Instructions
1) You do not need to type in your name in the space in the top-left area
above. The results of this study guide will not be sent to your teacher.
2) Carefully read each
question and all the answer choices.
3) Select the correct letter from the drop-down feature to
the left of each question.
4) When you are finished, click the “Check Your
Work” button in the bottom-left corner of the page.
5) The software will grade your work,
and then it will show you the results. Note that the correct answer will be displayed beneath the
questions.
6) Keep doing the study guide over until you earn a 100 on it.
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1.
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A biology student is studying ways to grow crops in soils that are high in salts
and other dissolved solids. To determine whether corn plants can tolerate salty soil conditions, she
grows 50 corn plants in typical garden soil and 50 corn plants in the same garden soil with 0.01
kilograms of salt added to it. After 6 weeks, the corn plants grown in salty soil were the same mass
and height as the corn plants grown in non-salty garden soil. The student concluded that salt had no
effect on the growth of corn.
What comment would you make to the student regarding her
experimental design and conclusion?
a. | Although the conclusion is valid, next time the student might want to grow corn in
plots with different water and temperature conditions as well. | b. | The conclusion is
not valid. Increasingly high amounts of salt should have been added to more corn plants for
comparison. | c. | The student should have used more plants in each sample group; the larger the sample
size, the more valid the results. |
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2.
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A student conducted an experiment to determine if
drinking an energy drink (Red Bull) could enable you to run faster. So she asked ten 8th grade
students to act as an experimental group.
---Each student ran 10m as fast as they could
after drinking 355mL (12oz) of energy drink.
---All three trials were conducted in the gym, and
for each trial the temperature was the same.
---For each trial the cans of Red Bull were at the
same temperature.
Three trials shown below
1st Trial: Day 01, Time: 8:00 A.M., run 20m
after drinking Red Bull energy drink
2nd Trial: Day 02, Time: 8:00 A.M., run 20m after drinking
Red Bull Monster energy drink
3rd Trial: Day 03, Time: 8:00 A.M., run 20m after drinking Red
Bull energy drink
After the third trial, she reviewed the data,and she concluded that energy
drinks do not enable you to run faster.
Identify the most significant error in her
experimental procedure.
a. | She did not do a control
trial. | b. | She used different amounts of energy drink in each
trial. | c. | She only used one type of energy
drink. |
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3.
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A student investigated how the mass of a plastic disk affected its motion. The
student pushed five similar plastic disks, each with a different mass, across a wooden floor. The
student recorded the distance each disk traveled. The investigation was repeated five times. The
student concluded there was no relationship between mass and distance traveled.
Which of these
best describes an error in the investigation?
a. | The student should have pushed the disks across different
surfaces. | b. | The student performed too few trials. | c. | The student failed to control the amount of
force applied. |
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4.
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Students hypothesized that their normal pulse rates would double after doing 2
minutes of fast paced exercise like sit-ups. After completing three trials, four students
averaged their individual rates and recorded their results in the table shown below. Student | Average Pulse Rate After 3 Trials | 1 | 120 beats/min | 2 | 98
beats/min | 3 | 135 beats/min | 4 | 110 beats/min | | |
Based on the data above, a conclusion cannot be
made because...?a. | The variability in pulse rates among the students is too great. | b. | Control data of
normal pulse rates for each individual are missing. | c. | The exercise was not strenuous enough to affect
the pulse rates. |
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5.
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A gardener performs an experiment to determine which kind of soil results in the
greatest increase in growth. He grows three plants in equal amounts of soil, but each plant is placed
in a different type of soil as shown in the table below. The three plants are given 4 milliters of
water every day for 20 days. He uses three different types of plants as shown below.During the same
20 day period, he also conducted a control experiment by growing the same type of plants in a
synthetic soil. | Soil 01 | Clay | Plant
type | Rose | | Soil 02 | Sand | Plant type | Tulip | | Soil 03 | Peat | Plant type | Marigold | | | | |
Identify the error in the gardener’s experimental
procedure.a. | too many dependent variables | b. | did not conduct a control experiment
| c. | too many independent variables |
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6.
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The table below shows researcher’s data from an investigation designed to
determine which sponge shape absorbs the greatest volume of water. Based on the data, the
researchers stated that the irregular-shaped sponge absorbed the greatest volume of water.
Researchers plan to market the irregular-shaped sponge as super absorbent. What is wrong with the
researcher’s interpretation of the data?a. | The researchers should have tested more types of sponges. | b. | The researchers
should have tested the sponges in different types of liquids. | c. | The researchers did
not record the dry mass or volume of each sponge. |
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7.
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Brandon was interested in learning which
brand of soccer ball would travel the farthest when kicked. Brandon’s dad worked at the factory
where Adidas soccer balls are made, and he gave him a brand new Adidas soccer ball to use. Then
Brandon purchased three used soccer balls from garage sales (Nike, Puma, and Wilson).
---He placed all the soccer balls on the same line on a soccer field. Then he ran 15 meters
towards each soccer ball as fast as he could, and he then kicked it as hard as he could.
Results are displayed below.
| Kicker
| Soccer
Ball
Brand | Distance | | | Brandon | Adidas | 42 meters | | Brandon | Nike | 35 meters | | Brandon | Puma | 33 meters | | Brandon | Wilson | 30 meters | | | | | |
Identify a
possible bias and/or error in this experiment.
a. | Bias: Brandon likes to play soccer, but he should
have used balls from other sports too.
Error: He
did not record all of his data. | b. | Bias: He
may favor the Adidas brand because his dad makes them.
Error: The Adidas ball was brand new, but the other balls were
used. | c. | Bias: His least favorite soccer player uses Nike
balls, so he did not kick it as hard as the others.
Error: He did not write out his
hypothesis. |
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8.
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The table below shows data used to calculate the speed of 4 identical toy cars
moving down a ramp. Which part of
the experiment is most likely the source of error in this investigation?a. | Timer | b. | Distance | c. | Car
type |
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9.
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A student was curious about the connection between body weight and how fast
someone can run. So on a clear sunny day with no wind, he weighed 10 cross country runners.
Then each runner raced a distance of 5 miles. He timed each runner and was surprised that there
appeared to be no clear connection between body weight and speed over that distance. Later, he
realized that he had overlooked something that caused his conclusion to be wrong.
Which choice
below best displays an error in the experiment?
a. | He did not consider the time of day and the weather. | b. | He did not consider
hydration levels and/or their muscle, bone, and fat ratios. | c. | The student should
have used only one runner in his experimental group. |
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10.
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A student wanted to find out if marbles with larger
diameter made deeper craters when dropped into wet sand than marbles with smaller diameters. The
table below shows the student’s data.
 The student concluded marble diameter had
no affect on crater depth.
Which is the most likely reason this conclusion is
flawed?
a. | The student should have used marbles that had the same
mass. | b. | The student should have used more than four
marbles. | c. | The student should have dropped the marbles in flour
instead of sand. |
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