Scientific Inquiry with SpongeBob
Name:
Part 1
SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom pals have been busy doing a little research. Read the
description for each experiment and answer the questions.
1 - Patty Power
Mr. Krabs wants to make Bikini Bottoms 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 Krusty Krab. 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 just like new sauce
but is really just mixture of mayonnaise and food coloring. Both groups were told
that they were getting the sauce that would reduce gas production. Two hours after
eating the crabby patties, 30 customers in group A reported having fewer gas
problems and 8 customers in group B reported having fewer gas problems.
A) Which people are in the control group?
GROUP B IS THE CONTROL GROUP BECAUSE THEY RECEIVED NO “SPECIAL”
SAUCE BUT WERE STILL GIVEN A SAUCE TO TEST MR. KRAB’S HYPOTHESIS.
B) What is the independent variable?
THE INDEPENDENT (MANIPULATED) VARIABLE IS THE TYPE OF SAUCE
(“SPECIAL” SAUCE AND FAKE SAUCE).
C) What is the dependent variable?
THE DEPENDENT (RESPONDING) VARIABLE IS THE AMOUNT OF GAS
EXPERIENCED BY THE CUSTOMERS.
D) What should Mr. Krabs’ conclusion be?
BASED ON 30 OUT OF 50 (60%) CUSTOMERS FEELING LESS GAS IN THE
“SPECIAL” SAUCE GROUP (A), MR. KRAB’S COULD CONCLUDE THE NEW SAUCE
WORKS.
E) Why do you think 8 people in group B reported feeling better?
THE EIGHT PEOPLE FROM GROUP B THAT DID NOT RECEIVE THE NEW
“SPECIAL” SAUCE MAY HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THE PLACEBO EFFECT,
WHICH OCCURS WHEN SOMEONE BELIEVES TO BE “CURED” THOUGH THEY DID
NOT RECEIVE AN ACTUAL “TREATMENT” FOR AN AILMENT.
2 – Slimotosis
Sponge Bob notices that his pal Gary is suffering from slimotosis, which occurs
when the shell develops a nasty slime and gives off a horrible odor. His friend
Patrick tells him that rubbing seaweed on the shell is the perfect cure, while
Sandy says that drinking Dr. Kelp will be a better cure. Sponge Bob decides to
test this cure by rubbing Gary with seaweed for 1 week and having him drink Dr.
Kelp. After a week of treatment, the slime is gone and Gary’s shell smells better.
A) What was the initial observation?
THE INTIAL OBSERVATION IS THAT GARY HAS SLIMOTOSIS.
B) What is the independent variable?
THE INDEPENDENT (MANIPULATED) VARIABLE IS THE TYPE OF TREATMENT
(SEAWEED AND DR. KELP)
C) What is the dependent variable?
THE DEPENDENT (RESPONDING) VARIABLE IS WHETHER OR NOT THERE IS
STILL SLIMOTOSIS ON GARY’S SHELL.
D) What should Sponge Bob’s conclusion be?
WHILE THE SLIMOTOSIS IS GONE, THERE IS NO WAY TO TELL IF IT WAS THE
SEAWEED OR THE DR.KELP THAT CAUSED THE SLIMOTOSIS TO GO AWAY.
Scientific Inquiry with SpongeBob
Name:
3 – Marshmallow Muscles
Larry was told that a certain muscle cream was the newest best thing on
the market and claims to double a person’s muscle power when used as
part of a muscle-building workout. Interested in this product, he buys the
special muscle cream and recruits Patrick and SpongeBob to help him with
an experiment. Larry develops a special marshmallow weight-lifting
program for Patrick and SpongeBob. He meets with them
once every day for a period of 2 weeks and keeps track
Time
Patrick
of their results. Before each session Patrick’s arms and
back are lathered in the muscle cream, while Sponge
Initial
18
Amount
Bob’s arms and back are lathered with the regular lotion.
