Name: ___________________________________
Assignment 1: Graphing and Analysis Practice
Section 1: Create a line graph for both sets of data below. Use the lines started below to help.
350
300
Number of wolves
Data Set 1: Number of Wolves/Year
YEAR
NUMBER OF WOLVES
1991
250
1992
300
1993
320
1994
350
1995
300
1996
250
1997
200
250
200
150
100
50
‘91
‘92
‘93
‘94
‘95
‘96
‘97
‘95
‘96
‘97
Year
350
300
250
Number of elk
Data Set 2: Number of Elk/Year
YEAR
NUMBER OF ELK
1991
350
1992
300
1993
250
1994
150
1995
150
1996
125
1997
100
200
150
100
50
‘91
‘92
‘93
‘94
Year
Section 2: Data Application questions
Analyze your data to answer the following questions.
1. Overall (from 1991 to 1997), the number of wolves _____________________________.
Increases or decreases or fluctuates
2. Overall (from 1991 to 1997), the number of elks ________________________________.
Increases or decreases or fluctuates
3. From 1991 to 1992, the number of wolves ____________________________________.
Increases or decreases
4. From 1991 to 1992, the number of elks _______________________________________.
Increases or decreases
a. Predict why that might have happened to the number of elks, thinking about the
number of wolves in 1992.
5. From 1994 to 1997, the number of wolves and elks _____________________________.
Increases or decreases
6. One scientist thinks that when there are too many wolves, they will run out of elks to
eat and eventually, the number of wolves will decrease due to a food shortage.
a. Based on the data, was the scientists correct OR incorrect? (circle one!)
b. Explain your decision:
His hypothesis was ________________________________ because in the data,
Correct or incorrect
you can see that ____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
This shows that _____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Introduction: A relationship exists between a fungus and the roots of plants. The fungus
increase the size of the roots of the plant by helping with the absorption of water and other
mineral ions from the soil to the roots of the plant. The plant gives the fungus carbohydrates.
An experiment was run to see the effect of this fungus relationship on plant growth. Two
groups of plants were grown. One group was planted in soil that had fungus removed. The
other group was planted in the same type of soil, but with the fungus. The plants were allowed
to grow for 8 weeks and the height was measured. The picture below shows the plants and the
table provides data on the growth of the plants after 8 weeks.
Week
Plants Grown in Fungus
Soil
1 cm
2 cm
3.5 cm
5 cm
6 cm
8.9 cm
10 cm
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Plants Grown in NonFungus Soil
3.0 cm
5.5 cm
8.7 cm
10.0 cm
12.0 cm
14.2 cm
16.1 cm
1. Create a DOUBLE LINE GRAPH that shows the growth of the plants in each kind of soil
below. Use the lines that have been started below for help.
18
= fungus soil
= non-fungus soil
16
Plant growth in both kinds of soil
m
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
Week
5
6
7
Data analysis questions:
2. Identify the overall trend for the plant grown in FUNGUS soil.
a. Increase over time
b. Decrease over time
c. Fluctuate over time
3. Identify the overall trend for the plant grown in NON-FUNGUS soil.
a. Increase over time
b. Decrease over time
c. Fluctuate over time
4. Calculate the change in height for the plant grown in FUNGUS soil.
______________________ - ______________________ = ________________________
Final height of plant
Starting height of plant
Overall growth
5. Calculate the change in height for the plant grown in NON-FUNGUS soil.
______________________ - ______________________ = ________________________
Final height of plant
Starting height of plant
Overall growth
6. Analyze the results of the experiment overall.
A
Analysis: Data calculation, make a conclusion about data
Conclusions: Accurately interpret data and explain results using correct scientific reasoning (Cii)
The results of the experiment is that the plant in the _________________________ soil grew the most and
the plant in the _________________________ soil grew the least. The plant in the cleaned soil grew
____________________ cm and the plant in the non-cleaned soil grew ____________________ cm. The
effect that the fungus in the soil had on plant growth is ___________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________.
A piece of evidence from my results that demonstrates that is _____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________.
This piece of observation (from my data table) proves that ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
Name: ______________________
Assignment 2: For each experiment below, figure out
the independent and dependent variables, as well as controls.
Independent variable: what is
changed
Dependent variable: what is measured
Control variable: what is kept the
same every time
1. A study was done to find if different size tires affect the braking distance of a car. The same car was
used each time.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
2. An experiment was done to see if how fast the same person runs a mile changes based on their shoe.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
3. An experiment was done to see if the height of bean plants depends on the amount of water they
receive. The same kind of bean plant was used.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
4. Three different cake mixes were baked and the baking time was measured, using the same tins each
time.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
5. A scientist thinks that a lemon tree will grow more lemons depending on whether it is in the sun or the
shade.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
6. In one specific field, an investigation found that more pounds of potatoes were produced when the soil
was fertilized more.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
7. Students measured the temperature of the water at different depths in Lake Skywalker and found that
the temperature varied.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
8. The amount of pollution produced by cars was measured for the same car using gasoline containing
different amounts of lead.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
9. Sponge Bob notices that his pal Gary is suffering from slimotosis, which occurs when the shell develops a nasty
slime and gives off a horrible smell. His friend Patrick tells him that rubbing seaweed on the shell is the perfect
cure, while Sandy says that drinking Dr. Kelp will be a better cure. Sponge Bob decides to test this cure by rubbing
Gary with seaweed for 1 week and having him drink Dr. Kelp. After a week of treatment, the slime is gone and
Gary’s shell smells better.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable
10. Larry was told that a certain muscle cream was the newest best thing on the market and claims to double a
person’s muscle power when used as part of a muscle-building workout. He buys the special muscle cream and
recruits Patrick and SpongeBob to help him with an experiment. Larry develops a special marshmallow weightlifting program for Patrick and SpongeBob. He meets with them once every day for a period of 2 weeks and keeps
track of their results. Before each session Patrick uses the muscle cream, while Sponge Bob doesn’t use anything.
Independent variable
Dependent variable
Control variable