Repetition or Replication?
A scientist at NASA conducts an experiment that was done in 2010 to see if they get the same results today.
What is replication?
A variable that is measured or observed during an experiment.
Give an example.
Dependent variable
Example: How much salt used to make something float
After the experiment is completed, we look at the data chart to calculate averages and make a graph to show what the data tells us. What step is being done here?
Analyzing the data or results
A farmer conducts 50 trials of the same experiment to see how fertilizers will afffect thier corn crop.
What is repetition?
A variable that is chosen by the scientist to be tested in an experiment.
Give an example.
Independent Variable
Example: the type of egg (to see if it will float)
At the beginning of an experiment, scientists should know what others have found out about the topic before making a hypothesis or planning out the procedures. What step is being done here?
Doing research on the topic.
Accuracy measures how often someone:
a. Hits the goal or true value
b. Gets close to the goal or true value
c. does not meet the goal or true value
d. repeats a trial
a. Hits the goal or true value
A prediction or educated guess based on past observations or research, that can be tested.
Give an example
Hypothesis
If I place an egg in a salt water solution, then it will take at least 25 teaspoons of salt in 1000 mL of water for the egg to float to the top.
There are many different types of questions that people are curios about. What makes a question testable in Science?
It must must have the ability to be measured and the topic is about something in nature or a natural system.
Example: The reasons that a war happened is not something that a scientist would test. But how an explosive would affect soil characteristics would be.
Replication is when another scientists conducts another scientists experiments. The main goal of replication is .....
a. to check the accuracy of the results
b. to check the validity of the original results
c. to increase the precision of the results
b. to check the validity of the original results
The factor in an experiment that is used to compare results with the other variables.
Give an example
The control group
Ex: Testing for how baking soda reacts with vinegar, baking soda and water would be the control group since its ph is neutral.
After a hypothesis is stated, a plan to test out the hypothesis is developed and conducted. What step is this?
Conducting an experiment
Doing these 2 things will improve accuracy and precision so that our results are valid in an experiment.
Increasing the amount of trials (repetition) and increasing the number of other people who conduct the experiment and get the same/similar results (replication).
Variables that remain the same in an experiment.
Give examples
Constants
the amount of water, the type of egg, the temperature of the water, the beaker, the time of day, the teaspoon
Place the Scientific Method steps in order from first to last
Ask a question
Research the topic
Form a Hypothesis
Conduct the experiment
Analyze the results
Make a conclusion and share with others