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Name:__________________________
Date: ________________________
Fair Test
A Fair Test is an investigation where only one ___________________is changed.
Remember: a variable is a factor that is ________________in an experiment
-
___________________: the one you change (adding more paper clips)
-
___________________: the one that reacts to the change you made (faster time)
-
___________________: the one that you keep the same (height drop)
In science we want to use a fair test when doing an experiment.
This is because we want to know the ________________ that things ____________.
If we keep everything in an experiment the same except ____________ variable and
we see a change, then we can safely say that the ONE variable was the
_____________ for the change.
For example, let's imagine that we want to
measure which is the fastest toy car to coast
down a sloping ramp.
If we gently release the first car, but give the
second car a push start, did we do a fair test of
which car was fastest?
_________!
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We gave the second car an __________ advantage by pushing it to start. That's not a
_____________ test! The only thing that should change between the two tests is the
____________; we should start them down the ramp in exactly the __________ way.
Let's pretend we're doing an experiment to see if
fertilizer makes a plant grow to be larger than a plant that
doesn't receive fertilizer.
What would be the variables? (what would we keep the
same? or change?)
Control Variables?________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Manipulated Variable? ____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Responding Variable? _____________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Conducting a fair test is one of the most important parts of doing good, scientifically
___________________experiments.