SpongeBob
5
After 1 Week
24
9
A) Which person is in the control group?
SPONGEBOB IS THE CONTROL GROUP After 2 Weeks
33
17
BECAUSE HE DID NOT RECEIVE THE
MUSCLE CREAM.
B) What is the independent variable?
THE INDEPENDENT (MANIPULATED) VARIABLE IS THE TYPE OF CREAM
(MUSCLE CREAM AND LOTION).
C) What is the dependent variable?
THE DEPENDENT (RESPONDING) VARIABLE NUMBER OF MARSHMALLOWS LIFTED.
D) What should Larry’s conclusion be?
LARRY SHOULD CONCLUDE THAT THE MUSCLE CREAM DOES NOT WORK AS
ADVERTISED BECAUSE BOTH PATRICK AND SPONGEBOB SHOWED
IMPROVEMENTS AND PATRICK’S MUSCLES DID NOT DOUBLE
4 – Microwave Miracle
Patrick believes that fish that eat food exposed
to microwaves will become smarter and
would be able to swim through a maze
f a s t e r. H e d e c i d e s t o p e r f o r m a n
experiment by placing fish food in a
microwave for 20 seconds. He has the fish
swim through a maze and records the time it
takes for each one to make it to the end. He
feeds the special food to 10 fish and gives regular food
to 10 others. After 1 week, he has the fish swim through
the maze again and records the times for each.
Special Food Group
Regular Food Group
(Time in minutes/seconds) (Time in minutes/seconds)
Fish
Before
After
Fish
Before
After
1
1:06
1:00
1
1:09
1:08
2
1:54
1:20
2
1:45
1:30
3
2:04
1:57
3
2:00
2:05
4
2:15
2:20
4
1:30
1:23
5
1:27
1:20
5
1:28
1:24
6
1:45
1:40
6
2:09
2:00
7
1:00
1:15
7
1:25
1:19
8
1:28
1:26
8
1:00
1:15
A) What was Patrick’s hypothesis?
9
1:09
1:00
9
2:04
1:57
PATRICK’S HYPOTHESIS IS THAT IF HE
10
2:00
1:43
10
1:34
1:30
MICROWAVES THE FISH FOOD THEN THE
FISH WILL BE ABLE TO SWIM THROUGH A
MAZE FASTER BECAUSE MICROWAVES MAKE YOU SMARTER.
B) Which fish are in the control group?
THE FISH RECEIVING THE REGULAR FOOD ARE THE CONTROL GROUP.
C) What is the manipulated (independent) variable?
THE MANIPULATED (INDEPENDENT) VARIABLE IS THE TYPE OF FOOD
(MICROWAVE FOOD AND REGULAR FOOD).
D) What is the responding (dependent) variable?
THE RESPONDING (DEPENDENT) VARIABLE IS THE TIME TO COMPLETE THE MAZE.
Scientific Inquiry with SpongeBob
Name:
E) Look at the results in the charts. What should Patrick’s conclusion be?
PATRICK SHOULD CONCLUDED THAT MICROWAVING FOOD DOES NOT AFFECT
INTELLIGENCE. AS EVIDENCE, THE AVERAGE TIMES FOR EACH GROUP COULD BE
CALCULATED AND THE MICROWAVED FOOD GROUP DECREASED BY 9.625
SECONDS ON AVERAGE, WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP ONLY DECREASED BY 6.625
SECONDS.
Part 2 The Bikini Bottom gang loves science class and wanted to do a little research. Read the
description for each experiment and use your knowledge of the scientific method to
answer the questions.
1 - Flower Power
SpongeBob loves to garden and wants to grow lots of pink flowers for his pal
Sandy. He bought a special Flower Power fertilizer to see if will help plants
produce more flowers. He plants two plants of the same size in separate
containers with the same amount of potting soil. He places one plant in a
sunny window and waters it every day with fertilized water. He places the
other plant on a shelf in a closet and waters it with plain water every other
day.
