Scientific Inquiry

Which of the following describes a scientific process?

• Jon claims that cities are better than towns. He finds 12 people who agree with him as evidence to support his claim.

• Kyra starts to believe in vampires after she sees a movie that has vampires in it

• Pedro plants a sapling in his front yard. He observes and measures it each day. Using his observations, he hypothesizes that the leaves grow most in the sprin

• Justine drinks eight glasses of water every day because she saw a presentation in health class about water being good for you.

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On which of the following could a scientific claim be based?

• a famous athlete’s speech

• a religious text

• superstitions and folklore

• experiments and studies

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Sandra claims that invisible fairies live above the clouds where no one can see, hear or feel them. Which of the following is true?

• Sandra’s claim is a hypothesis that she could test with the scientific method.

• Sandra’s claim is not scientific because it is not testable.

• Sandra’s claim is a law based on empirical evidence.

• Sandra’s claim is not scientific because no one famous would agree with her.

Which of the following describes empirical evidence?

• dogs are good pets

• dogs can speak English

• dogs have two eyes and two ears

• pet dogs should be allowed at school prom

Which of the following describes a scientific law?

• People have the right to a speedy trial.

• Any two objects in the universe attract each other with a force called gravity.

• The universe may have begun from an explosion (or big bang) from a single point.

• Students must wear their safety goggles in the lab.

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A scientific theory is a

• guess that some scientists believe.

• guess that once was a hypothesis and might one day become a law.

• well-tested explanation for a wide range of observations or experimental results.

• law that scientists no longer like and are trying to modify.

Which of the following would be a scientific theory?

• the hypothesis that if you increase the temperature of water, then sugar will dissolve quicker

• the statement that objects in motion tend to stay in motion

• a belief in ghosts that humans cannot see or feel

• an explanation of why global temperatures are rising

Which of the following describes the relationship between scientific theories and scientific laws?

• A law can describe a phenomenon, and a theory can give a possible explanation for it.

• A theory can state a simple guess, and a law can give more evidence to support it.

• Scientists might not believe in scientific laws, but everyone believes in scientific theories.

• A law has more hypotheses to test than a theory does.

True or false: scientific theories and models cannot be modified.

• True

• False

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Which of the following is an example of pseudoscience?

• A claim that pretends to be scientific but has not actually been tested

• A hypothesis that the results did not support

• A theory that has been modified based on new evidence

• A law that describes a phenomenon observable only at some scales