Scientific Investigation Study Guide

Quiz Date: ______Students should be able to list the Scientific Method steps in order:

1. Purpose (What is the question?)

2. Hypothesis (If______,then______. statement)

3. Procedure (do the experiment)

4. Analysis (study the data)

5. Conclusion (What did we learn?)

 Students should be able to write an observation about a picture of an experiment and then make an inference based on what they see. For example, given a picture of an empty fish bowl, water on the floor and a cat next to the puddle; students should be able to describe these things and make a reasonable inference such as, “I infer that the cat ate the goldfish.”

 Distinguish between inferences and observations

 Given a written example of a scientific experiment students should be able to identify the purpose, manipulated variable, responding variable and the conclusion.

Observation Example: The mouse has large ears and eyes.

Inference Example: The rodent might be nocturnal.

Purpose of an experiment: What are you trying to find out?

Independent Variable: What was changed?

Dependent Variable: What happened as a result of the change?

Constant: The parts of an experiment that stays the same. What things are not changed in an experiment?

Example of an experiment:

Purpose: Mrs. Pezzimenti wanted to know how she could bake softer cookies.

Hypothesis: If I decrease the amount of time I bake the cookies, then the cookies will be softer. Scientific Investigation Study Guide

Quiz Date: ______Independent Variable: She changed the amount of time she baked the cookies. She cooked the cookies for 12 minutes instead of 15 minutes.

Dependent Variable: The cookies were less crisp. Soft and chewy!

Constants: Mrs. Pezzimenti used the same oven for each cookie batch. She cooked both batches of cookies at 375 degrees. She used the same recipe for each cookie.