Experimental Design REVIEW
Read the description for each experiment and answer the questions.
1 - Patty Power
Mr. Krabbs wants to make Bikini Bottoms a nicer place to live. He has created a new sauce
that he thinks will reduce the production of body gas associated with eating crabby patties
from the Krusty Krab. He recruits 100 customers with a history of gas problems. He has 50 of
them (Group A) eat crabby patties with the new sauce. The other 50 (Group B) eat crabby
patties with sauce that looks just like new sauce but is really just mixture of mayonnaise and
food coloring. Both groups were told that they were getting the sauce that would reduce gas
production. Two hours after eating the crabby patties, 30 customers in group A reported
having fewer gas problems and 8 customers in group B reported having fewer gas problems.
Identify Mr. Krabbs’:
1. Problem (Question he is trying to answer).
2. Hypothesis (His testable answer to the question).
3. Materials (Items he will use in his experiment).
4. Independent Variable/Manipulated Variable (The condition that Mr. Krabbs is
purposely changing).
5. Dependent Variable/Responding Variable (The condition that is affected BY the
independent variable).
6. Controlled Variables (The conditions in the experiment that remain the same for
every group).
7. Experimental Group (The test subjects exposed to the new conditions).
8. Control Group (The test subjects exposed to the original/normal conditions).
9. Procedure (Steps he will take to test his hypothesis).
10. Observations (His data; His results after testing his hypothesis).
11. Conclusion (What Mr. Krabbs can INFER based on his observations).
2 – Slimotosis
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 odor.
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.
What was the initial observation?
What is the independent variable?
What is the dependent variable?
What should Sponge Bob’s conclusion be?
3 – Marshmallow Muscles
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.
Interested in this product, 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’s arms and back are
lathered in the muscle cream, while Sponge Bob’s arms and back are lathered with the
regular lotion.
Which person is in the control group?
What is the independent variable?
What is the dependent variable?
What should Larry’s conclusion be?
4 – Microwave Miracle
Patrick believes that fish that eat food exposed to microwaves will become smarter and
would be able to swim through a maze faster. He decides to perform an experiment by
placing fish food in a microwave for 20 seconds. He has the fish swim through a maze and
records the time it takes for each one to make it to the end. He feeds the special food to 10
fish and gives regular food to 10 others. After 1 week, he has the fish swim through the
maze again and records the times for each.
What was Patrick’s hypothesis?
Which fish are in the control group?
What is the independent variable?
What is the dependent variable?
Look at the results in the charts. What should Patrick’s conclusion be?
Time
Initial Amount
After Week 1
After Week 2
Patrick
18
24
33
Sponge Bob
5
9
17
The Bikini Bottom gang loves science class and wanted to do a little research. Read the
description for each experiment and use your knowledge of the scientific method to
answer the questions.
(1) Flower Power
SpongeBob loves to garden and wants to grow lots of pink flowers for his pal Sandy. He
bought a special Flower Power fertilizer to see if will help plants produce more flowers. He
plants two plants of the same size in separate containers with the same amount of potting
soil. He places one plant in a sunny window and waters it every day with fertilized water.
He places the other plant on a shelf in a closet and waters it with plain water every other
day.
What did SpongeBob do wrong in this experiment? Explain.
What should SpongeBob do to test the effectiveness of Flower Power
fertilizer? Write an experiment.
(2) Super Snails
Gary is not the smartest snail in Bikini Bottom and believes he can improve
his brain-power by eating Super Snail Snacks. In order to test this hypothesis,
he recruits SpongeBob and several snail friends to help him with the
experiment. The snails ate one snack with each meal every day for three
weeks. SpongeBob created a test and gave it to the snails before they
started eating the snacks as well as after three weeks.
Based on the data provided, do the Super Snail Snacks work?
Explain your answer.
(3) Bubble Time
Patrick loves bubble gum and would like to be able to blow bigger bubbles than anyone else
in Bikini Bottom. To prepare for the Bikini Bottom Big Bubble Contest, he bought five
different brands of bubble gum and needs your help to find the brand that creates the
biggest bubbles. Write an experiment to test the bubble power of the
bubble gum brands and help Patrick win the contest.
Spongebob Worksheet created by T. Trimpe 2003 http://sciencespot.net/
Smithers thinks that a special juice will increase the productivity of workers. He
creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each group the same task (in this
case, they're supposed to staple a set of papers). Group A is given the special juice
to drink while they work. Group B is not given the special juice. After an hour,
Smithers counts how many stacks of papers each group has made. Group A made
1,587 stacks, Group B made 2,113 stacks.
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Identify the:
1. Control Group
2. Independent Variable
3. Dependent Variable
4. What should Smithers' conclusion be?
5. How could this experiment be improved?
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Homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. His friend Barney
tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime. Homer decides to check this
this out by spraying half of the shower with coconut juice. He sprays the other half of
the shower with water. After 3 days of "treatment" there is no change in the appearance
of the green slime on either side of the shower.
6. What was the initial observation?
Identify the-
7. Control Group
8. Independent Variable
9. Dependent Variable
10. What should Homer's conclusion be?
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Bart believes that mice exposed to microwaves will become extra strong (maybe
he's been reading too much Radioactive Man). He decides to perform this experiment
by placing 10 mice in a microwave for 10 seconds. He compared the se 10 mice to
another 10 mice that had not been exposed. His test consisted of a heavy block of wood that blocked the
mouse food. he found that 8 out of 10 of the microwaved mice were able to push the block away. 7 out
of 10 of the non-microwaved mice were able to do the same.
Identify the-
11. Control Group
12. Independent Variable
13. Dependent Variable
14. What should Bart's conclusion be?
15. How could Bart's experiment be improved?
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Krusty was told that a certain itching powder was the newest best thing on the market, it
even claims to cause 50% longer lasting itches. Interested in this product, he buys the
itching powder and compares it to his usual product. One test subject (A) is sprinkled
with the original itching powder, and another test subject (B) was sprinkled with the
Experimental itching powder. Subject A reported having itches for 30 minutes. Subject
B reported to have itches for 45 minutes.
Identify the-
16. Control Group
17. Independent Variable
18. Dependent Variable
19. Explain whether the data supports the advertisements claims about its product.
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Lisa is working on a science project. Her task is to answer the question: "Does Rogooti
(which is a commercial hair product) affect the speed of hair growth". Her family is willing
to volunteer for the experiment.
20. Describe how Lisa would perform this experiment. Identify the control group, and the
independent and dependent variables in your description.
Simpson’s experiments from http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/controls.html
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