Independent Variables, Dependent Variables, and Constants

Research question: does the distance a person kicks a soccer ball effect how well they will do on their math test.  What is the dependent variable?

• How far they kick the soccer ball
• who the person is
• how well they do on the math test
• Type of soccer ball.

Tags

CCSS.6.EE.C.9

When experimenting with the growth of a plant, a scientist uses three (of the same type of) plants, two different fertilizers, equal light, and equal water. What type of variable is the fertilizer?

• Dependent
• Independent
• Control
• Compound

What would the INDEPENDENT variable be in an experiment testing which types of paper airplane goes furthest?

• the paper used
• the type of paper airplane
• the distance of each plane's flight
• how hard the plane is thrown

Tags

CCSS.6.EE.A.2C

Research Question: Does the type of gasoline put in a car effect how fast the car can drive. What is the independent variable?

• Type of gasoline
• which car the gas is put into
• how fast the car can drive
• how much gas is put into the car

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

NGSS.MS-PS3-4

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, the independent variable is ...

• The type of plant
• The amount of sunlight
• The type of music
• The type of liquid

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
• Color of the plant's leaves

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

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 dependent variable?

• Length of the birdfeeders
• Amount of time feeders are outside
• Amount of seed eaten
• Location the feeders are put in.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

Molly investigated if the age of students caused them to be better drivers. What is the independent variable?

• Type of car
• Skill of driving
• Age of student

Tags

CCSS.HSF-BF.B.4A

Molly investigated if the age of students caused them to be better drivers. What is the dependent variable?

• Type of car
• Skill of driving
• Age of student

Tags

CCSS.6.EE.C.9

Sam wanted to know if the color of the chair you sat in when taking a test affected your test grade. What is the independent variable.

• Color or chair
• Grade on test
• Age of students