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WorksheetsFSSA NOS Scientific Method Concepts (SC.8.N.1.1)
Total questions: 16
Worksheet time: 8mins
Scientists do many types of work. Their work often includes making field observations, conducting surveys, creating models, and carrying out experiments. Which description characterizes an experiment?
A. observation of plants or animals in their natural environment
B. physical or mathematical representation of an object or process
C. an organized procedure to study something under controlled conditions
D. collection of data from the unregulated world for comparative purposes
Colleen waters the plants in her greenhouse once everyday. She wants to find out if the plants will grow more leaves if they are watered more often. She counts the number of leaves on each plant before she starts. She then continues to water half of each type of plant once daily, but she waters the other half of each type twice a day. What is the outcome variable (dependent variable)?
the type of plant being grown
the number of leaves the plant grows
the amount of light the plant receives
the number of time the plants are watered
Christy wants to find out if the birds that visit the bird feeders in her backyard would rather build nests in birdhouses or in trees. She puts a birdhouse next to the feeder container sunflower seeds and hangs a feeder containing cracked corn from a tree. She observes the birds’ nesting activities over the next two weeks and records her observations. Which of the following would improve Christy’s investigation?
Putting more food next to both bird feeders
Setting the feeders up closer to each other
Putting the same kind of food in both bird feeders
Setting up a third bird feeder containing fruit near a bird bath
Lee wants to make sure she understands the components of a good science investigation. She knows that it should be controlled and have a large sample size. Also, she thinks that the results should be communicated to other scientists. Which is another component that is necessary for a good investigation?
It must be able to be replicated by other scientists.
It must be run by a university scientist.
It must be done with expensive equipment.
It must be conducted in a big lab
Students conducted several investigations this year. The following statements were taken from the procedures that they used. Which statement is the BEST example of replication? Investigation
Statement 1. Serena does her experiment five times to verify her results
2. Josh and Pete collect additional data to verify their results.
3. Wanda and Jose conduct an experiment that their class designed.
4. Teddy does Nicky’s experiment to see if he gets the same results.
1
2
3
4
Mandy wanted to see if a new environmentally-friendly pesticide will prevent insect damage to tomato plants. After making a hypothesis, she conducts her experiment. She treats five tomato plants with traditional pesticide and five with the new pesticide. Mandy also leaves five plants untreated as a control. She makes careful notes of how she set up her experiment and then records her data about all of the plants. Why is it important for Mandy to record her procedures and data accurately?
so that the hypothesis will always be correct
so that she can look intelligent when she presents her data
so that other scientists can replicate the experiment to make sure the results were accurate
so that society does not waste money buying pesticides that don’t work
Alex and Jennifer conducted an experiment to test reaction times in grabbing a meter stick after it’s dropped. They each tested 15 friends. Alex dropped the meter stick for his friends and Jennifer dropped the meter stick for her friends while the other one timed the reactions. Jennifer’s friends reacted, on average 0.9 seconds faster than Alex’s friends. Jennifer concluded that her friends were faster. Which of the following should she do next to check her results?
Try a different reaction time experiment
Try the experiment again, this time using a ruler instead of a meter stick
Repeat the experiment as it was done the first time but using only Jennifer’s friends
Repeat the experiment and have one person drop the meter stick and the other take record the times for all the friends tested
A physicist wants to examine the characteristics of a new material. The physicist will most likely do so by what method?
The physicist perform laboratory experiments.
The physicist will perform fieldwork in a remote location.
The physicist will survey a group of people.
The physicists will make observations of an ecosystem.
Francesca creates a model that shows the movements of the tectonic plates of Earth’s surface. If she wants to use the model to understand the concept of how a mountain is formed, how does that model help her?
It shows all of the plates in their correct layout
It speeds up a process that takes millions of years
It displays details that cannot be seen in a drawing
It explains in detail how mountains are formed
A paleontologist who is trying to figure out if a meteor impact killed all the dinosaurs would not be able to find an answer by setting up an experiment. Which of the following would be the BEST way for a paleontologist to approach this problem?
search for dinosaur fossils in many places and note where the fossils stop appearing in the rock layers at each location
study the evidence a meteor impact leaves in a rock layer, then look for that evidence in the layers of rock that formed after those layers with dinosaur fossils
wait for a very large meteor to hit Earth again and see which kinds of animals are killed by it
study similar kinds of disasters that result in large animals becoming extinct, like an oil spill
What is one characteristic of scientific laws?
Scientific laws are constantly being developed, revised, or discarded.
Scientific laws describe results that scientists expect every time certain conditions are met.
Scientific laws were made to be broken.
Scientific laws explain different results for the same repeated experiment.
Historically, many ideas concerning cells have been proven and incorporated into the cell theory. Which of the following is NOT part of the cell theory?
A. All life forms contain more than one cell.
B. All organisms are composed of cells
C. All cells come from pre-existing cells.
D. The cell is the smallest form of life.
In science, a theory is different from how we use the term “theory” to apply to everyday ideas. The statement “It’s only a theory” might mean something very different than “theory” when used as a scientific term. What is the BEST way to explain the word, “theory” when used in science?
In science, there is no difference between a law and a theory.
In science, there are few principles that can be considered theories.
In science, a theory is well supported by observations and/or experimental data.
In science, a theory is a completely accurate and reliable fact about natural events.
Kathleen diagrams how scientific knowledge changes over time. She draws a flowchart similar to the one below. Which word or phrase would BEST fill in the blank?
Scientific idea --> new data + __________ --> modified idea
Debate
Change Data
Scientific Law
Form an opinion
Susan noticed that hummingbirds in her yard visited all the flowers, but especially seemed to like the red trumpet-shaped ones. She read that they use the nectar in the flowers for food. She assumed that since the parents were eating nectar, they must feed their babies nectar as well. To her surprise she saw hummingbirds bringing small insects and spiders to feed the young hummingbirds.
How does this new evidence affect her original assumption?
She should be able to stick to her assumption that the babies eat nectar since she thought that first.
She should believe what she read in the book and disregard what she witnessed.
She should ask other people what they think and agree with the majority.
She should change her original assumption that they only feed their babies nectar.
A scientist has been studying bullfrogs for many years. She has noticed that these bullfrogs are now laying eggs 8 days earlier than they did 20 years ago when she first began studying them. The trees around the pond have also grown taller and shade the water more than they did 20 years ago.
What would be the BEST thing for the scientist to do next?
See if she can determine why they are laying eggs earlier.
Choose a different species of frog to study for the next twenty years.
Conclude that the changed tree heights have affected the frogs.
Assume that the water temperature must have risen so frogs can lay eggs earlier.
