Nature of Science Review - SC.3.N 1.1-1.7

A student wants to find out how many people it would take to lift an elephant off the ground.

Which question would be best for the student to ask to start her research?

• What does an elephant eat?

• Where does an elephant live?

• How much does an elephant weigh?

• Why does an elephant have a trunk?

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

How can observations and data from your experiment be used?

• Observations and data can be used to make decisions, such as when to try the experiment again.

• Observations and data can be used to get scientists to communicate.

• Observations and data cannot be used together because they conflict with one another.

• Observations and data are useless when experimenting.

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-3

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

A student put up a bird feeder. She recorded which birds came to the feeder and what they ate.

Which of her statements about the birds can be proven based on observations?

• The goldfinch sang a happy song.

• The blue jay is the prettiest bird.

• House sparrows ate sunflower seeds.

• The teacher said robins like to eat fruit.

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

NGSS.MS-LS2-3

NGSS.MS-LS2-4

Bea, Justin, and Mary were conducting an investigation. One part of their investigation was to keep track of rainfall amounts at their school for 5 days in a row. Every day for five days, each student read a rain gauge to observe how much rain had fallen.

What is the best explanation for one child having different results?

• Bea read the gauge incorrectly.

• Bea recorded her results incorrectly.

• Justin and Mary read the gauge incorrectly.

• Justin and Mary recorded their results incorrectly.

Scientists often work in teams and look at the same data. Which statement describes the conclusions they make?

• Scientists always have the same conclusion when they look at the same data.

• Sometimes scientists can look at the same data and come to different conclusions.

• Each scientist will come to a completely different conclusion when they look at the same data.

• Scientists only come to different conclusions when there was a mistake in the experiment.

Tags

NGSS.HS-LS3-2

NGSS.HS-PS4-3

Melissa observed a flower growing outside.

Observing the flower can help Melissa answer which question?

• What time will it rain on the flower?

• Why does the flower need sunlight?

• How does the flower taste to animals?

• How tall will the flower grow after two weeks?

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

NGSS.MS-LS1-6

The students in Mr. Brown's class wondered if the class hamster, Fluffy, likes to eat carrots or lettuce more.

Which investigation would be best to answer their question?

• The class could read a book about what types of foods hamsters can eat.

• The class could feed Fluffy only lettuce and observe if he eats the lettuce.

• The class could feed Fluffy only carrots and observe if he eats the carrots.

• The class could place both foods in the cage and observe which food Fluffy chooses.

Tags

NGSS.3-5-ETS1-3

Mr. Ronald’s class was conducting an experiment that required each group of students to cut a piece of yarn. Mr. Ronald told the groups to cut a piece of yarn and then lay it out onto their table. Mr. Ronald observed that each group had a different length of yarn on their lab table.

Which statement is the most likely reason each group had a different length for their piece of yarn?

• The yarn was very hard to cut.

• The scissors the groups used were not very sharp.

• The groups were not given a specific length to cut the yarn.

• The groups all started out with different amounts of yarn to cut their piece from.

In Science Lab, Mr. Jones asked his students to observe three objects and record their observations in their science journal.

Which of the following pieces of written data should NOT be included in their observations?

• drawings of each object

• chart of each object's size

• possible use for each object

• which object is the favorite

A student places four cups of colored water in the freezer. The water in each cup is colored either red, blue, orange, or yellow.

Later, the student checks the cups and finds that all the water in each cup has frozen.

What can the student infer from this experiment about the effect of color on water freezing?

• Color has no effect on freezing.

• Orange makes water freeze faster.

• Yellow stops the water from freezing.

• Red and blue makes water freeze slowly.