Scientific Method Review - Council Rock School District



Scientific Method Review Name ____________________________________

7th Grade Environmental Science

Mrs. Krempa Date & Section _____________________________

Try and not use your book, worksheets or notes to answer the following questions. Star (*) or mark the questions that you could not remember or had trouble with so you can recognize what you need to study. You can use all of your notes, etc. tonight at home or when you have gone through every question on this sheet at least once!

1. List each step of the scientific method in order. Give a brief one or two word explanation of each step.

Step #1 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #2 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #3 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #4 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #5 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #6 - ____________________________________________________________________________

Step #7 - ____________________________________________________________________________

2. Which step allows you to actually run the experiment? __________________________________________

3. Which step is where you make data tables & graphs? ____________________________________________

4. Which step would allow you to check the work of other scientists? _________________________________

5. Which step would require that you do research? ________________________________________________

6. Which step asks you to come up with the lab that you are going to do? ______________________________

7. Answer the following True or False questions about a hypothesis. Write T or F on the blank before each.

_____ a. A hypothesis must be correct after an experiment is complete.

_____ b. A hypothesis can be manipulated (changed) as the experiment goes on.

_____ c. A hypothesis must be testable (have an experiment done to prove or dis-prove).

_____ d. A hypothesis must be made before information is gathered about the topic.

_____ e. A hypothesis must be controlled, or have a controlled variable in the statement.

8. What are observations that are not expressed in numbers called? ___________________________________

9. What are you doing when you use one or more of your senses to gather information?

___________________________________________________________________

10. What are observations that are expressed in numbers called? _____________________________________

11. What is the name for the group that is kept the same? __________________________________________

12. What is it called when you make a forecast of what will happen in the future based on past experience or

evidence? _______________________________________________________________

13. What is a representation of a complex problem? NOT an example! _______________________________

14. What is an experiment where only one variable is changed? _____________________________________

15. The manipulated (changed) variable. The factor that is being tested. ______________________________

16. A logical conclusion drawn from available evidence & prior knowledge. ___________________________

17. A meaningful and predictable relationship among variables. _________________________________

18. List and briefly explain the three things that you have to take into consideration when analyzing your data

a. ____________________________________ b. _________________________________

c. ____________________________________

19. List and briefly explain the two things that you need to be aware of when choosing a research source.

a. ____________________________________ b. _________________________________

20. The following paragraphs tell about an investigation carried out by a student named Kara. First, see if you

can put the information in the story in the correct order using the steps of the scientific method – careful, some of the steps may be combined! Then answer the questions that are listed at the end of the story.

_____ Kara obtained two identical 1 liter jars and placed a live frog in each. One frog was a Bullfrog, the other

was an African Poison Dart frog. She inserted a thermometer through a hole in the screened lid of each jar, making sure that the screens were the same in hole size and shape. She then placed each jar inside an identical larger jar. Kara filled the larger jar that had the Poison dart frog with ice cubes so that the ice surrounded the smaller jar that held the frog. Kara did not put any ice in the other jar with the Bullfrog.

_____ Kara went to the library to find out about hibernation. She read several articles on the topic and then

guessed that she could “trick” a frog to hibernate by making it cold because all of her research pointed to the fact that frogs hibernate in the winter when temperatures are cooler.

_____Kara looked over her data and noted that in the jar with the ice cubes, the Poison dart frog began to move

more slowly and finally seemed to go to sleep. The frog’s breathing rate slowed as well. These changes were NOT noted in the jar without the ice that had the Bullfrog. When the ice was removed, the Poison Dart frog gradually became more active. Kara also drew up a graph to compare these results.

_____ Every thirty minutes for 2 hours Kara recorded the temperature inside each of the two smaller jars on a

data table that she designed. She also recorded the breathing rate of each frog and made other observations about each frog’s appearance and behavior.

_____ Kara wanted to find out if she could make a frog hibernate by changing the temperature of its

surroundings even if it wasn’t the correct time of year.

_____ Kara decided that indeed she could make a frog hibernate out of season since all of the data from the

experiment supported her first idea.

Questions - Please answer the following questions in full sentences on a sheet of notebook paper. Be detailed!!

1. Identify at least three (3) things that Kara did right specifically within her experiment.

2. Identify at least two (2) things that Kara did wrong specifically within her experiment.

3. Identify the control in this experiment.

4. Identify the independent (manipulated) variable in this experiment.

5. Identify the dependent(responding) variable in this experiment.

6. What was Kara’s hypothesis?

7. What data did Kara collect?

8. What observations did Kara make?

9. What could Kara conclude at the end of this experiment?

10. In which statement is an experiment described?

11. List 3 constants in Kara’s experiment.

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