WorksheetsUnit 1 Nature of Science Test Review
Total questions: 30
Worksheet time: 22mins
Ash Ketchum is studying the effects of foot traffic (how many people walk through) on how many Pokemon can be found in the parks near Okeeheelee Middle School. One park (Park A) is located next to the middle school, and tons of middle schoolers cut through the park to walk home. Another park (Park B) is in the middle of nowhere and is rarely used by anybody.
Ash Ketchum plans to visit both parks just after school release for 10 days and analyze the data. What is the dependent variable (outcome variable)?
The size of the park
The number of Pokemon in each park
The number of swings at each park
The number of days the Pokemon were counted
Nathan wanted to conduct an investigation to determine what kind of plant food is best for plant growth. He predicted the most expensive food would cause the plants to grow fastest. He developed the following steps to conduct his investigation:
* Five identical jalepeno plants were placed in the same type of container with equal amounts of soil and water
* He gave each of the 5 plants a different type of plant food ranging from most expensive to least expensive
* The height of each plant was measured and recorded at the beginning of the experiment and then daily for 30 days
What essential part of his investigation is missing?
a question
a hypothesis
a control group
a dependent variable (outcome variable)
The graph shows how tall two types of plants grow over a certain number of days. At 20 days, about how tall was the mustard green plant?
30 cm
50 cm
20 cm
60 cm
An experiment was set up to test the hypothesis that all Pokemon evolve faster if they ate a "super biscuit" once per day. Six of the same type of Pokemon were tested, three eating normal food plus a "super biscuit" and three eating only their normal food. All Pokemon followed the same training regiment. Which of the following would improve the experiment?
Add more types of Pokemon
Test one pokemon with a different type of food
Have each pokemon follow a different training regiment
Give all six Pokemon a slice of cake each day
Anthony rolled his favorite toy car (Lightning McQueen) down a ramp to time how long it took the car to reach the bottom. After one trial, he doubled the height of the ramp, added a loop, and painted the ramp with a thick paint. Anthony conducted three more trials and found that the height of the ramp had no effect on the speed of the car rolling down the track.
Which of the following reasons best describes why his conclusion is unsupported?
Anthony miscalculated the speed of Lightning McQueen
Anthony conducted too many trials
He should have used a control group by rolling the tow truck Mater down the ramp also
Too many variables were changed during the investigation
A class of seventh grade students at Okeeheelee Middle School conducted various scientific investigations throughout the year because science is the best and they love science. The following are part of the procedures for different investigations:
1 - Measure the height of a cactus every 24 hours
2 - Count the number of iguanas seen in the park once a day for four weeks
3 - Time how long it takes for three different brands sports drink powder to dissolve and calculate the average
4 - Throw each paper airplane four times and calculate the average distance
Which statement is the BEST example of repetition?
Investigation 1
Investigation 2
Investigation 3
Investigation 4
Sarah is an engineer researching the safety of a new car seat for infants. She plans on conducting an experiment to test the car seat's ability to keep the child safe during a crash. Why is it important to replicate Sarah's experiment?
To compare how safe the car seat is compared to other car seats
To allow other engineers to conduct Sarah's experiment and confirm her results
So other engineers can use Sarah's results as a control group
To meet the minimum safety standards for the car seat
Ralph is observing the position of the moon in the night sky. Using an app on his phone, he tracks the position of the moon every 20 second for six hours using the phone's camera. After tracking the position of the moon for six hours, he shares the data with his friend William Dafoe who is something of a scientist himself. William tells Ralph that while very cool, this was not actually an experiment. Which of the following supports William's claim?
This is not an experiment because there are too many variables
This is not an experiment because no variables are manipulated
This is not an experiment because it only uses predictions about the moon's position
This is not an experiment because only people with expensive, advanced degrees can be scientists
Why is developing a good hypothesis an important step in any scientific investigation?
The hypothesis is the first step of the scientific process
The hypothesis guides the scientist towards the results of the experiment
The hypothesis provides the steps needed to analyze the data from the experiment
The hypothesis provides a prediction about what might happen during the experiment
Garfield wants to determine if adding sugar to his lasagna makes it taste sweeter. He cooked up 4 identical trays of lasagna, adding the following amounts of sugar to each tray: 2 grams, 8 grams, 30 grams, 60 grams. Garfield then has his friend Jon taste each tray and rank the sweetness. He repeated the same experiment with Jon 4 times and recorded the results.
Did the experiment correctly use the scientific method for experimentation?
No, because the amount of sugar was not high enough to change the taste
No, because there no control group in the experiment so a comparison cannot be made
Yes, because there were multiple trials and several test variables (independent variables) that were tested
Yes, because there were multiple trials and all the trays of lasagna had some change in sweetness
Walt is a mouse enthusiast (he really likes mice). He wants to test which color mousetrap attracts the most mice. He sets up 4 identical traps in areas with similar amounts of mice, but each colored differently: One yellow, one red, one blue, and one green. Walt records the number of mice that go into each trap over a period of 15 days. What is the test variable (independent variable) in this experiment?
Performing the experiment for multiple days
The size of the mouse traps
Color of the mouse traps
Number of mice that go into the traps
Chase wants to try out for his middle baseball team, and is researching baseballs to practice with. He is curious if the weight of the baseball will affect the speed he can hit it. He buys 5 different baseballs with different weights, and has his dad use a speed sensor to measure the final speed of his hits. He uses the same bat on all 5 baseballs and records the final speeds.
