AIMS Review

George was curious about the best way to recycle aluminum. His science teacher told him that there have been numerous studies already done on this topic. What would be George's first step in his investigation?

• research

• experimentation

• classification

• observation

Danny wants to improve his technique for punting the football, so he devises an experiment to help. He goes to the field with 5 different kinds of shoes, thinking that with his

experience level, the type of shoe might make a difference. He kicks the ball 10 times with each shoe and measures the distance it went. He uses 3 types of shoes on Monday, but

because it got dark earlier than expected, has to complete the test on Tuesday.

What is a major change Danny should make, to increase the validity of his test?

• do all his tests on one day

• measure how tight the shoes were

• measure the pressure in the football

• do his tests on different parts of the field

The world population is shown in this data table. Which line graph BEST displays this data?

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Matt decides to run an experiment. He plants a tomato plant out in the yard, and he spreads homemade compost all around it. Then, he sets up another plant in a pot in the

garage, and he gives it some fertilizer. After analyzing his set up, he decides he needs to change it to make the experiment valid. What change would make this a valid experiment?

• Giving both plants the same amount of water.

• Putting the tomato plant in the yard into a pot.

• Adding a third tomato plant of a different type.

• Planting the tomato plant in the garage out in the yard.

Dr. Trout has noticed that salmon in his fish hatchery seem to enjoy listening to the radio in his lab. The fish in the tank closest to the radio seem to grow larger. Dr. Trout decides

that the more music he plays, the larger the fish must grow. To test his idea, he sets up 5 large ponds with 100 salmon in each pond. He places a loudspeaker at the middle of each

pond and plays various amounts of music in each pond. He plays the same band, feeds the fish the same diet, and keeps water conditions in all tanks exactly the same. After 10

weeks, he ends the trial and takes the average mass of the fish in each pond, and presents his data in the table. The independent variable in Dr. Trout's experiment is:

• type of fish

• the fish diet

• type of music played

• hours of music played

A biology student is studying ways to grow crops in soils that are high in salts and other dissolved solids. To determine whether corn plants can tolerate salty soil conditions, she grows 50 corn plants in typical garden soil and the same amount of corn plants in garden soil plus varying amounts of salt: 0.01 kg, 0.1 kg, and 1 kg of salt. After 6 weeks of growth,

there was an inverse relationship between amount of salt in the soil and plant height: the more salt present, the shorter the plants. The student concluded that salt had did have an

effect on the growth of corn. What was the CONTROL in the experiment?

• 50 plants per trial

• plants grown in typical soil

• the length of time plants were grown

• the varying amounts of salt added to the soil

The organization of a cell could be compared to a small city. All of the organelles inside of the cell have a specific purpose that helps the cell to function properly. Which BEST represents the function of the cell wall?

• Sanitation worker

• Policeman

• Grocery store clerk

• Government official

The major source of imbalance in the carbon cycle is the result of:

• volcanic activity

• shift in Earth's orbit

• human activities

• changes in weather patterns

In the early 1600's, Galileo modified the lenses used in a scientific tool. After doing this, he was able to use it and see, for the first time, some of the moons of Jupiter. The device Galileo used was a

• bifocal

• hubble

• microscope

• telescope

Sometimes a new experimental result may seem to go against a well-established scientific theory. Which statement BEST describes a scientific response to such a situation?

• The old theory has to be discarded in favor of a new theory.

• The result should be altered so that it matches the established theory.

• New results should be verified by more experiments before it is accepted.

• An established theory is based on evidence, so the new results must be incorrect.