Science Skills
A scientist CHANGES one factor in an experiment to see how it affects the results. This factor is called this type of variable.
What is the independent variable?
Earth spinning on its axis is called this.
What is rotation?
Earth has seasons primarily because its axis has this characteristic.
What is tilted?
This force keeps the Moon orbiting Earth.
What is gravity?
This planet is closest to the Sun.
What is Mercury?
You want to compare the favorite school lunch of students in four different grades / CATEGORIES. This type of graph would be a good choice.
What is a bar graph?
Earth's movement around the Sun is called this.
What is revolution?
The two times each year when day and night are approximately equal in length are called these.
What are the equinoxes?
The Moon's gravitational pull is primarily responsible for this regular rising and falling of Earth's oceans.
What are tides?
Known for its spectacular rings, this is the sixth planet from the Sun.
What is Saturn?
A student notices that a plant near a window grew taller than a plant farther away and EXPLAINS that light may have affected its growth. The student is using observations to do this.
What is infer (or make an inference)?
One complete rotation of Earth takes approximately this long.
What is 23 hours, 56 minutes (One Day)
The longest and shortest daylight days of the year occur during these two astronomical events.
What are the solstices?
This occurs when the Moon moves between Earth and the Sun and blocks at least part of the Sun from our view.
What is a solar eclipse?
This planet is often referred to as Earth's twin.
What is Venus?
In a controlled experiment, this type of variable is what the scientist is MEASURING.
What is the Dependent variable?
One complete revolution of Earth around the Sun takes approximately this long.
What is 365¼ days (one year)?
During summer in the Northern Hemisphere (USA), the Sun appears higher in the sky and provides more hours of daylight because the Northern Hemisphere is tilted in this direction.
What is toward the sun?
This occurs when Earth moves between the Sun and Moon, causing Earth's shadow to fall on the Moon.
What is a lunar eclipse?
This is the coldest planet in the solar system.
What is Uranus?
A student measures the length of a classroom and records it as 850 centimeters. Express this measurement in meters.
What is 8.5 meters?
Earth and most of the planets orbit the Sun in roughly the same flat region, known by this term.
What is the orbital plane?
Polaris and some nearby stars are located above and around Earth’s North and south poles. These are known as this type of stars.
What are circumpolar stars?
Earth experiences especially large tidal ranges when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are approximately aligned. These tides are called this.
What are spring tides?
This region of the solar system, located between Mars and Jupiter, contains millions of rocky objects orbiting the Sun.
What is the asteroid belt?