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Name: ______________________
Date: _______________________
Scientific Method
C
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Cola
Conclusion
Data table
Electromagnet
Experiment
Experimental method
Fertilizer
Hypothesis
Laundry detergent
Laundry soap
Maze
Observe
Plywood
Question
Research
Results
Scientific Method
Variable
Scientific Method C - Page 2
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Recap
RECAP
1. To the best of your ability, fill in the
diagram below on the Scientific Method.
Scientific Method C - Page 3
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2. To the best of your ability, define the
words below.
Research:
3. A student wanted to perform an
experiment to see which of aluminum or
steel shark cage could resist being bitten
through by a Great White shark. The
student obtained 2 of each shark cages and hired divers with
the exact same equipment to go into the cages in waters
infested with Great White sharks.
In the space below, create a data table for this experiment.
Scientific Method C - Page 4
RECAP
Conclusion(s):
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4. To the best of your ability, write what should be
found in each section of the experimental method.
I observe:
RECAP
I develop a research question:
I define the variables:
Scientific Method C - Page 5
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I experiment:
I analyze my results and present them.
Scientific Method C - Page 6
RECAP
I collect the data (results):
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THE SITUATION
There are several science stories on the next few pages.
Work in a group, go over each of the stories and answer
the questions to the best of your ability.
SpongeBob Squarepants decided that he wanted to make
Bikini-Bottom beautiful with new plants. He felt that if he
gave these plants fertilizer, they would grow nice and tall. He decided
to have 2 groups (A & B) of plants. He gave Groups A plants Supergro
Fertilizer. However, he did not give Group B any fertilizer. At the end
of the month,SpongeBob noticed that the plants given Supergro
Fertilizer grew an extra 20 cm.
1. What is SpongeBob’s hypothesis?
Stephanie conducted an experiment to determine if the
colour of a maze would affect the time it took for a
mouse to learn to run through it. She constructed 5
identical plywood mazes. She painted them white, yellow,
red, blue, and green. She purchased 10 young mice at a local pet
store. She ran 2 mice through each maze until the mice could run
through the maze twice without making an error. She then compared
the number of runs it took the mice in each colour to learn the path.
1. What variable is Stephanie changing in her experiment?
Scientific Method C - Page 7
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SpongeBob Clean Pants
1. What is wrong with this experiment?
Krusty was told that a certain itching powder was the
newest and best thing on the market; it even claims to
cause 50% longer lasting itches. Interested in this
product, he buys the itching powder and compares it to
his usual product. Test Subject A is sprinkled with the
original itching powder and test Subject B is sprinkled
with the experimental itching powder. Subject A reported having
itches for 30 minutes. Subject B reported having itches for 45
minutes.
2. What is wrong with this experiment?
3. If you had to do this experiment, how would you improve the
procedure to make it better?
Scientific Method C - Page 8
THE SITUATION
SpongeBob noticed that his favourite 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 soap 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.
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Super Bubbles
THE SITUATION
Patrick and SpongeBob love to blow
bubbles! Patrick found some Super
Bubble Soap at Sail-Mart. The ads
claim that Super Bubble Soap will
produce bubbles that are twice as big as
bubbles made with regular bubble soap.
Patrick and SpongeBob made up two
samples of Bubble solution. One sample
was made with 50 ml of Super Bubble
Soap and 50 ml of water and the other
was made with the same amount of
water and 50 ml regular bubble soap.
Patrick and SpongeBob used their
favourite bubble wands to blow 10
different bubbles and did their best to
measure the diameter of each one.
Bubbles
Super
Bubble
Bubble
1
15 cm
2
10 cm
3
12 cm
4
18 cm
5
22 cm
6
13 cm
7
16 cm
8
18 cm
9
15 cm
10
12 cm
The results are shown in the table.
1. Does Super Bubble make larger bubbles than regular soap?
YES
NO
2. Explain your reasoning.
Scientific Method C - Page 9
Regular
Soap
10 cm
5 cm
16 cm
14 cm
11 cm
12 cm
11 cm
15 cm
15 cm
6 cm
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Sara and Michael tested
electromagnets to see if the size of
the wire they used would make the
magnets stronger.
