Independent vs Dependent Variables in Science

Penelope wanted to see if the temperature of the oven made cookies softer or harder. What is the dependent variable.

• Hardness of cookie

• Type of oven

• Temperature of oven

Stacy measured the speed of 5 birds that lived around her house. What is the dependent  variable?

• Type of Bird

• Speed of Bird

• weather outside

Mrs. Cote wanted to know if the iPhone could stand up against being dropped from different heights. She dropped them from 3 heights and saw if they broke. What is the independent variable?

• Drop height

• If they had a case on them or not

• If they broke

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS3-1

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

Mrs. Cote wanted to know if the iPhone could stand up against being dropped from different heights. She dropped them from 3 heights and saw if they broke. What is the dependent variable?

• Drop height

• If they had a case on them or not

• If they broke

This variable in an experiment is the one being deliberately changed by the scientist. 

• dependent variable

• independent variable

• data

• control group

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS2-2

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

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

The higher the temperature of water, the faster the egg will cook.  Select the independent variable.

• Faster Egg Cooks

• Higher Temperature

Steve wanted to see if the type of fertilizer made sunflowers grow larger. He applied three different kinds of fertilizer on three sunflowers, and observed the size of the sunflower after 2 weeks. The type of fertilizer is the...

• independent variable

• dependent variable