Science Skills

A hypothesis is formed...

• Before you perform the experiment

• After you record and analyze the data

• After you state the conclusion

• Before you state the problem

A scientist decided to test whether temperature had any effect on how quickly sugar would be dissolved in water. She cooled 500 ml of water in the refrigerator, kept 500 ml of water at room temperature, and heated 500 ml of water on a hot plate. She placed 50 ml of sugar in each sample of water and used a stopwatch to see how long it took for the sugar to dissolve.

In this experiment, what is the INDEPENDENT variable?

• The amount of sugar

• The time it took the sugar dissolve

• The temperature of the water

• The amount of water

You are conducting an experiment to see which brand of detergent gets your clothes cleanest, what would be your DEPENDENT variable?

• How clean your clothes are

• The brand of detergent

• The washing machine

• The stain

Which is true about hypothesis?

• It is the answer to the question

• It summarizes the result of an experiment

• It is an educated guess

• It is the final answer to a question

Safety glasses or goggles are worn in the laboratory

• to avoid eye strain

• only if you do not have corrective glasses

• any time chemicals, heat, glassware or soil are used

• to improve your vision

After performing an experiment and reviewing the data, a scientist then

• forms a hypothesis

• tests the hypothesis

• recognizes the problem

• draws conclusions

What step does every scientific experiment begin with?

• hypothesis
• question/problem
• procedures
• conclusion

The summary at the end of an experiment that explains the results. 

• conclusion
• procedures
• materials
• responding variable

A series of steps used by scientists to solve a problem or answer a question. 

• scientific method
• recipe
• data collection
• metric system

This variable in an experiment is the one being changed by the scientist. 

• dependent variable
• independent variable
• data
• control group