious food
• Opportunity for rest and exercise
 8

These conditions probably enhance immune function and reduce the progression of the disease, even when
infection is present.

In 2006, there were 9 million new cases of tuberculosis worldwide, many of these caused by drug-resistant
strains of the mycobacterium known as MDR (multi-drug resistant) TB. Scientists struggle to find new drugs
that will be effective against the resistant strains and to propose better treatment regimens involving more direct
observation of treatment (DOT) to assure patient compliance. Additionally, many have called for public
acceptance and physician support for more responsible dispensing of antibiotics. These are difficult and
complex problems that require a resolve on the part of many sectors coupled with a willingness to devote
adequate resources to a fight a disease that most often strikes people in the poorest of places.

Additionally, it is certainly the case that many modern TB cases occur in a global incarcerated population of
approximately 8 million. Many of those incarcerated were political prisoners taken prisoner in war zones.
Conditions in the prisons include inadequate ventilation, poor nutrition, negligent healthcare, HIV co-infection,
and rampant despair. We know a lot about how to prevent and treat tuberculosis, although there is much more
to be learned. In 2010, 8.8 million people in the world fell ill with TB and 1.4 million died.

All of the following factors are important in causing the worldwide resurgence of tuberculosis: (a) emergence of
strains that are resistant to one or more of the available antibiotics effective against MTb; (b) incomplete or
inadequate understanding by scientists of the details of the host/pathogen interaction in MTb infection; (c) lack
of a universally accepted vaccine; (d) lack of financial support for science and for public health initiatives in
developing countries; (e) famine; (f) geopolitical instability in the developing world; and (g) inadequate public
awareness of public health issues.

7. If you were a billionaire philanthropist like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, where would you focus your efforts
against tuberculosis?

Ans: If I were a billionaire like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, I would focus my on helping people in poor and
high-risk areas get better access to healthcare. Many people in developing countrieswith TB live in places
where there are no clinics or doctors, so I would build and support clinics that offer free testing, medicine, and
education about the disease. I would also try to improve conditions in prisons, where TB spreads easily because
of overcrowding and poor healthcare.

I would also fund research to find new and better treatments for TB, especially for the drug-resistant kinds.
Scientists need more support to develop stronger medicines and maybe even a better vaccine that works for
everyone.

Lastly, I would help spread awareness about TB. A lot of people don’t know how it spreads or how important it
is to finish all the medicine. I would support programs that educate the public and train doctors and nurses,
especially in areas where TB is common.

By focusing on healthcare, research, and education, I believe we can make a real difference in the fight against
tuberculosis.

References:

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

 9

University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Chantilly A. Apollon
Division of Math and Science
Holy Names University, Oakland, CA

Karen M. Aguirre
Department of Biology
Coastal Carolina University, SC