Visualizing Environmental Science

PROCESS DIAGRAM

Environmental Science 19

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✓✓THE PLANNER

Design and perform

experiment to test hypothesis.

Develop hypothesis

to explain problem.

2

Make predictions

based on hypothesis.

3

Analyze and interpret

data to reach conclusions.

4

Does hypothesis

predict reality?

No

Reject/revise

hypothesis and

start again.

Yes

Keep testing to

verify hypothesis.

New knowledge

results in new

questions.

Other scientists

test hypothesis,

often in ways

different from

original experiment.

Share new knowledge

with other scientists.

5

Recognize problem or

unanswered question.

1

© Jeff Greenberg/Alamy

Nicole Duplaix/NG Image Collection

These five steps provide the framework for all scientific

investigations.

A field scientist makes observations critical to understanding

damage to coral reefs from global climate change. Photographed

at Turneffe Atoll, Belize.

Many scientists present their research during poster sessions at

scientific meetings. This allows their work to be critically assessed

by others in the scientific community.

3

5

What is the relationship between a hypothesis

and an experiment?

Think Critically