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| a systematic way of trying to answer a question, involving asking questions, coming up with possible answers and doing experiments to see if those answers are correct. |
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| information gathered through any of your five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting |
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any tool that is used to help us solve problems or do work.
Computers are technology but so is a screwdriver |
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| a possible answer to a scientific question, based on your knowledge of the subject and your best thinking skills |
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| manipulated (independent) variable |
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| the ONE THING that the scientist deliberately changes in the experiment, so he/she can see what will happen |
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| what the scientist watches for change in, after he/she has changed the manipulated variable. It is the "effect" in the "cause and effect" |
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| things that experimenter try to keep the same all throughout an experiment; without constants, you don't REALLY know "why" there is a change in the dependent variable |
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| in some experiments, there is one group that gets no change at all in the manipulated variable...in other words they are just observed, they don't have anything change in the manipulated variable |
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| any of the information that comes from observations |
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a combination of data and using your thinking skills.
"The juice is purple" is an observation. "It is grape juice" is an inference, based on both seeing that the juice is purple and your knowledge that purple juice is often grape juice. |
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| a summary of what you found out in your experiment; it is a combination of the data andyour inferences you make |
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| an object that helps you to understand things that are too small or too large to be observed easily. You can use models of cells to compare animal and plant cells, or you can use a model of a skyscraper to test how well a building can handle an earthquake |
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