1. 1982 TV commercial

2. Is Bounty really the “Quicker-Picker-Upper?”
Goal: Be real scientists and device an experiment to test a product claim.

3. A little bit of advertising history.
Back in the day, there was a television commercial touting one paper towel (Bounty) as the “Quicker Picker Upper”. Your assignment is to prove if this statement is true by comparing various brands of paper towels.
Your first task, however, should be to decide what the phrase “Quicker Picker Upper” means. There are various interpretations of this. Can you think of two interpretations of “quicker?”
Present the students with a variety of different types of paper towels.
Their task is to product test them to see if Bounty really is the quicker picker upper. In the process, you must design a rigorous method to test this. You must control variables and the design must be something that other scientists can replicate.

4. Science begins with questions
Before you conduct your experiment, you should develop:
a clear, simple question you will answer using experiment results
a hypothesis (an explained prediction)
“If I do x, then y will happen because….” “ If there is x, then y will occur because…..” “If I wash my clothes for twice as long, then my clothes will be twice as clean because ….”
Your prediction includes a cause and effect, and a logical explanation.
Problem Statement (What you are going to test…): Which paper towel absorbs the best?
Hypothesis/Prediction: Predict which will work best and why. This may be based on prior knowledge or research you conduct
Design: Control your variables! Are pieces of paper towel the same size? Can you quantify your results? Do you repeat your trials? Do you test more than one brand?
Data Collection: Record your data in an organized table.
Data Analysis: Find averages for each trial. Make graphic representation of your results.
Draw Conclusions!

5. Simple experiments work better.
Develop an experimental design that will answer your question and is simple to test.
Your experiment will only compare one variable amongst the different towels. Everything else must be the same between your towels.
Every group will test each towel type three times.
Every group will use 3.0 milliliters of water for each test.
All of your test towels must be the same size.

6. Biologists compare their results to their original predictions and question.
After your experiment is written and approved by your teacher, you will:
run the experiment.
graph and analyze your results.
see if your hypothesis was correct.
answer your question using your results.