nature of science review

Marcia did an experiment to find out whether tulips grow faster under fluorescent lighting or incandescent lighting. Under flourescent lighting, Marcia's plants grew 1.5 cm taller in two months. She gave her notes to Alex, who did the same experiments with similar results. Which term describes Alex's experiment?

• plagiarism

• replication

• pseudo science

• repetition

Cindy placed three beehives with the same mass into separate (but identical) glass containers. Hive A was kept at 10 degrees Celsius (˚C), Hive B was kept at 29 ˚C, and Hive C was kept at 37 ˚C. For the next month she measured the amount of honey each hive produced. Hive B produced more than the other two hives.

What is the Manipulated (INDEPENDENT) variable in her experiment?

• The temperature of each hive

• The number of hives

• The mass of each hive

• The amount of honey produced

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

What is the best definition of the term "theory", as it’s used in science?

• What is the best definition of the term "theory", as it’s used in science?

• It is well tested set of ideas that explains events that occur in nature.

• A theory is based on laws that can be proven true.

• It is a hypothesis that has been confirmed

A prevailing theory about heredity is challenged by newly discovered information from a few experiments. As a result, what might happen to the scientific knowledge about heredity?

• A new theory will immediately be established.

• All that is known about heredity will be erased

• Nothing because scientific knowledge cannot change once it is established.

• Scientific knowledge may change and grow over time.

Which phrase defines a scientific theory?

• A well supported explanation

• An untested idea

• An educated guess

• An accepted description

Scientists conduct many types of scientific investigations. Their efforts often include fieldwork, surveys, models, and experiments. Which statement about scientific investigations is true?

• Their primary purpose is to compare or describe the world.

• They rarely involve the collection of data under controlled conditions.

• They follow exactly the same steps because there is only one scientific method.

• They include multiple trials to increase the consistency of the data that are collected.

Under what circumstances can a theory change?

• When the results are the same over and over

• When there are repeated errors in an experiment

• When there is new information or technology present

• When a scientist is no longer interested in testing the hypothesis

• When politicians agree to change it

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-5

Models can be helpful in scientific investigations because

• it may not be possible to work with the real thing.

• they can be smaller and more manageable than the real thing.

• they can be safer to work with than the real thing.

• all of the above

Tags

NGSS.HS-ETS1-4

Scientific theories are based on

• general assumptions of how systems work.
• mathematical principles that can be proven true.
• large amounts of data collected over time.
• observations from within only one scientific discipline.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

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

NGSS.MS-PS2-2