Experimental Design in Biology

How many variables should you change in an experiment?

• none
• 1
• 2 or more
• depends on the type of experiment

Tags

CCSS.HSS.IC.B.3

The variable in an experiment deliberately changed by the scientist. The variable being tested.

• dependent variable
• independent variable
• data
• control group

The variable that depends on changes to the independent variable. Also called data.

• control group

• dependent variable

• experimental variable

• independent variable

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

Maya designed an experiment to answer the following question: How does the amount of water given to a lima

bean seed affect how tall it grows?

In this experiment, what variable should Maya CHANGE?

• the amount of water

• the kind of plant

• the type of soil

• the amount of sunlight it gets

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

The measurable factor in an experiment is known as the: 

• Control
• Independent Variable
• Constant
• Dependent Variable

The part(s) of the experiment that remains the same for the control group and experimental group.

• constants

• control

• independent

• dependent

When testing the impact of light intensity on the rate of evaporation why would a change in the temperature of the different beakers of water be problematic?

• water and temperature cannot mix

• two dependent variables - not valid

• two controlled variables - not valid

• two independent variables - not valid

The part of the experiment that does not contain the independent variable. Used for comparison.

• Control Group
• Experimental Group
• Results
• Data

"If the forest is clear-cut (cutting down all the trees in an area of forest), then it will result in drier soils because there will not be any trees to protect the soil from sunlight" is an example of:

• a theory
• a hypothesis
• an experimental question
• a conclusion

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

You read that cats will meow more if they eat more ice cream.  You decide to do an experiment to test this hypothesis.  Using your cat for the experiment, you feed your cat 50 cm³ of vanilla ice cream, 100 cm³, and no (0 cm³).  You made sure that during your experiment, you used the same beaker, same brand of ice cream, the same temperature ice cream, and the same procedure for feeding your cat.  Once your cat was finished eating you counted the number of times he meowed in 10 minutes.  You recorded your data in a data table.  
What is the dependent variable (DV) in this experiment?

• The cat
• The amount of ice cream
• The number of meows
• The type of ice cream

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1