Scientific Method Controls and Variables

Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating krabby patties at the Krusty Krab. He asked 100 customers to try his new breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished eating a krabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath. Two hours after eating the krabby patties, 30 customers in Group A and 10 customers in Group B reported having better breath than they normally had after eating krabby patties.

Which group is the control group?

• Group A: the group that got the mint with the secret ingredient

• Group B: the group that got the regular mint

• Both groups: because they all got mints

• Neither group: because the test wasn’t fair

Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating krabby patties at the Krusty Krab. He asked 100 customers to try his new breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished eating a krabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath. Two hours after eating the krabby patties, 30 customers in Group A and 10 customers in Group B reported having better breath than they normally had after eating krabby patties.

What is the independent variable?

• 
  The number of customers

• Group B: the group that got the regular mint

• The secret ingredient in the breath mint

• 
  The bad breath

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-2

NGSS.MS-ETS1-3

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating krabby patties at the Krusty Krab. He asked 100 customers to try his new breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished eating a krabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath. Two hours after eating the krabby patties, 30 customers in Group A and 10 customers in Group B reported having better breath than they normally had after eating krabby patties.

What is the dependent variable?

• 
  The number of customers

• Group B: the group that got the regular mint

• The secret ingredient in the breath mint

• 
  The bad breath

Mr. Krabs created a secret ingredient for a breath mint that he thinks will “cure” the bad breath people get from eating krabby patties at the Krusty Krab. He asked 100 customers to try his new breath mint. He had fifty customers (Group A) eat a breath mint after they finished eating a krabby patty. The other fifty (Group B) also received a breath mint after they finished the sandwich, however, it was just a regular breath mint and did not have the secret ingredient. Both groups were told that they were getting the breath mint that would cure their bad breath. Two hours after eating the krabby patties, 30 customers in Group A and 10 customers in Group B reported having better breath than they normally had after eating krabby patties.

What is the conclusion?

• The secret ingredient reduces bad breath for 100% of people (50/50)

• 
  The secret ingredient reduces bad breath for some people (30/50)

• The secret ingredient does not work

• The secret ingredient caused more bad breath

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

SpongeBob noticed that his favorite pants were not as clean as they used to be. His friend Sandy told him that he should try using Clean-O detergent, a new brand of laundry cleaning agent she found at Sail-Mart. SpongeBob made sure to wash one pair of pants in plain water and another pair in water with the Clean-O detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a total of three times, the pants washed in the Clean-O detergent did not appear to be any cleaner than the pants washed in plain water.

What was the question Spongebob was trying to investigate?

• 
  How many times he should wash his pants with Clean-O detergent

• 
  If Clean-O detergent makes pants cleaner than plain water

• What color his pants would turn after washing with Clean-O detergent

• If Sandy shops at Sail-Mart

Tags

NGSS.MS-ETS1-2

NGSS.MS-ETS1-3

SpongeBob noticed that his favorite pants were not as clean as they used to be. His friend Sandy told him that he should try using Clean-O detergent, a new brand of laundry cleaning agent she found at Sail-Mart. SpongeBob made sure to wash one pair of pants in plain water and another pair in water with the Clean-O detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a total of three times, the pants washed in the Clean-O detergent did not appear to be any cleaner than the pants washed in plain water.

What is the independent variable?

• The number of pants

• The use of Clean-O detergent

• The amount of water used

• 
  The washing machine

SpongeBob noticed that his favorite pants were not as clean as they used to be. His friend Sandy told him that he should try using Clean-O detergent, a new brand of laundry cleaning agent she found at Sail-Mart. SpongeBob made sure to wash one pair of pants in plain water and another pair in water with the Clean-O detergent. After washing both pairs of pants a total of three times, the pants washed in the Clean-O detergent did not appear to be any cleaner than the pants washed in plain water.

What is the dependent variable?

• The length of the pant legs

• The color of the detergent

• The color of the pants

• How clean the pants get

Squidward loves playing his clarinet and believes it attracts more jellyfish than

any other instrument he has played. In order to test his hypothesis, Squidward

played a song on his clarinet for a total of 5 minutes and counted the number

of jellyfish he saw in his front yard. He played the song a total of 3 times on his

clarinet and repeated the experiment using a flute and a guitar. He also

recorded the number of jellyfish he observed when he was not playing an

instrument.

What is the independent variable?

• The number of jellyfish

• Duration of the song

• Type of instrument played

• Time of day

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS2-1

Squidward loves playing his clarinet and believes it attracts more jellyfish than

any other instrument he has played. In order to test his hypothesis, Squidward

played a song on his clarinet for a total of 5 minutes and counted the number

of jellyfish he saw in his front yard. He played the song a total of 3 times on his

clarinet and repeated the experiment using a flute and a guitar. He also

recorded the number of jellyfish he observed when he was not playing an

instrument.

What is the dependent variable?

• The number of jellyfish

• Duration of the song

• Type of instrument played

• Time of day

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-5

Patrick found some Super Bubble Soap at Sail-Mart. The ads claim

that Super Bubble Soap will produce bubbles that are twice as big (2x) as bubbles made with regular bubble soap. Patrick and SpongeBob made up two samples of bubble solution. One sample was made with 5 oz. of Super Bubble Soap and 5 oz. of water, while the other was made with the same amount of water and 5 oz. of regular bubble soap. Patrick and SpongeBob used their favorite bubble wands to blow 10 different bubbles and did their best to measure the diameter of each one.

The average super bubble was 15.1 cm, while the average regular bubble was 11.5 cm.

What is the independent variable?

• size of the bubble

• type of soap used

• time the bubble lasts

• temperature of the room