The Nature of Science

Pre Assessment

For questions #1-6, match the letters below to the correct description of the step in the scientific method. Write the letter of the correct answer in the space provided.

A. Ask a question

B. Form a hypothesis

C. Test the hypothesis

D. Analyze the results

E. Draw a conclusion

F. Communicate the results

1. _______ You and a friend think sunflower’s that get more water will grow taller.

2. _______ You gather pots, soil, seeds, heat lamps, water and perform an experiment by  planting your seeds and  varying the amount of water each plant gets.

3. _______ This experiment is so cool that you update your status on Facebook telling your friends about what happened.  You also share your experiment with your family.

4. _______ While the experiment is occurring, you write down your observations and gather data about the experiment.

5. _______ After seeing the experiment and looking at your notes you and your friend find out that you were correct, and that sunflowers that get more water do grow taller.

6. _______ You and a friend wonder what will happen if sunflowers get different amounts of water.

Questions #7 - 18 are multiple choice and relate to the scientific method. Write the letter of the correct answer in the space provided on the left.

7. _______The process of asking questions and finding answers in a systematic way about the natural world is called 

1. Thinking
2. Being Creative
3. Science
4. Philosophy

8. _______There are two main categories of science. The category of science that focuses on living things is called

1. Astronomy
2. Meteorology
3. Zoology
4. Biology

9. _______Which of the following is the only thing that differs among experimental groups in a controlled experiment?

1. Hypothesis
2. Variable
3. Control group
4. factor

10. _______Which could be an example of bias from an experiment?

1. The person was not accurate while collecting data.
2. The study that found a magic weight loss pill also makes it.
3. There was a large sample size used in the experiment.
4. The experiment has been replicated by many scientists several times.

11. _______ A hypothesis is

1. A proven answer
2. An educated guess
3. An idea
4. A testable question

12. _______Select the best hypothesis from the choices below:

1. I think that horses are faster than dogs because they have longer legs.
2. Horses are faster than dogs because they have longer legs.
3. If horses have longer legs than dogs, then they are faster than dogs.
4. If horses are faster than dogs, then they have longer legs than dogs.

13. _______ Tina wonders if her favorite animal, the ant, is found more often in the woods or in the fields of Minnesota. Which method would be the best way for him to investigate this question?

1. Collect ants and place them in a container with soil from a forest and place the other half in a container filled with soil from the field and see how big the ant colonies get.
2. Conduct a field study and survey (count) how many ants are found in the woods and how many are in the field.
3. Collect ants from the woods and the field and record how fast they grow. Give each set of ants different amounts of food and water.
4. Collect ants from the woods and the field and record how long they live. Give each set of ants the same amounts of food and water.

14. _____ What are scientists deciding when they draw conclusions?

         A. whether to put the data in a graph

         B. which factor is the variable

         C. whether the results support or reject the hypothesis

         D. which group should be the control group

15. _____ What do scientists usually do with their results?

         A. sell them

         B. share them

         C. put them away

         D. destroy them

16. _____ What is a representation of an object or system called?

         A. a model

         B. a prediction

         C. an observation

         D. a limitation

17. _____ What kind of model is made of numbers and equations?

         A. mathematical model

         B. scientific method

         C. physical model

         D. conceptual model

18. _____ What kind of scientific idea very rarely changes?

         A. an idea

         B. a discovery

         C. a hypothesis

         D. a law

Questions #19 - 26 are multiple choice and relate to the metric system. Write the letter of the correct answer in the space provided on the left.

19. _____ SI units are

         A. always based on standardized measurements of body parts.

         B. almost always based on the number 10.

         C. used only to measure weight.

         D. units that very few countries use.

20. _____ Which of the following is an advantage of the SI system of measurement?

         A. it is based on weight.

         B. it helps scientists share information more easily.

         C. is based on scientific reasoning..

         D. it works most of the time.

21. _____ Which of the following units is used for measuring length?

         A. grams

         B. meters

         C. liters

         D. kiloliter

22. _____ Which of the following units is used to measure volume?

