Definitions
Sponge Bob notices that his pal Gary, the snail, is suffering from a nasty slime on his shell. His friend Patrick tells him that rubbing seaweed on the shell is the perfect cure, while Sandy says that rubbing plankton on his shell will be a better cure. Sponge Bob decides to test this cure by rubbing 1/2 of Gary's shell with seaweed and the other 1/2 with plankton. He will measure the amount of slime on each half after one week. What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable?
The independent variable is the "Treatment Used on Shell". The dependent variable is the, "Amount of Slime after 1 Week".
Testable Question: Will a 5 pound bowling ball or a 10 pound bowling ball hit the ground first if dropped from the same height at the same time?
Hypothesis: I predict when a 5 pound bowling ball and 10 pound bowling ball are dropped from the same height at the same time, then they will hit the ground at the same time.
Collected, analyzed, and/or calculated during an experiment to determine results
Data
Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating crabby patties at the Krusty Krab. He asked 100 customers with a history of bad breath to try his new breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished eating a crabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath. What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable?
The independent variable is, "Type of Breath Mint". The dependent variable is, "Smell of Breath".
Larry was told that a special protein shake can double a person’s muscle power. Interested in this product, he buys the special protein shake and recruits 10 people to be part of his experiment over 90 days. 5 of the people drank the special protein shake before they started lifting weights while the other 5 drank their regular protein shake (they were told it was the special muscle lotion). What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable?
The independent variable is the, "Type of Shake". The dependent variable is, "Strength of Muscles"
This is what the scientist changes/manipulates/has control over
Independent Variable
Squidward loves playing his clarinet and believes it attracts more jellyfish than any other instrument he has played. In order to test his hypothesis, Squidward played a song on his clarinet for a total of 5 minutes and counted the number of jellyfish he saw in his front yard. He played the song a total of 3 times on his clarinet and repeated the experiment using a flute and a guitar. He also recorded the number of jellyfish he observed when he was not playing an instrument. What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable?
-The independent variable is, "Type of Instrument". -The dependent variable is, "Fish Attraction/Number of Fish Attracted".
The type of observations that use WORDS rather than numbers to describe data collected during an experiment. (Not quantitative, but...)
qualitative observations
Patrick believes that if fish eat food exposed to microwaves, then they will become smarter, therefore being able to swim through a maze faster. First, he has 20 fish swim through a maze and records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end. He then places fish food in a microwave for 1 minute. Next, he feeds the microwaved food to 10 fish and gives non-microwaved food to 10 other fish for 1 week. After 1 week, he has all the fish swim through the maze again and records the times for each to see if they are any faster/smarter.
What is the independent variable? What is the dependent variable?
The independent variable is, "Type of Fish Food" -The dependent variable is, "Time to Complete Maze/Smartness"