H1_Study_Design
Vickie and her friend Shayna want to figure out how to study in order to get the best
grades.
Using their variables and choices, design an experiment that will let you know whether
the time of day has an effect on grades using the table below:
Variables
Time of Day
Location
With Someone
else?
Choices
Vickie
Shayna
After School /
Before Bed
At a desk /
On the couch
Yes /
Alone
Explain why you set up your experiment like you did:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H1_Study_Analyze:
Vickie and her friend Shayna want to figure out how to study in order to get the best
grades. They set up the following experiment:
Variables
Choices
Vickie
Shayna
Time of Day
After School /
Before Bed
After School
After School
At a desk
On the couch
Yes
Yes
Location
With
someone else?
At a desk /
On the couch
Yes /
Alone
This IS a good experiment.
In this experiment, what are Vickie and Shayla trying to learn about?
______________________________
Explain your answer:______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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H1_Study_Eval:
Vickie and her friend Shayna want to figure out how to study in order to get the best
grades. They want to see if studying with someone else makes a difference:
They set up the experiment shown on the computer. First, circle the choices for Vickie
and Shayna given on the computer screen.
Variable
Vickie
Time of Day
After
School
Location
At a desk
With
someone else?
Yes
Shayna
Before Bed
After
School
Before Bed
On the
couch
At a desk
On the
couch
Alone
Yes
Alone
Is this a good experiment to see if studying with someone else makes a difference?
YES
NO
Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H2_General_Design:
Suppose you were visiting a different planet and the aliens wanted to know how
Earthlings design good experiments. They don’t speak English, so you have to show
them using symbols to represent different variables and choices. For example, the first
variable is represented by the circle and the choices are dark and light.
1) First, indicate the variable(s) you want to test.
2) Then, complete the table by using the rules of designing a good experiment.
Variables
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Choices
Group 1
4
Group 2
H2_General_Explain:
How would you explain the rules for designing any good experiment to someone who did
not know how to?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H3_Run_Design:
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
know whether the time of day affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will each run
once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
Before they run, they can either drink water or Gatorade. They can run wearing either
sandals or running shoes. They can run on concrete or on grass. And they can run either
in the morning or in the evening.
Using the table below, set up a good experiment.
Variables
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Choices
Phillip
6
Paul
H3_Run_Eval:
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
know whether the kind of shoe they wear affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will
each run once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
Before they run, they can either drink soda or Gatorade. They can run wearing either
sandals or sneakers. They can run on concrete or on sand. And they can run either in the
morning or at night.
Set up the same experiment shown on the computer by circling the choices in the table
below…
Phillip
soda
Paul
Gatorade
sandals
concrete
sneakers
sand
morning night
soda
Gatorade
sandals
concrete
sneakers
sand
morning night
Is this a good experiment?______________
Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
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H3_Run_Eval_SC:
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
determine if the surface they run on affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will each
run once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
They decided that Phillip would drink soda, wear sandals, run on concrete, and run at
night. Paul would drink soda, wear sneakers, run on sand, and run at night
Is this a good experiment?______________
Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H3_Run_Eval_NC/ENG(w/in):
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
determine if the surface they run on affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will each
run once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
They decided that Phillip would drink Gatorade, wear sneakers, run on concrete, and run
in the morning. Paul would drink Gatorade, wear sneakers, run on concrete, and run in
the morning.
Is this a good experiment?______________
Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H3_Run_Eval_CVS:
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
determine if the surface they run on affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will each
run once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
They decided that Phillip would drink soda, wear sandals, run on concrete, and run at
night. Paul would drink soda, wear sandals, run on sand, and run at night.
Is this a good experiment?______________
Why or why not?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H3_Run_Eval_CVS_WV:
Phillip and Paul are identical twin brothers who are equally fast runners. They want to
determine if the surface they run on affects how fast they run. Phillip and Paul will each
run once and then they will compare how fast they ran.
They decided that Phillip would drink soda, wear sandals, run on concrete, and run at
night. Paul would drink soda, wear sneakers, run on concrete, and run at night.
Is this a good experiment?______________
Why or why not?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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H4_Bball_Design
In the space below, design an experiment below to show whether girls or boys are better
at shooting basketballs. You can decide how far away from the hoop they can shoot
(either 10 feet or 15 feet), and you can decide when to test them (either before or after
school).
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H4_Bball_Eval:
Janet, who is a science whiz, wanted to answer a question about basketball, but she won’t
tell you what her question is. But you do know how she designed her experiment…
She asked a group of 5th-grade kids to shoot a basketball from 15 feet from the basket
before school one day.
The next day before school, she asked a group of 8th-graders to shoot from 15 feet away
from the basket.
What was Janet trying to find out from her experiment?___________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
How can you tell?_________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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H4_Bball_Eval:
Chris wanted to see if girls or boys were better at shooting basketballs.
Before school, he asked a group of girls to shoot from 15 feet from the basket. He found
that the girls made 50% of their shots.
After school, he asked a group of boys to shoot from 10 feet away. He found that the
boys made 75% of their shots.
Chris concluded that boys were better at shooting basketballs than girls.
a) What question was Chris trying to answer?________________________________
b) Was the experiment that he ran a good experiment?
Yes
No
c) Why or Why not?______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
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H5_Restaurant_Eval:
Barry wants to see whether people like to listen to rock music or classical music when
they eat lunch. So he asked his friend, who works at a restaurant, to play classical music
in one room of the restaurant and rock music in the other room. The two rooms are
identical.
Barry sat in the room playing classical music and counted the number of people who
came in to eat there from noon to 1:00.
Then he sat in the room playing rock music and counted the number of people who came
in to eat there between 1:00 and 2:00.
Barry found that 30 people ate in the room with classical music and only 20 people ate in
the room with rock music. He concluded that people prefer to listen to classical music
when they eat lunch.
Was Barry’s experiment good?
Yes
No
Why or why not?__________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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H6_carts
The diagrams show different trials Abdul carried out with carts having different-sized
wheels. He started them from different heights and the blocks he put in them were of
equal mass.
He wants to test this idea: The heavier a cart is, the greater its speed at the bottom of a
ramp.
Which three trials should he compare?
a) A, E, H
d) D, E, F
b) B, E, I
e) D, G, H
c) C, F, I
Explain your choice:_______________________________________________________
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