         A. centimeter

         B. deciliter

         C. millimeter

         D. kilogram

23. _____Which of the following term refers to the amount of space an object takes up?

         A. length

         B. area

         C. volume

         D. mass

24. _____ Which of the following terms refers to the amount of matter in an object?

         A. length

         B. area

         C. volume

         D. mass

25. _______ Identify the mean of the following data:        2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9

1. 5
2. 5.5
3. 9
4. 82

26. _______ Identify the range of the following data:        2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 9, 9, 9

1. 4.8
2. 5
3. 7
4. 6

Questions #27 - 34 pertain to measurement. You will need the following objects to answer the questions: ruler, large paper clip, pen, and a piece of string. Be sure to include the unit in your answer.

27. How many millimeters long is the large paperclip? _____________

28. How many centimeters long is the large paperclip? _____________

29. How many millimeters long is the pen? _____________

30. How many centimeters long is the pen? _____________

31. How many millimeters long is the piece of string? _____________

32. How many centimeters long is the piece of string? _____________

33. How many millimeters long is this test? _____________

34. How many centimeters long is this test? _____________

For Questions #35 - 39 Complete the chart below by identifying the basic unit of measure and the abbreviation for each of the following types of measurements.

Measurement                                        Unit                                              Abbreviation

Length                                   35. ___________________                          ___________        

Liquid Volume                       36. ___________________                          ___________        

Solid Volume                         37. ___________________                          ___________

Mass                                     38. ___________________                          ___________

Temperature                         39. ___________________                          ___________

 Questions #40 - 41 are on metric unit conversions. Be sure to show your work for each problem (SI prefixes chart, movement of decimals, units). Circle or box your final answer.

40) Your sister made you 1.4 L of freshly squeezed fruit juice. How many milliliters of fruit juice has she made?

41) You have to walk 2.6 km to the movie theater to meet your friends. How many meters do you have to walk to get to the movie theatre?

For questions #42 - 45, match the correct measurement tool with the appropriate scenario. Select the corresponding letter (a-f) for the correct tool used in each question. Write the letter in the space provided.

^[1]                                                                   1                                                                                                    1

A. Thermometer                                          B. Ruler                                            C. Graduated cylinder        

 1                                                                1                                                                  1                                                                                                                                 

      D. Microscope                                      E. Stopwatch/Timer                                       F. Balance

42. _________ You are studying the rate of growth of a shark species. Which tool would you use to measure their mass at the beginning of the season and their mass at the end of the season?

43. _________ You are germinating (growing) 4 seeds and are trying to determine the effect of the amount of heat on seed growth. What tool would you use to measure the amount of heat each plant is getting?

44. _________ Bubbles are released from a water plant on the lake floor. Which measurement tool would you use to measure how far the bubbles travel from the plant to the surface of the water?

45. _________ You are doing an ecological study on the flower, Hollyhock, throughout Minnesota and are comparing the size of the flower’s pollen grains. What tool would you use to look at the pollen grains up close?

For Question #46, select the graph that best fits the scenario being described.

46. Which graph below shows a car slowing down to avoid hitting a deer, and then speeding back up again?

^[2]

Questions #47 is a short answer. Be sure to use complete sentences when answering the question.

What is the difference between scientific law and scientific theory?

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Questions #48 - 51 are short answer on the scientific method. Be sure to use complete sentences when answering the questions.

Imagine that you will be conducting an experiment that compares the growth of bean plants in different amounts of light. You are trying to answer the question: “How does the amount of light a bean plant receives affect how fast the bean plant grows?”

48. What is the independent variable? ________________________________

49. What is the dependent variable? __________________________________

50. Write a hypothesis for the question above. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

51. Describe how you would setup a controlled experiment to answer the question: “How does the amount of light a bean plant receives affect how fast the bean plant grows?” Be sure to include all of the parts required for it to be a controlled experiment!

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If necessary, draw a diagram of your experiment on the back of this page.