They selected 6 steel nails of the same
size to make the magnets. Using 6
different sizes of insulated wire, they
each nail was hooked to 2 D cell
batteries to make electromagnets.
The strength of each magnet was
tested by counting the number of paper clips which could be
picked up by the magnet.
The nail becomes a magnet and
has a north and south pole while
the battery is connected.
1. In the space below, create a data table for this experiment.
Scientific Method C - Page 10
THE SITUATION
put 50 turns around each nail. Then
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THE SITUATION
Which of Brand A or Brand B laundry
detergent work best for grass stains?
Paul thinks that Brand A detergent will
work best because it costs more, and
when you pay more, you expect a
better product.
For similar loads with grass stains, he uses the same amount of
detergent and the same washing time. He does 2 trial runs. After
reviewing the results of his experiment, he believes that his
original presumption was incorrect.
Paul went under the presumption that
items that cost more are better
products. Today, Paul found that testing
products can pay off.
% of Stain Removed
Brand Trial 1 Trial 2
A
25
30
B
50
60
1. Why do you think that Paul’s original assumption is incorrect? Explain
your reasoning.
Scientific Method C - Page 11
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Patty Power
He recruits 100 customers with a history of gas problems. He
has 50 of them (Group A) eat crabby patties with the new
sauce. The other 50 (Group B) eat crabby patties with sauce
that looks like the new sauce but it is really just a mixture
of mayonnaise and food colouring. Both groups are told that
they are getting the sauce that will reduce gas production.
Two hours after eating the crabby patties, 30 customers in
Group A report having fewer gas problems and 8 customers in
Group B report having fewer gas problems.
1. What conclusions can you draw from Mr. Krab’s experiment?
Explain your reasoning.
Scientific Method C - Page 12
THE SITUATION
Mr Krab wants to make Bikini Bottom a
nicer place to live. He has created a new
sauce that he thinks will reduce the production of body gas
associated with eating crabby patties from the Krust Krab.
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Review Questions
1. Lucy noticed that her friend’s cat was getting slim. “Is giving
less cat food to the cat responsible for this change?” she
wondered. Lucy decided to design an experiment to see if the amount of
cat food a cat eats influences its shape.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
If a cat is fed less food than it is used to, then the size of its abdomen
(belly) should decrease. Lucy first measured the abdomen of 3 cats and
instructed their owners to give them 150 ml of cat food twice a day. Lucy
also measured the abdomen of 3 other cats and instructed their owners
to give them 110 ml of cat food twice a day. Here are the measurements
before and after the experiment.
Amount of food
150 ml twice a
day
110 ml twice a
day
Cat’s names
Abdomen-start
Abdomen-after a month
Kitty
53 cm
53 cm
Felix
50 cm
49 cm
Maxou
55 cm
55 cm
Nikky
49 cm
47 cm
Minou
52 cm
49 cm
Gadou
54 cm
51 cm
What conclusions can you draw from Lucy’s experiment (What
did Lucy’s experiment show)? Explain your reasoning.
Scientific Method C - Page 13
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2. Shane thought that all colas tasted the same, but her friends
seemed to have favourite brands. She decided to see if people
could really taste the difference between brands of cola. She
purchased 2 liter bottles of Coke, Pepsi and a generic brand at
the local grocery store. She got 10 of her friends together at
her house for the test.
They were then given three unmarked cups of the different colas to
taste. Each cup contained 50 ml of cola. Shane recorded the number
of her friends who actually picked the cola they said was their
favourite.
In the space below, create a data table for this experiment.
3. The higher the temperature of water, the faster an egg will boil.
How would you design an experiment to see if this is true? Use
the space below to jot down your answer.
Scientific Method C - Page 14
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Before the test, each person was asked which cola they preferred.
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GOING FURTHER
Hair Growth.
Write down a detailed procedure on how you would test the hair
growing potential of Rogooti.
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
 ___________________________________________
Materials needed: _____________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
OING
GOING FURTHER
Lisa is working on a science project. “Does
Rogooti, a commercial hair product, affect the
speed of hair growth?” Her family will volunteer
for the experiment.
Scientific Method C - Page 15