Identify the Parts of an Experiment!
Answer all questions in your journal! (You don’t need to write the question)
Mr. Fireng tried salted caramel for the first time and he thought it tasted delicious a 10 on a scale of 1-10!! He thought that it was
probably the salt that made the caramel taste better. He thought of the question, “I wonder how the amount of salt affects the taste
of other desserts like ice cream?” He decided to test this by tasting ice cream with various amounts of salt.
He made four batches of ice cream. One had no salt. The other three had more and more salt. He tasted
the ice cream and rated the texture, saltiness, sweetness and over all flavor on a scale from 0-4. He
discovered that yes! As the amount of salt increased, the ice tasted better and better!
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Mr. Fireng? (if..then..because)
Write a good experimental question for Mr. Fireng. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Mr. Fireng’s hypothesis?
Smithers noticed that his best worker’s drank a special juice. Smithers think that a special juice will increase the productivity of
workers. He creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each group the same task (in this case, they're supposed to staple
a set of papers). Group A is given the special juice to drink while they work. Group B is not given the special juice. After an
hour, Smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. Group A made 1,587 stacks, Group B made 2,113 stacks.
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Smithers? (if..then..because)
Write a good experimental question for Smithers. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Smithers’s hypothesis? How?
Homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. His friend Barney tells him that he has observed coconut juice
getting rid of stains in his shower. Homer thinks the coconut juice will be a good cleaner. He decides to check this this out by
spraying half of the shower with coconut juice. He sprays the other half of the shower with water. After 3 days of "treatment"
there is no change in the appearance of the green slime on either side of the shower.
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Homer? (if, then..because)
Write a good experimental question for Homer. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Homer’s hypothesis? How?
Bart notices that some mice are stronger than others. Bart believes that the mice that are strong have been exposed to radiation
from the nuclear plant (maybe he's been reading too much Radioactive Man). He decides to perform this experiment by placing
10 mice near the nuclear plant for 5 hours. He compared these 10 mice to another 10 mice that had not been exposed to radiation.
His test consisted of a heavy block of wood that blocked the mouse food. He found that 8 out of 10 of the radiated mice were able
to push the block away. One 5 out of 10 of the other mice were able to do the same.
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Bart? (if, then..because)
Write a good experimental question for Bart. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Bart’s hypothesis? How?
Krusty was told that a certain itching powder was the newest best thing on the market, it even claims to cause 50% longer lasting
itches. Krusty thinks the itching powder must be better because it contains crushed up snail shells. Interested in this product, he
buys the itching powder and compares it to his usual product. One test subject (A) is sprinkled with the original itching powder,
and another test subject (B) was sprinkled with the new itching powder. Subject A reported having itches for 30 minutes. Subject
B reported to have itches for 45 minutes
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Krusty? (if, then..because)
Write a good experimental question Krusty. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Krusty’s hypothesis? How?
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Lisa gave a group of college students were given a short course in speed-reading. She has seen Bart do anything is he is being
paid! She wonders if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course, she
thought it would. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were
not offered money. She found that even though some students were paid, the scores on the test were all about the same.
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What was the observation?
What was the inference?
What is the control group?
What is he independent variable
What is the dependent variable
Write a good hypothesis for Lisa? (if, then..because)
Write a good experimental question Lisa. (How does____ affect____?)
Did the results support or disprove Lisa’s hypothesis? How?