Lake Stevens Middle School
Summer 2016 Packet
FUTURE 6th Graders
In an effort to prepare you for the 2016-2017
school year, attached are exercises regarding
experiments which you are to complete on a
separate sheet of paper and turn in during the
first week of school.
Thank you
Name
Date
Class
Doing Experiments
On a separate sheet of paper, explain the various kinds of research that scientists do to
answer a question or solve a problem.
Name
Date
Class
Doing Experiments
Understanding Main Ideas
Answer the following questions in the spaces provided. Use a separate sheet of paper if
you need more room.
1. What are the steps of the scientific inquiry process? ______________________________________
2. Why is a controlled experiment valuable to a scientist? ____________________________________
3. In what circumstances do scientists use observational research and
opinion-based research? ____________________________________________________________
Building Vocabulary
Match each term with its definition by writing the letter of the correct definition in the
right column on the line beside the term in the left column.
4. ___ scientific inquiry
5. ___ hypothesis
a. one variable that is changed to test a hypothesis
b. factor that may change in response to the independent
variable
6. ___ variables
c. the facts, figures, and other evidence gathered through
qualitative and quantitative observations
7. ___ independent variable
d. the diverse ways in which scientists study the natural
world and propose explanations based on evidence
8. ___ dependent variable
e. a possible answer to a scientific question
9. ___ controlled experiment
f.
10. ___ data
an experiment in which only one variable is manipulated
at a time
g. factors that can affect the result of an experiment
Name
Date
Class
Doing Experiments
Many important discoveries have been made by scientists who persisted in their work
despite a series of experiments that resulted in “failure” or unanswered questions. Read
the passage. Then answer the questions that follow in the spaces provided.
Discovery Through Experiments
During the 1920s, Alexander Fleming worked in an English laboratory, searching for a substance to fight
dangerous bacterial infections. After designing and conducting many experiments, Fleming discovered
a natural enzyme produced by the human body. However, this enzyme was not powerful enough to kill
the most powerful bacteria.
Several years later, Fleming stumbled on a far more important discovery. He observed several Petri
dishes in the laboratory sink with mold growing on them. One Petri dish in particular drew Fleming’s
attention, because a section of mold was surrounded by an area in which the staph bacteria had been
killed. Fleming took a sample of the mold, analyzed it, identified that it belonged to the penicillium
family, and published his results in 1929. While, the report did not provoke much interest in the scientific
community, Fleming continued to study the mold, eventually passing the work on to chemists and mold
specialists who continued doing research until World War II. Then, two scientists named Ernst Chain
and Howard Florey did experiments showing that penicillin was able to destroy many serious infections.
These experiments led to the development of medicine’s first widely used antibiotic. Fleming, Chain, and
Florey were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.
1. What question or problem was Alexander Fleming investigating at
first?
2. What observation led him to a new set of experiments?
3. What steps did Fleming take to develop his research?
4. What can you learn about the nature of scientific inquiry from the
fact that Ernst Chain and Howard Florey were vital to the successful
discovery of penicillin?