Scientific Method/Planning and Conducting an Experiment The problem:
This is where we always start. Maybe it is not a big problem, but it is something we want to know and understand. In this case, Ralph is missing too many shots during basketball games. His coach thinks he holds his hands incorrectly. Javon holds his hands the way Coach wants him to. Javon challenges Ralph to a contest. They will shoot 20 shots. Javon will hold his hands the same way for all 20 shots. Ralph will change the way he holds his hands after 10 shots. He will shoot the last 10 shots with his hands held the same way Javon holds his. The coach will write down the shots by making a tally for each basket they shoot. They have the contest. Javon makes 18 shots out of his total 20, holding his hands the same way each time. Ralph makes 7 of 10 shots with his hands his usual way, and he makes 10 of 10 shots with his hands held Javon’s way.

JAVON’S SHOTS RALPH’S SHOTS
1ST 8/10 1ST 7/10
2ND 10/10 2ND 10/10
total: 18 total: 17

Coach and Javon and Ralph sit down and go over the data and try to decide if changing hand positions mattered. They talk about mistakes or how they would do the experiment differently if they did it again. Coach says maybe they ought to look at the shots.