1. Pre-Lab Questions Identify problem/ form an experimental question This is what you want to solve!! How does the circumference of the balloon (amount of air in the balloon) affect flight time of balloon?

2. Independent Variable This is what you manipulate or change in the experiment For example: Circumference of the balloon (Amount of air in the balloon)

3. Dependent Variable The responding variable For example: Flight time of balloon The dependent variable DEPENDS on the independent variable!

4. Control Variables (constants) The control is the standard against which the researcher compares the results from each treatment group (level) in the experiment For example: Where you drop the balloon from How you release the balloon (did you throw it?) How you start and stop the stopwatch Can you think of any others??

5. Hypothesis An “educated guess” Should be testable If/then format -If I increase the circumference of the balloon, then the flight time of the balloon will increase.

6. The Scientific Method

7. Observation You make an observation – Identify problem/ form an experimental question – This is what you want to solve!! For example: Same wondered if the stain remover, Oxyclean really worked so he decided to do an experiment Experimental Question: How does Oxyclean affect the removal of stains from clothes?

8. Hypothesis An “educated guess” Should be testable If/then format If Oxyclean works better than regular detergent then stained clothes soaked in Oxyclean will be cleaner than those soaked in regular laundry detergent

9. Experiment Procedure Dip three equal size strips of white cloth in 10 mL red Koolaid for 10 seconds Wring the excess Koolaid out of the cloth and allow them to dry out Place 1 liter of water in each of the three bowls Add 15 g of Oxyclean to bowl A Add 15 g of laundry detergent to bowl B Do not add any type of cleaner to bowl C …..

10. Analyze Data When Sam compared the clothes he found that the cloth in bowl C (nothing added)was the most red. Both cloths from bowls A (Oxyclean) and B (regular laundry detergent) were the same color Sam did not notice a difference in bowls A and B (Oxyclean vs. regular laundry detergent)

11. Conclusion Sam decided Oxyclean didn’t work