Vocabulary
An educated guess or prediction for what might happen in an experiment based on observations and prior knowledge. Is testable and measurable!
What is Hypothesis?
Involves a series of steps that are used to investigate a natural occurrence.
What is the Scientific Method
Numbers, observations, or information you collect during an experiment
What is Data?
In a study that asks the question "Does cell phone use increase the occurrence of brain tumors?", this is the Independent Variable (IV)
What is cell phone use?
The type of observational data that is measurable
What is Quantitative Data?
What you think based on observations
What is Inference?
The first step in the Scientific Method
What is "Question" or "Problem"
Conditions that could influence the outcome of an experiment and therefore must be kept the same
What is a Constant?
In an investigation that studies how sandpaper affects the sliding friction of a block of wood, this is the Dependent Variable (DV)
What is "sliding friction of a block of wood"?
The type of observational data that is describable
What is Qualitative Data?
Any factor that can change during an experiment
What is Variable?
The step of the Scientific Method in which you test your hypothesis
What is Experiment
The two types of observational data
What is Qualitative and Quantitative Data?
In an investigation that asks "Does increased job stress cause weight gain?", this is the control group
What is "People not undergoing increased job stress"?
The amount of matter (or stuff) is in an object
What is mass?
The variable that the experimenter changes or makes different in order to test it
What is the Independent Variable (IV)?
The paragraph that refers to the hypothesis, describes the findings of the experiment, and poses next questions
What is a Conclusion?
The basic unit of measurement for length in the metric and standard international systems
What is the meter?
In an investigation that studies the affect of high nitrogen fertilizer on the height of tomato plants, these would be three constants
What is...same amount of sunlight, same amount of water, same type of soil (not fertilizer), same type/breed of plants, same planting methods, same planting techniques
A list of things you do to perform the experiment (not Scientific Method)
What is Procedure?
The variable that the experimenter observes or measures during an experiment.
What is the Dependent Variable (DV)?
The step of the Scientific Method where you make graphs, look for patterns, and think about what happened
What is the Analysis?
The variable that is always placed on the x-axis
What is the Independent Variable (IV)?
In an investigation that studies the affect of high nitrogen fertilizer on the height of tomato plants, this would be the control
What is "Plants grown with normal levels of nitrogen in fertilizer"?
Experiment group used to compare the test group results against - to prove that the Independent Variable (IV) makes a difference
What is the Control Group?