Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___

Experimental Design and Graphing Review

Read the situation below and design an experiment.
John Smith has been hired by the city of Virginia Beach to investigate the recent shark attacks off the resort’s
coast. He has a budget of $40,000, a 25 foot boat, and three graduate student assistants to help him. A helicopter
has also been donated by a local television station, should he need one.

1. List 2 hypotheses John and his crew may have come up with for the recent shark attacks.
a. If We kill the sharks, then everyone will be safe to go swimming

b. If We buy shark killing supplies, then we kill the sharks

2. What materials will John need to perform this experiment (How will they spend the $40,000?). They will
spend the money on Guns/Ammo, and other stuff

3. Where should they perform the experiment (Hint: Where do sharks like to live)?ocean

4. Pick one of the two hypotheses and determine the following:

a. Control Group: Humans

b. Experimental Group: Sharks

c. Dependent Variable: Number of sharks declining

d. Independent Variable: The amount of sharks

e. Contstants: John

5. What type of data do you think John will collect (What will be the results of the experiment?)?
Idk its his decision

6. What conclusions will John be able to make from the results of the experiment? That sharks die to certain
weapons

Deconstruct an Experiment – 15-year-old scares away garden-eating slugs

Carefully read the information about the experiment and then answer the questions:

A May 16, 2014, article at the ScienceNewsforStudents website of the Society for Science and the Public
explains how 15 year-old Katie Gwalteny of Georgia tested her own idea of how to discourage grey garden slugs
from eating her plants. Katie wanted a humane way to deter the slugs without harming the plants or soil in her
backyard garden. Through researching slug behavior she realized that she might be able to take advantage of
their territorial behavior. Here is a summary of her experiment:

First Katie collected many grey garden slugs from her garden. Then she bought 50 strawberry plants – a plant
that these slugs are known to eat. She divided the plants into two groups. One group had plain water poured
over them and the other group had slug-slimy water poured over them. Katie made slug-slimy water by having
some of the slugs crawl all over filter paper; as the slugs move around they leave a slime trail on the paper. Then
she poured water through the filter paper and collected the now slimy-slug water in a container. Next, Katie
placed a slug in each pot. She recorded whether the slug moved toward or away from the strawberry plant. Her
results were that around 50% of slugs moved towards the plain-water plants; however, only 5% of the slugs
moved toward the slug-slimy-water plants.
 Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___
1. Independent Variable (what was changed in the experiment)
____slugs moved to slimy water plants

2. Dependent Variable (what was measured in the experiment)

__Slugs kept at plain water plants_

3. Is there a control group in this experiment? If yes, explain what it is:

Yes, The slugs moved toward to slimy water

4. Describe the experimental group.

The 5% of slugs moved toward slug slimy water plants

5. How many trials were conducted? 5

6. Write an experimental question for this research – the question must include the independent and dependent
variables.
What would happen if the slugs all moved towards plain water plants

7. After forming an experimental question it is time to construct a hypothesis about what you think could be the
outcome of the experiment. A formal hypothesis shows the potential relationship between the dependent variable
and the independent variable. Fill in the blanks to complete a plausible formal hypothesis for this experiment:

8. In order to be able to establish if there is a relationship between slug-slime on plant leaves and slug behavior
many variables had to be held constant throughout the experiment. In the space provided, list 3 variables that
would need to be held constant regarding the slugs and the plants.
Plant Constants Slug Constants
nothing
nothing
nothing nothing

nothing
nothing

9. The article does not tell us for how long Katie waited after pouring slug-slime or plain water over the plants to
test whether the slugs would move toward or away from the plant. Explain how the length of time between the
two events could possibly affect the results.
_____It couldn’t have been over a day but I could have been over 10 minutes
________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
 Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___
_____________________________________________________________________________

10. Katie conducted 25 trials for each type of water poured over the plants. Look back at the percentages of
slugs that did not move toward the strawberry plants. Imagine that she had only used 5 plants for the control
group and experimental group. Do you think she would have collected reliable data to make any conclusions
about the efficacy of her slug-slime water?
________No_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

12. This technique seemed to work for grey garden slugs (Deroceras reticulatum), does this mean that the same
technique could be used to deter all species of slug that are garden pests? Explain your answer.
________I can not explain my answers.
__________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Graphing Practice
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___

1.
 Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___

2. Using the graph to the right, answer the following questions:

a. Which type of graph is pictured?

_______Line graph__________
b. On day 12, how tall was the plant kept in the sun for 3 hours?
____32cm__________
c. According to the graph, what is the most idea; daily amount of sunlight for
sunflowers?
__6 hours____________

3. Write a proper scientific data analysis for the graph below.

 Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________ Period: ___

4. The scatter plot below represents the line of people waiting for the bus stop
plotted by their age and height. Identify which dot goes with which passenger.

5. The __________independent____________ variable is what is being measured in a

graph.
5. The _________dependent_____________ variable is what is being changed
(manipulated) in your graph.
5. Typically, the x-axis includes the ____independent____________ variable, and the y-
axis includes the ________dependent_______________ variable.
5. If one variable increases, and the other decreases, this is known as a/n
________something____________________ relationship.
5. If both variables increase or decrease together, this is known as a/n
________someone____________ relationship.