Vocabulary
What is the difference between fact and opinion? (Be sure to explain the meaning of both words.)
A fact is something that is true and can be proven with evidence. An opinion is what somebody believes or feels, but is not true of everybody.
What step of the scientific method means predict?
hypothesize
I observe that oatmeal is nasty. What is wrong with that observation?
This is not a good observation because it is an opinion, not a fact.
Linda wanted to find out what she could do to have her African Violets produce more flowers. She fed 4 plants the same fertilizer and the same amount of water. She placed them in 4 different window locations around her house. What is the independent variable?
The window locations.
Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in West Africa. Is this a fact or opinion? How do you know?
Fact because I could prove it by looking at a government website.
What is the scientific method?
The set of steps scientists follow to test their ideas.
What does "draw conclusions" mean?
What you learned from your experiment. You figure out if your hypothesis is correct, and if not, what you can learn from it.
On TV you often see commercials with cats drinking whole milk. You predict that cats like whole milk better than any other type of milk, because whole milk has more fat. Each day you give a cat a different kind of milk, and measure how much milk he drank between the morning and the evening. What is your hypothesis? What clue word told you that was the hypothesis?
If you give cats milk, then they will drink whole milk more than any other kind of milk, because that's what you see on TV. The clue word was PREDICT.
Linda wanted to find out what she could do to have her African Violets produce more flowers. She fed 4 plants the same fertilizer and the same amount of water. She placed them in 4 different window locations around her house. What is the dependent variable?
The number of flowers the violets produce.
Cats on TV always seem to be drinking milk. You think cats probably like whole milk better than any other type of milk. What is wrong with this hypothesis?
It needs background information.
What does data mean?
The information you gather in an experiment
What is growth mindset?
The theory that states that you can change how smart you are. If you work hard at something and try different strategies, you will get better at it.
You noticed that in many pet commercial, cats are drinking whole milk. You predict that cats like whole milk better than any other type of milk, because whole milk has more fat. Each day you give a cat a different kind of milk, and measure how much milk he drank between the morning and the evening. What was the first observation that made you want to conduct the experiment? What clue word told you that was an observation?
You saw pet commercials that had cats drinking whole milk. The clue word is NOTICED.
On TV you often see commercials with cats drinking milk. You want to find out which type of milk cats drink the most. Each day you give a cat a different kind of milk, and measure how much milk he drank between the morning and the evening. What are the independent and dependent variables?
IV: Type of milk
DV: Amount of milk the cat drinks
Over the summer, Ms. Child observed different types of insects in her garden. Use the data table provided to create a bar graph.
What are independent variables?
What you change on purpose at the beginning of the experiment to test your ideas.
What does dependent variable mean?
What changes as a result of the independent variable.
The data table shows how many pages each student read. Draw a bar graph using this data table.
Linda wanted to find out what she could do to have her African Violets produce more flowers. She fed 4 plants the same fertilizer and the same amount of water. She placed them in 4 different window locations around her house. What are two control variables?
Fertilizer, amount of water, the size of the plants when the experiment started, amount of soil...
Ms. Child planted three different types of seeds. She gave them the same amount of sunlight, soil, and water. After 1 week the daisy grew 2 inches, the violet grew 2 inches, and the rose grew 4 inches. What was Ms. Child's testable question?
What is the effect of the type of seeds on how fast they grow?
What are control variables?
Everything you keep the same in an experiment.
List the steps of the scientific method in the correct order.
Observation. Question. Hypothesis. Experiment. Analyze Data. Draw Conclusions.
You predict that cats like whole milk better than any other type of milk because it has more milk. Each day you give a cat a different kind of milk, and measure how much milk he drank between the morning and the evening. You find that the cat drinks 3 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of skim milk, and 3 cups of water. Was your hypothesis correct? Why or why not?
My hypothesis was not correct, because the cat doesn't seem to like whole milk any better than water. He drank 3 cups of both of those liquids. Cats don't seem to care if they drink milk or water.
You want to find out what type of milk cats like the most. Each day you give a cat a different kind of milk, and measure how much milk he drank between the morning and the evening. On the first day you give him whole milk. The second day you give him skim milk. The third day you give him water. What are two control variables you would need to have?
The amount of milk you put in each bowl. The time of day you feed the cat. The same cat.
Ms. Child noticed that kids like to eat candy in the morning because they say it wakes them up. She predicts that if you eat scrambled eggs for breakfast, then you will have longer-lasting energy than eating M&Ms, because in her nutrition class she learned protein gives you longer lasting energy than sugar. How could you test this hypothesis? Write the steps of the procedure.
give kids both and then time when they have their first yawn. Measure heart rates. Have them take a test and see who's the fastest.