Do Now
• You have 5 minutes to answer the following
question(s). When you are done take out your
binder and turn to the notes section.
• Observations must be ___________ and
___________, in order to be good science.
• What do you think the term “testable
question” means?
Testable/Scientific Questions
Characteristics of testable/scientific
questions
• does not begin with "why"
• usually begins with "how",
"what if" or "does”
Characteristics of testable/scientific
questions
• Good scientific questions
do not ask about opinions
or emotions.
Characteristics of testable/scientific
questions
• Must be testable
• can be investigated through
research, experiments or
observations
Ask Yourself
• Could I design an experiment to test it?
• What determines whether
minerals are hard or soft?
• How does the amount of
weight added to the nose of
a paper airplane affect the
length of its flight?
• What part of Orleans parish
has the best soil?
• How does the type of
material (cotton, plastic,
rubber) affect the amount
of water it can absorb?
• How does the amount of
water effect the growth of
plants?
• How does eliminating half
of the butter in a chocolate
chip cookie recipe affect the
cookie’s height?
• Do chocolate chip cookies
taste better than sugar
cookies?
• How does adding weights
affect the distance a toy car
travels?
Container Activity: Question Assignments
• Discuss whether or not the question is
scientific/testable using level 2 voices.
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Table 1: Questions 1 and 2
Table 2: Questions 3 and 4
Table 3: Questions 5 and 6
Table 4: Questions 7 and 8
Table 5: Questions 9 and 10
Table 6: Questions 11 and 12
Table 7: Questions 13 and 14
Container Activity
• Team will come to the board and present
the following.
– Is the question scientific/testable? Why or
why not?
– If the question is not scientific/testable,
rewrite it.
• If your team is not presenting, than you
are tracking the speakers at the board.
Write a testable question and how you would
test the question for each of the following
ideas for experiments.
1. You want to figure out how many pine cones are
on the average branch of a pine tree.
2. You want to know whether or not a McDonald’s
large fry has more fries in it than a medium fry.
3. You want to know whether or not people can
taste the difference between different colored
M&Ms.
4. You want to know what the most popular color
for a car is.
5. You want to know what type of soda is preferred
by 8th graders at SBW.
Exit Ticket
1.
George is interested in insects and wants to do an experiment. Which of
the following is a scientific question about insects that he could
investigate with an experiment?
A. Do ants feel anxiety?
B. Why are there so many different kinds of insects in the world?
C. Are ladybugs prettier than beetles?
D. Do different food types affect the growth rate of beetles?
2. Ben is starting to study some common minerals and has a number of
samples.
Which question about minerals could he answer through a scientific
investigation?
A. Which color of mineral is most beautiful?
B. What determines whether minerals are hard or soft?
C. Do shiny minerals conduct electricity?
D. Where are the best mineral samples found?