See attached
Scientific Method Worksheet
Read the following descriptions of experiments and answer the questions about them. You do not
need to actually perform any of these experiments, just answer questions about their design.
Experiment
You want to determine which disinfecting spray kills off more germs, Clorox or Lysol. You
spray two counters with juice from raw chicken. Then you spray one counter with Clorox and
one with Lysol. After the solutions dry, you wipe a cotton ball on the Clorox counter and then
wipe it onto a petri dish. You do the same with the Lysol counter and wipe it onto a separate
petri dish. You let the plates grow bacteria for several days, then count which plate has more
colonies of bacteria.
Questions
Name the Independent and Dependent Variables from the experiment above.
Name two good Control Variables you would keep track of in this experiment.
This experiment needs a Positive Control Experiment. (This means at least one more counter
and petri dish.) Describe what you would do to confirm that you can measure your experiment is
working as expected.
Create a hypothesis for this experiment. Remember that a good hypothesis doesn’t have to be
right, it just has to follow the rules. (Which spray will kill off bacteria best?)
Tutoring and Test Taking
Experiment
You want to see how much additional tutoring helps Biology students. You choose 10 students
at random from a Biology class and assign them 2 hours of extra tutoring each week. You then
give all students a test and determine the average scores for the tutoring and non-tutoring groups.
Questions
Name the Independent and Dependent Variables from the experiment above.
Name two good Control Variables you would keep track of in this experiment.
This experiment already has a Negative Control Experiment built into it. What was the Negative
Control Experiment?
Create a hypothesis for this experiment.
Best Fertilizer for Corn
Experiment
You want to determine which fertilizer makes corn plants grow the tallest, Miracle Grow, Scotts,
or Pennington. You plant rows of corn and treat each row with a different type of fertilizer. You
measure the average height for each row after 10 weeks.
Questions
Name the Independent and Dependent Variables from the experiment above.
Name two good Control Variables you would keep track of in this experiment.
This experiment needs a Control Experiment added to it. Is it a Positive Control or Negative
Control that you need to add? Describe what you would do.
Create a hypothesis for this experiment.
Design Experiment – Best Laundry Detergent
Describe your experiment with laundry detergent in the space below.
Name the Independent and Dependent Variables from the experiment above.
Name two good Control Variables you would keep track of in this experiment.
Does your experiment have Negative or Positive Control Experiments? If so, what are they? If
not, why don’t you need them?
Favorite Soft Drink
Create a hypothesis for this experiment.
Design Experiment – Favorite Soft Drink
Describe your experiment about soft drink preference in the space below.
Name the Independent and Dependent Variables from the experiment above.
Name two good Control Variables you would keep track of in this experiment.
Does your experiment have Negative or Positive Control Experiments? If so, what are they? If
not, why don’t you need them?
Create a hypothesis for this experiment.
TURN IN WORKSHEET
Your instructor will tell you how to turn in your completed worksheet and what
grade it will contribute to. It is important to study your results for quizzes and
exams.
