VOSI July 16, 2002

VOSI
Name: ______________________________ Date: ______________________________ The following questions are asking for your views related to science and scientific investigations. There are no right or wrong answers. Please answer each of the following questions. You can use all the space provided to answer a question and continue on the back of the pages if necessary. 1. What types of activities do scientists do to learn about the natural world? Be specific about how they go about their work.

2. What scientists choose to study and how they learn about the natural world may be influenced by a variety of factors. How do scientists decide what and how to investigate? Describe all the factors you think influence the work of scientists. Be as specific as possible.

VOSI July 16, 2002 3. (a) Write a definition of a scientific experiment? A scientific experiment is

(b) Give an example from something you have done or heard about in science that illustrates your definition of a scientific experiment.

(c) Explain why you consider your example to be a scientific experiment.

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4. A person interested in birds looked at hundreds of different types of birds who eat different types of food. He noticed that birds who eat similar types of food, tended to have similar shaped beaks. For example, birds who eat hard shelled nuts have short, strong beaks, and birds who eat insects from tide pools have long, slim beaks. He concluded that there is a relationship between beak shape and the type of food birds eat. (a) Do you consider this persons investigation to be scientific? Please explain why or why not.

(b) Do you consider this person's investigation to be an experiment? Please explain why or why not.

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5. Some people have claimed that all scientific investigations must follow the same general set of steps or method to be considered science. Others have claimed there are different general methods that scientific investigations can follow. (a) What do you think? Is there one scientific method or set of steps that all investigations must follow to be considered science? Circle one answer: Yes, there is one scientific method (set of steps) to science. No, there is more than one scientific method to science.

If you answered yes, go to (b) below. If you answered no, go to (c) below. (b) If you think there is one scientific method, what are the steps of this method?

(c) If you think that scientific investigations can follow more than one method, describe two investigations that follow different methods. Explain how the methods differ and how they can still be considered scientific.

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6. (a) If several scientists, working independently, ask the same question (for example, they all want to find out what Oregon looked like 10,000 years ago, or what the structure of a certain protein is), will they necessarily come to the same conclusions? Explain why or why not.

(b) Does your response to (a) change if the scientists are working together? Explain.

7. (a) If several scientists, working independently, ask the same question and follow the same procedures to collect data, will they necessarily come to the same conclusions? Explain why or why not.

(b) Does your response to (a) change if the scientists are working together? Explain.

VOSI July 16, 2002 8. (a) What does the word data mean in science?

(b) Is data the same or different from evidence ? Explain.

9. (a) What is data analysis ?

(b) What is involved in doing data analysis?

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10. Students in a science class investigated the relationship between the size and strength of rubber bands. The strength of the rubber band was determined by the amount of weight the rubber band could hold without breaking. The rubber bands differed only in length (2 in, 3 in, 4 in, 5 in, 6 in, 7 in). Each group stated their conclusions and reasons below. Which of their claims can be considered a valid scientific argument? Explain. A. Conclusion: The larger rubber bands are stronger than the smaller rubber bands. Reason: The 7-inch rubber bands held more weight than the 6-inch rubber band. Conclusion: The smaller rubber bands are stronger than the larger rubber bands. Reason: The 4-inch rubber bands held more weight than the 5-inch rubber band Conclusion: The smaller rubber bands are stronger than the larger rubber bands. Reason: The 4-inch rubber bands held more weight than the 5-inch rubber band. The 5-inch rubber bands held more weight than the 6-inch rubber band. The 2-inch rubber bands held the same weight as the 7-inch rubber band. Conclusion: The larger rubber bands are stronger than the smaller rubber bands. Reason: The 2-inch rubber bands held less weight than the 7-inch rubber band. The 3-inch rubber bands held less weight than the 6-inch rubber band.

B.

C.

D.