The Promoter – Do Now What is an observation? What is an inference? What are the steps of the scientific method? Create a hypothesis for the video we watched yesterday on preservatives and soup Complete the graphic organizer on scientific method steps

August 29 th, 2012 Happy Birthday to you, Kyle!

Scientific Method Steps 1. Ask a question 2. Do background research 3. Construct a hypothesis 4. Test your hypothesis  Experiment 5. Analyze your data 6. Draw a conclusion!

Review! Independent Variable – the variable that is manipulated or changed. The variable that is NOT affected by the other Dependent variable –the variable whose value depends on another. The value that is measured in an experiment

Identify the variables The length of your hair and the days since your last hair cut

Identify the variables Time spent studying for a biology test and your test score

The more you study for a test, the higher your test score Independent variable on which axis? Dependent variable on which axis?

Uphill or downhill graphed lined? Time spent exercising and weight loss X axis? Y axis?

Experimental & Control Group Experimental Group - Used to compare with the control group, and vice versa. The experimental group is the group that we apply the independent variable to! Control group – group used as the normal comparison in an experiment. Identical to the experimental group in characteristics, size, gender, age, etc.

Example 1 Ms. Kuipers plants roses in 3 different pots. She wants to know which fertilizer is the best. The plant on the left gets fertilizer A. The plant on the right gets fertilizer B. The roses in the middle get plain soil. Experimental group? Control group?

Example 2 Trey Songz is testing which of gasoline is going to make his tour bus move the fastest between cities. He will use the same tour bus and measure the miles that a tank of diesel gas, premium gas, and regular gas. Experimental Group: Control Group:

Let’s identify the variables

The question this lab is answering – Independent variable - Dependent variable – Is there a control group?

All together! Example 4 A group of high school students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. Independent variable: Dependent variable: Experimental group: Control group:

Example 5 A social psychologist thinks that people are more likely to conform to a large crowd than to a single person. To test this hypothesis, the social psychologist had either one person or five persons stand on a busy walking path on campus and look up. The psychologist stood nearby and counted the number of people passing by who also looked up. Independent variable: Dependent variable: Experimental group: Control group:

How do these relate to the hypothesis? If…then…because If I implement the INDEPENDENT VARIABLE then it will cause __________ to happen to the DEPENDENT VARIABLE because of the background research I conducted!

A group of high school students were given a short course in speed-reading. The instructor was curious if a monetary incentive would influence performance on a reading test taken at the end of the course. Half the students were offered $5 for obtaining a certain level of performance on the test, the other half were not offered money. If _______________ then _____________________

Foldable! Here’s the problem: High school seniors are dropping out of school before graduation. In your foldable: problem, information, hypothesis, experiment, data, conclusions Word, definition, apply it to the problem!

Information What information do we need to gather in order to solve this problem?

Hypothesis Statement If…then…because What could help to lower the high school drop out rate?

Experiment How can we design this experiment? What are we changing? Independent variable What are we measuring? Dependent variable Should we include a control group? Who?

Data What specific type of data should we collect?

Independent Practice