This is an alternative to the standard lecture on lab safety. It also introduces group work and creativity in the opening days of school.

List as many safety statements as you can. Some of the statements on your list may apply specifically to the biology lab. Others may reflect work in any lab setting. Statements may [...]

What is a hypothesis?

A guess?
No.  A hypothesis is sometimes described as an educated guess.  That’s not the same thing as a guess and not really a good description of a hypothesis either.  Let’s try working through an example.
If you put an ice cube on a plate and place it on the table, what will happen?  [...]

What is an Experiment

Experiments are one way to answer questions.  If your child asks you “How long does it take for an ice cube to melt?”, the two of you can do an experiment to find out.  Take an ice cube out the freezer, put it in a bowl on the counter and time how [...]

Experiment Design

Start by describing exactly what you want to find out.  Your design should include three main parts.

Problem
Hypothesis
Procedure

Keep it simple.  Don’t try to design one experiment that answers every possible question.
When designing an experiment, be sure to describe exactly what you want to find out.  Most children will have one question that describes what they [...]

Problem

The question should have:

the purpose of the experiment
the items to be studied (independent variables)
how the dependent variables will be studied or observed
the conditions of the experiment (constant variables)

In the ice cub example the problem could be written as:
“Do small pieces of ice melt in a shorter time than a whole ice cube if [...]