Your teacher has given you the following assignment: Investigate the impact on plant
growth of adding various amounts of fertilizer to potted plants. Think about what you
would need to do to be certain that the fertilizer was having the impact on the plant
growth. Then answer the items below.
1.
Place a Y besides items that would be part of your plan to investigate plant height
and fertilizer. Place a N besides items that will not help you investigate this
particular connection.
a.
b.
c.
__ Put one plant in a sunny windowsill and one in a dark corner.
__ Give plants the same amounts of water.
__ Give different plants different amounts of fertilizer without keeping track of
which plant got extra fertilizer.
__ Use some new plants from seeds and some old plants that have been growing
for months.
__ Start with plants that are the same size.
__ Keep all plants in a similar location.
__ Carefully note amounts of fertilizer each plant is given.
__ Keep one plant fertilized but with no water.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
2. Name at least five tools or supplies will you need to perform this experiment
The Way Science Works
I.
How Science Works
A. The ________________
scientific method is a way to solve problems
B. Scientific Method Steps
1.
Observe
2.
Ask a Question
3.
Research/Collect Data
4.
Form a Hypothesis
Hy????????
a.
Hypothesis - A possible answer
5.
Experiment (test hypothesis)
6.
Draw conclusion
II.
The experiment
A. Variable
1. What is a variable?
a.
2.
What are the two types of variables?
b.
3.
Factors that can change
Independent & Dependent
What is the difference between the two types of variables?
a.
Independent variable – variable that is changed by the scientist
– plot on the x-axis
b.
Dependent variable – variable changes as the independent
variable changes
– plot on the y-axis
B. Experiments also contain:
1.
Control – Standard of comparison
2.
Constant – Does not change in an experiment
C. Graphing tips
1.
Decide your scale. Spread the scale out as much as possible
2.
Number and label the X and Y axis. Don’t forget units
3.
Draw a “best fit line”….eyeball it!
4.
Give your graph a title. The name format should be “X vs Y”
1. Ask a question
2. Draw Conclusion
3. Form hypothesis
Observation
Form
hypothesis
4. Observation
5. Research and collect data
6. Experiment
Ask a
Question
Experiment
Research
and collect
data
Draw
Conclusion
Classwork
What you need: Notebook paper
Textbook
The Scientific Method
Make your paper look like this:
Definition
Picture
My Definition
To me, it’s like…