Nature of Science Review

What type of data uses words or categories to describe observations?

• Quantitative

• Scientific

• Qualitative

• Physical

What is the outcome (DEPENDENT) variable?

• plant height

• time in days

• sunflower

• daisy

Fred and Barney were given an assignment to go to a school basketball game and write down everything they each saw, heard, smelled, and touched. Afterwards the two students were to compare and contrast their findings and write up a summary of their combined data. In this case when they wrote down what they saw, heard, smelled and felt was considered?

• They were creating a hypothesis

• They were making inferences

• They were writing down their observations

• None of the above

Scientists need to know how gravity acts on a space shuttle so they can put the space shuttle into orbit. They use an equation that describes how gravity relates to the mass of two objects and the distance between the two objects. Which term describes this equation?

• observation

• model

• scientific law

• scientific theory

A constant is:

• something that is changed on purpose

• something that scientists do not yet understand

• something that stays the same

• something that changes because of something else

 A testable idea or explanation that leads to scientific investigation based on prior knowledge is known as: 

• theory
• experiment 
• observation
• hypothesis

What should a scientist do if a hypothesis is NOT supported by data?

• Carry out further investigations.

• Stop investigating the question.

• Change the hypothesis to match the data

• Change the data to support the hypothesis

Which of the following statements about hypotheses is true?

• Hypotheses can never be

  changed.

• Hypotheses are always proven to be true.

• Hypotheses can be accepted or rejected

• Hypotheses can be proven true without evidence.

Helen is studying the growth of two different types of plants. She planted two of each type of plant in locations with different levels of sunlight: full sun, partial shade, and full shade. For five weeks, Helen records the number of new leaves on each plant.

Which of the following statements correctly describes the independent and dependent variables in Helen's experiment?

• The independent variable is the kind of plant, and the dependent variable is the amount of sunlight.

• The independent variable is the amount of sunlight, and the dependent variable is the number of new leaves.

• The independent variable is the amount of sunlight, and the dependent variable is the kind of plant.

• The independent variable is the number of new leaves, and the dependent variable is the amount of sunlight.

What factor is not changed in an experiment?  

•  temperature
• independent variable
• dependent variable 
• control