A) What did SpongeBob do wrong in this experiment? Explain.
UNFORTUNATELY, SPONGEBOB TESTED MORE THAN ONE
MANIPULATED VARIABLE: LOCATION OF PLANT (SUNNY WINDOW AND CLOSET),
FREQUENCY OF WATERING (EVERY DAY AND EVERY OTHER DAY), AND TYPE OF
WATER (FERTILIZER WATER AND PLAIN WATER).
B) What should SpongeBob do to test the effectiveness of Flower Power fertilizer? Explain.
IF SPONGEBOB KEPT EVERYTHING THE SAME ABOUT THE PLANTS (NUMBER OF
PLANTS, SOIL TYPE, LOCATION, AND FREQUENCY OF WATERING) AND ONLY TEST
THE TYPE OF WATER.
2 - Super Snails
Gary is not the smartest snail in Bikini Bottom and believes he can
improve his brain power by eating Super Snail Snacks. In order to
test this hypothesis, he recruits SpongeBob and several snail friends
to help him with the experiment. The snails ate one snack with each
meal every day for three weeks. SpongeBob created a test and gave
it to the snails before they started eating the snacks as well as after
three weeks.
A) Based on the data provided, do the Super Snail Snacks work?
Test Results
Explain your answer.
W H I L E I T S E E M S G A R Y A N D B A R R Y M A D E Snail
Before
After
IMPROVEMENTS, SINCE THERE WAS NO CONTROL
Gary
64%
80%
GROUP AND NO SPECIFIC DETAILS AS TO WHAT
Larry
78%
78%
SPONGEBOB’S TEST FOR THEM WAS,
FURTHER
TESTING WOULD PROBABLY BE NEEDED TO
Barry
82%
84%
DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SUPER SNAIL
Terry
72%
70%
SNACKS.
Scientific Inquiry with SpongeBob
Name:
3 - Bubble Time
Patrick loves bubble gum and would like to be able to blow bigger bubbles
than anyone else in Bikini Bottom. To prepare for the Bikini Bottom Big
Bubble Contest, he bought five different brands of bubble gum and needs
your help to find the brand that creates the biggest bubbles.
In the space provided write the experiment procedures needed to test the
bubble power of the bubble gum brands and help Patrick win the contest.
ANSWERS WILL VARY. PROCEDURES WILL SCORED USING THE ATTACHED RUBRIC.
Scoring Rubric for Writing Lab Procedures
Performance Description
Attributes
A 4-point response demonstrates the student understands the
Content Standard INQB: Describe a plan to answer a given
question for a controlled experiment.
A 3-point response demonstrates the student has partial
understands the Content Standard.
A 2-point response demonstrates the student has some
understanding of the Content Standard.
A 1-point response demonstrates the student has little or no
understanding of the Content Standard.
Attribute Name
One Controlled
Variable
Manipulated
Variable
Responding
Variable
Record
Measurements
Trials are
Repeated
Logical Steps
Score
6
4
4-5
3
2-3
2
0-1
1
Attributes of a Procedure
Description of Attribute
One controlled variable is identified or implied in the procedure
or the materials list (e.g., same thermometer, same garage
model, time of measuring).
Only one manipulated variable (e.g. type of ramp) is
identified or implied in the procedure or data table (if given).
The responding variable (e.g. time to travel down the ramp) is
identified or implied in the procedure or data table (if given).
The procedure states or implies measurements are recorded
periodically or gives a data table.
Attribute Notes:
1. If artificial data for the responding variable is given, this
attribute cannot be credited.
2. The phrase take measurement cannot be used to mean
record.
More than one trial for all conditions is planned, or implied in a
data table, to measure the responding variable.
The steps of the procedure are detailed enough to repeat the
procedure effectively (examples of illogical steps: no ending
time indicated; states Set up as diagrammed, but diagram is
inadequate; recording vague data or results).
Total Possible Attributes
Attributes
1
1
1
1
1
1
6