Introduction: Look around you! Have you ever thought, “Hmm…I wonder why that happens?” If you have asked yourself that question, you were thinking like a scientist!
Many years ago Joseph Lister used the Scientific Method to determine the conditions that were leading to higher “child birth fever” deaths in new mothers in the hospital where he worked. Your task is to determine an experimental procedure to test the effectiveness of home cleaners on contaminated cutting boards. Use the guide below to record your experimental design by answering the provided questions.

Project title (think about what the title of your lab report would be):
Research Group Members:
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is the Question that you want to ask?

Formulate a specific, testable Hypothesis. Your question may be general, but your hypothesis must be specific enough to predict a specific result. Keep it simple and focused.
Example: “Why are plants green?” is a general question. “Plants are green because the chlorophyll pigment they contain absorbs light in the red and yellow wavelengths” is a specific, testable hypothesis.

Give a biological Justification for your hypothesis. That is, what is your hypothesis based on? What facts or previous knowledge lead you to believe your hypothesis is correct? (Remember that a hypothesis is not a random guess, but is based on previous knowledge!) Be specific and be sure your justification is based on what you know about biology.
Example: “We know that plants contain chlorophyll and that visible color results from a molecule’s ability to absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect the remaining wavelengths.”

Summarize how you will carry out an Experiment to test your hypothesis. You do not have to give a step-by-step protocol this time, but include enough detail to show that you have thought through the experiment carefully. What conditions will you change in your experiment? What reagents, volumes, temperatures, time points, pHs, etc. will you use? How many Trials will you do? What Controls will you need?
If you do not include enough detail to show that you know how you are going to do the experiment, you will have to re-write your experimental plan!

How will you Analyze your data? Will you need to calculate rates? draw graphs? perform statistical tests? compare with other research groups?

What Predictions does your hypothesis make about the outcome of your experiment? That is, if your hypothesis were correct, what results would you expect? What kind of results would not support your hypothesis?

Standard materials that will be made available to you for this study will include: Plastic or Wood cutting board
1. Roll of adhesive tape
2. Four Nutrient Agar culture plates
3. Sterile cotton swabs (to be wet)
4. Sterile screw cap tubes of water

List the Materials that you will need, including the needed quantities. You may be responsible for bringing any unusual materials.