What is the dependent variable (outcome variable) in Chase's experiment?
The weight of the balls used
The speed sensor
The speed he can swing the bat
The speed of the baseball
Bob loves to grow tomatoes in his garden. He notices that one of the plant foods makes his tomatoes grow faster than the others. Which of the following is the most important step if he wants to conduct an experiment to see if his observation is true?
Researching how to grow tomatoes
Keeping a detailed record of his observations
Use the newest gardening app on his smartphone to help his investigation
Determining how often to measure tomato growth
Neil is an engineer who works at NASA. His team is about to test launch a new rocket while Neil and the team watch from a safe distance. Neil tells the coworker next to him "We're making great progress, but I think this rocket will fail like the last one."
Why would Neil's statement be considered as a scientific prediction?
Neil made this statement based on a body of empirical evidence
Neil made this statement to fellow scientists
Neil was correct about the last rocket failing
Neil is considered an expert, so any of his statements about the subject should be considered as a scientific prediction
Bardi C wants to win a paper airplane competition. To prepare, she decides to conduct an experiment to determine if adding a small amount of weight to the front of the paper airplanes will make them fly further. She uses 5 identical airplanes — One with no added weight, and several others with differing amounts of paper clips added to the front of the plane.
Why would it be beneficial for Bardi C to have a few other people throw the airplanes?
To make sure other people who might have different throwing techniques still get the same results
So that other people can make their own paper airplanes to check Bardi C’s results
To have the other people use different items to add weight to the paper airplanes
Other people might be better at creating charts and tables to display the data
The higher the temperature of the air in an oven, the faster a cake bakes.
Type of oven
Control Variable
Time it takes to bake a cake
Dependent Variable
Temperature of oven
Independent Variable
The independent variable, also known as the (a) , is found on the (b) of a graph. The dependent variable, also known as the (c) , is found on the (d) of a graph.
Match the following
examine data or observations methodically in detail in order to explain or interpret.
analyze
evidence; information gathered from observations
data
a procedure carried out to gather data about an object or event
investigation
A summary based on evidence or facts
conclusion
A research method in which an investigator manipulates one independent variable to observe the effect on a dependent variable.
experiment
During a school science fair, Abigail is conducting an experiment to see if sunlight affects the growth of plants. What is the primary goal of Abigail's experimental design?
To prove her hypothesis correct
To collect as much data as possible
To test her hypothesis under controlled conditions
To use complex equipment
In an experiment to determine the effect of sunlight on plant growth, what is the significance of the amount of sunlight?
It is the variable that is measured to determine its effect on the growth of the plant
It is the variable that the researcher manipulates to observe its effect on the growth of the plant
It is the variable that remains unchanged throughout the experiment
It is a variable that is not important to the experiment
In 1747, a doctor named James Lind was working to find a cure for a disease called scurvy. He questioned many sailors and realized that despite living together on the same ship for many months, not all of them would contract the disease. The biggest difference between them was their diet and some homemade remedies they tried. He believed that one or more of the treatments were successful, he just needed to narrow it down. He decided to take 12 men suffering from similar symptoms of scurvy, group them into six pairs, and administer the following treatments:
Group 1: An additional half a pint of water per day
Group 2: 25 drops of a sulfuric acid solution, three times per day
Group 3: A quart of cider per day
Group 4: A paste of garlic, mustard, horseradish, balsam, and gum myrrh.
Group 5: Two spoonfuls of vinegar, three times a day.
Group 6: Two oranges and a lemon per day.
Otherwise, the sailors ate the same foods, slept and worked the same number of hours, and lived in similar conditions. Within a week, the sailors who were eating oranges and lemons had recovered. The other groups showed no change. Identify each of the following parts of this experiment:
Whether the sailors recovered from scurvy.
Dependent Variable
All other foods were the same, same sleep schedule, same work hours.
Controlled Variables
The results support the hypothesis that ingesting citrus fruits will prevent and treat scurvy.
conclusion
Peer review. Others should look over the experiment for errors/bias and try to replicate it themselves.
next step
Scientists frequently replicate experiments of other scientists. Why is this important?
Replication of experiments helps confirm/verify results.
Scientists frequently perform other scientists' experiments in order to practice their technique.
Scientists often ask each other for help when performing experiments.
Replicating experiments is an effective way of making sure a laboratory is in optimal condition.
Ava has done an experiment to find out whether the type of music a person listens to while doing math problems affects their accuracy. She found that people performed better on math problems while listening to classical music. She gave her notes to Rebecca, who did the same experiment with very similar results. Which term describes Rebecca's experiment?
plagiarism
replication
pseudoscience
repetition
Marine scientists measured the speed at which fish swam in water of different temperatures. All fish were of the same species and the water quality was kept constant.
Independent variable
Water temperature
Dependent variable
Fish swimming speed
Control variables
Fish species and water quality
If an animal shelter wants to see if a certain dog food causes a dog to gain weight, which of the following would NOT be a constant?
Type of dog food given
Amount of dog good given
Time of day food is given
Amount of exercise dog is given
Students conducted an experiment to see which type of container would keep ice the longest. They conducted 5 trials and recorded the average time it took the ice to melt when stored at room temperature in each of the containers. Match the parts of the experiment
independent variable
the type of container
dependent variable
amount of time it takes to melt
constants
amount of ice and temperature stored
Match the following vocab
Dependent Variable
the variable that changes in response
Independent Variable
what is being tested
Control Variable
factors that are kept the same
