Independent Variable
Shannon wants to see if the amount of time she studies will affect her grades. She normally studies for 30 minutes a night, but decides to double her study time to one hour per night. Over the next three weeks Shannon sees her science grade raise 10%.
amount of study time
Rob is in charge of waxing the floor at the local mall. He wants to test a new brand of floor wax called Squeaky Clean. Rob waxes 20 floor tiles with Squeaky Clean and 20 tiles with the original wax brand. After one week he counts the number of scratches on the floor.
number of floor scratches
Over the summer, Mrs. Milton noticed that there seemed to be a line of stars in the night sky that she hadn’t observed before. Her friend thought perhaps it was actually planets whose orbits had lined up perfectly. They both wished there was some way to get a closer look at them in order to determine which person was correct.
telescope
Last week Mrs. Shull noticed that her classroom seemed to have a lot more thermal energy than Mrs. Luna’s classroom did. She went to Mr. Miller to express her concern. He didn’t think that there was that much of a difference and asked if she could please collect some data throughout the day in both classrooms.
thermometer
tells you WHAT is going to happen because it happened before
Law
Eric wants to see if a Shark vacuum works better than his current Oreck. He makes sure both of the vacuum canisters are empty, and then vacuums half of the living room with the Oreck and the other half with the Shark. After vacuuming he measures the amount of dust in each canister.
type of vacuum
Rebecca wants to see if her kitten prefers new chicken flavored treats over her usual beef flavored treats. She puts 10 chicken treats in one bowl and 10 beef flavored treats in another bowl. She sees which treats her kitten eats first and repeats this experiment for 3 days.
which treats the kitten eats first
While on a nature walk in Ms. Reibsome’s classroom, a student noticed something unusual, and tiny on a piece of tree bark. The class wondered if it was a small single-celled organism or something more complex. Ms. Reibsome thought that perhaps the student discovered a new species of lichen or moss.
microscope
What scientific equipment measures mass?
What scientific equipment measures volume?
triple beam balance; graduated cylinder
explains WHY it is happening
theory
Sara wants to see if a new brand of hair dye lasts longer than the brand she currently uses. She puts the new hair dye on the left side of her head and the old brand on her right side. After 2 weeks she observes which side of her head has more gray hair showing through.
brand of hair dye
Nicholas has been biting his nails since he was a kid. He wants to break the habit so he puts bitter tasting nail polish on his left hand and leaves his right hand without polish. After 3 days he notices his nails on his left hand have grown but he continued to bite his right hand nails.
length of fingernails
Ms. Zwanzig is planning a trip to Florida for a conference. She asks students in Mr. Peake’s class about a low pressure area that she heard may be forming in the ocean near Bermuda and possibly heading in a northwestern direction. Ms. Zwanzig wants to know if she should plan her trip or wait a few days.
weather map
While studying watersheds and turbidity, Mrs. Sheahan brought in samples of water from Blacks Run after a heavy rainstorm. Students observed that the water seemed cloudy and not as clear as usual. Some hypothesized that perhaps there was some soil runoff as a result of they storm. They wondered if they could separate the water somehow from the soil.
filter paper
not accepted by all scientists
theory
Chris wants to see if his basil plants grow better in full sunlight or partial sunlight. He plants 5 basil plants on the east side of his house that only receives light in the morning, and 5 more plants on the south side of his house that receives light all day. After a month Chris measures the height of each plant.
location of basil plants
Ruthie has a pet goldfish. After several months the goldfish quits growing. Ruthie’s Mom told her the goldfish might have stopped growing because the tank is too small. Ruthie measures the size of her goldfish in its current tank, and then puts the goldfish in a larger tank. After 2 months the goldfish is now 1cm longer.
length of goldfish
Rockingham County is currently experiencing a drought from lack of precipitation. Meteorologists and local farmers are closely watching the amount of precipitation that is falling across the area. On Sunday, some precipitation fell in Harrisonburg and in Bridgewater. Farmers from both areas want to compare the precipitation amounts.
Rain Gauge
Mrs. Smiley noticed that she gets a headache when there is a change in air pressure. She made a hypothesis that her headaches occur when the air pressure increases, or gets higher. To test her hypothesis she wanted to keep a chart noting each time she has a headache and what the corresponding air pressure reading is at the time.
Barometer
Uses math formulas
Law
Heidi is a chocolate lover and eats chocolate daily. She has a bad break-out and her friend told her eating chocolate causes pimples. Heidi continues to eat chocolate every day for 2 weeks and counts the number of pimples she has on her face. The following 2 weeks she doesn’t eat any chocolate and counts the number of pimples on her face.
2 weeks not eating chocolate
Mark notices he has dropped calls on his cell phone when he walks into his bedroom. His friend told him to try and wrap aluminum foil around his phone to get better signal. Mark talks on the phone 3 times while walking into his bedroom and drops 2 of the 3 calls. He wraps his phone in aluminum foil and talks on the phone 3 more times while walking into his bedroom. With the aluminum foil on his phone he only drops 1 phone call.
number of dropped calls
While waiting to get picked up after soccer practice, a student noticed that there seemed to be a lot of wind blowing the the grassy area beside the art room. The student wondered if there was enough wind to justify getting a wind turbine as a way to generate some electricity for SKMS. When he gave his idea to the principal, Mr. Kirwin said he would need to see data collected throughout the day that would prove the wind speed was truly enough to generate electricity in that location.
anemometer
An 8th grade student wanted to conduct an investigation to see which grade level water fountain was the cleanest. She knew that she could gather a sample of each by using a clean swab. Mr. Huyard agreed to let her borrow his incubator to see if any bacteria would grow, but said she had to put the swabs into separate containers first.
Petri dish
resists change
law