variables

An experiment is performed on plants to see how different liquids affect plant growth. Each plant in the experiment is given a different liquid; water, apple juice, or milk. Each plant has the same amount of soil, sunlight, and listens to the same music. In this investigation, what is the dependent variable?

• Type of plant
• Water, apple juice, milk
• Plant growth

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

Lauren is convinced that book/movie combinations are better if you have read the book before watching the movie. Lauren's friend, Alyssa, thinks that movies are just as good even if you don't read the book. They got 40 of their classmates to help them solve their debate. 20 classmates read the book Divergent and 20 more classmates viewed the movie without reading the book. All participants went to see the movie on Friday at 6 p.m. They had their classmates do a survey (1-4 stars). Then, Alyssa and Lauren averaged the number of stars for both groups.
What is the independent variable?

• Watching the movie
• Reading the book
• Taking the survey

An experiment is set up with ten pots to test the effective of fertilizer on plant growth. 5 pots have fertilizer added to the soil, 5 pots do not have fertilizer added to the soil. Each pot has 1 spider plant and 5 cups of soil. The pots are watered once a week with 1/2 cup of water. Water would be what type of variable?

• Indepedent
• Dependent
• Constant
• Water is not a variable

Jessie is concerned about how tired his classmates seem. He created a drink that he thinks will boost their energy. He recruits 100 classmates with a history of tiredness. He has 50 of them drink his new special energy drink. The other 50 drink a beverage that looks like the special energy drink, but is just water and food coloring. Both groups were told that they were getting the special drink that would boost energy. After 2 hours, 30 classmates in the first group reported having more energy and 8 classmates in the second group reported having more energy.
What is the independent variable?

• Amount of energy
• Special energy drink
• The food coloring

Maria wants to know if birds prefer to eat in one place over another. She makes three feeders out of 2-liter bottles and paints all of them red. She fills each of the feeders with the same amount of mixed birdseed, and plans to keep the feeders out for 10 days before measuring how much seed is eaten from each feeder. She puts each of the feeders in her back yard: one feeder in a large dead tree, another feeder she sits on the dog house, and the last she sits in a small bushy tree.
What is the independent variable?

• Red birdfeeders
• Placement of birdfeeders
• Amount of seed

Maria wants to know if birds prefer to eat in one place over another. She makes three feeders out of 2-liter bottles and paints all of them red. She fills each of the feeders with the same amount of mixed birdseed, and plans to keep the feeders out for 10 days before measuring how much seed is eaten from each feeder. She puts each of the feeders in her back yard: one feeder in a large dead tree, another feeder she sits on the dog house, and the last she sits in a small bushy tree.
What is the controlled variable?

• Location of bird feeder
• Amount of birdseed eaten
• Type of birdseed

Mr. Krabbs is trying a new money making scheme.  On Tuesdays he will start selling his crabby patties on colored buns to see if this attracts more customers.  He usually averages 25 customers per day.  But now he averages 27 customers on after selling them on colored buns.
What was the dependent variable?

• The customers 
• The crabby patty
• The colored buns
• The number of customers

Five groups of rats are fed identical diets except for the amount of vitamin A that they receive. Each group gets a different amount. After 3 weeks on the diet, the rats are weighed to see if the amount of vitamin A received has affected their weight. The independent variable is

• Amount of Vitamin A                       
• weight of rats