Bubble Gum Lab: The Study of the Scientific Method
You will be reminded of the steps of the scientific method through
participating in a fun lab involving bubble gum! You will be studying
the properties of different types of bubble gum. You will be asked to
hypothesize, collect and organize data, use scientific measurement, and
differentiate between qualitative and quantitative data.
Background/Introduction:
What do you already know about bubble gum?
What else might you want to know about bubble gum before you are
able to ask a good question and make a prediction?
http://www.gumassociation.org/index.cfm/facts-figures/fun-facts-about-gum/
http://betteroralhealth.info/orbit_irish/about-wrigley/fun-facts/index.htm
Materials
2 small pieces of wax paper (or a piece of parafilm), 1 meter long piece of string, 1 meter stick
2 different pieces of bubble gum labeled A and B, And ??
PART I: teacher needs to have at least 3 teams doing the same question for part 2
Problem Ideas:
Step 1: Brain storm on overhead/white board/computer display the ideas students come up with—i.e.
Do all brands of bubble gum make BIG bubbles?
Are some better at making larger bubbles than others?
How does gum stretch-ability relate to bubble size?
Step 2: Have student teams record in their lab notebooks a question that is of interest to the team and within
our means in the classroom, stress that students need to keep in mind…
*their team must be able to collect observations within 30 minutes or at home with digital
documentation (photo/video)
*with the materials listed above or those you can bring from home
 can tie in the concept of our limitations of technology, money, and other constraints to real research
Step 3: Have students break into groups of 2-3 student teams and choose one question- record which teams are
doing which questions
Step 4: Teacher checks that students have selected and recorded a question. Give students 5 to 10 minutes to
explore background links and discuss bubble gum hypotheses- discuss links and expectation in found below in
bold.
Hypothesis: record your prediction TO THE QUESTION you picked from above- for this lab we will use the
IF, THEN, BECAUSE format.
If (what are you going to manipulate- what is the changing factor), THEN (what do you predict will
happen when you manipulate this), BECAUSE (why do you think that will happen- what life
experiences about bubble gum or those that you research, make you decide on your prediction).
Members of the same team DO NOT need to have the same prediction, in fact- stress that
the “BECAUSE” portion of this statements should be different for each student within a
team.
Modified by C.Malone from original source: Brad Bauer, ROCORI High School, Cold Spring, MN, Based on the original lab designed by Sarah
Crandall of Sartell High School.
Procedure:
Step 5: Reference students to the lab format and guidelines sheet. Review components. Engage class as a
whole in a discussion of the following questions
What are some controlled variables to consider?
Is it possible to have a control group? What’s the difference?
How will you organize your data?
Review Qualitative vs. Quantitative Observations
Step 6: Make a table or chart with labeled rows and columns to record your information.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/145309536/01---Lab-03---Bubble-Gum-Lab# (chart examples)
Incorporate within your table or chart both Qualitative AND Quantitative observations- for example:
Record steps of your procedure with enough detail that someone else can repeat your
experiment and get similar results.
BE EXTREMELY specific. Have one team member write out the steps and have another team member read it
and try to do the experiment (WITHOUT talking to each other). Was there any points of confusion? Was
clarification needed? IF YES- add in the details that were missing. You need to consider specific amounts,
brands, and approach.
PART 2: Peer Review – Is it really working?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1420798/
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21588057-scientists-think-science-self-correcting-alarming-degree-it-not-trouble
NOTE: ABSOLUTELY NO TALKING BETWEEN TEAMS at this stage
If you have a question ask your teacher for help
Bring to your teacher the lab notebook that your team believes has the clearest instructions (ie. best
handwriting, incorporated flowcharts OR images). The teacher will exchange your notebook with that from
another team that investigated the same question. Using their instructions you are going to try to repeat their
experiment and check if you can get similar results. Record your data within your own lab notebooks, minus
the person who had to give up their notebook (they are excused from recording data from this step of the
experiment).
If you have questions while following the procedure from the other team confusion about
their steps used in their methods you need to add a post-it to the other team’s lab procedure
what your question was AND how you handled or interpreted the procedure.
Results:
Data Table 1: Using EXCEL create a data table and graph for Part 1 data.
Data Table 2: Using EXCEL design a data table for the combined groups’ data (don’t forget a title/units).
Engage whole group in discussion of lab format guidelines again- with specific discussion on these questions:
What goes on the x-axis, y-axis?
Will this be a line or bar graph? How do you know which type of graph to use?
For conclusions- refer to your lab format guidelines sheet- A-E.
Modified by C.Malone from original source: Brad Bauer, ROCORI High School, Cold Spring, MN, Based on the original lab designed by Sarah
Crandall of Sartell High School.
Lab HOMEWORK Questions:
1. List 5 variables that may affect/ or did affect the outcome of this experiment.
2. How would you improve this lab?
(Name some procedural steps/controls/etc. that you would use to make this a more stringent lab)
3. How is qualitative data different from quantitative data?
4. Were SI (International System of Units) units used in this lab? Explain.
Lab HOMEWORK Questions:
1. List 5 variables that may affect/ or did affect the outcome of this experiment.
2. How would you improve this lab?
(Name some procedural steps/controls/etc. that you would use to make this a more stringent lab)
3. How is qualitative data different from quantitative data?
4. Were SI (International System of Units) units used in this lab? Explain.
Lab HOMEWORK Questions:
1. List 5 variables that may affect/ or did affect the outcome of this experiment.
2. How would you improve this lab?
(Name some procedural steps/controls/etc. that you would use to make this a more stringent lab)
3. How is qualitative data different from quantitative data?
4. Were SI (International System of Units) units used in this lab? Explain.
Lab HOMEWORK Questions:
1. List 5 variables that may affect/ or did affect the outcome of this experiment.
2. How would you improve this lab?
(Name some procedural steps/controls/etc. that you would use to make this a more stringent lab)
3. How is qualitative data different from quantitative data?
4. Were SI (International System of Units) units used in this lab? Explain.
Modified by C.Malone from original source: Brad Bauer, ROCORI High School, Cold Spring, MN, Based on the original lab designed by Sarah
Crandall of Sartell High School.