WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

Research 7, Quarter 2 Week 6

SIMPLE SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS

Learning Competency:

Design a simple science experiment. (MELC SSP-RS7-IPS-II-1-14)

Time Allotment: 4 days

Learning Objective:

1. Discuss the different types of experiments.

2. Give the characteristics in designing a simple experiment.
3. Appreciate the importance of understanding an experiment.

Key Concepts

• An experiment is a set of manipulations or specific observations of nature

and is considered the most important part of the scientific method. It is
done to answer the research question or investigate a problem. There are
three types of experiments, namely; controlled, natural and field
experiments.

• Controlled Experiment generally compares results obtain from an

experiment sample against the control sample. Under this type, the
observer tests a hypothesis by looking for changes brought about by
alteration to a variable.
Example: Let's say you want to know if the type of soil affects
how long it takes a seed to germinate, and you decide to set up a
controlled experiment to answer the question. You might take five
identical pots, fill each with a different type of soil, plant identical bean
seeds in each pot, place the pots in a sunny window, water them
equally, and measure how long it takes for the seeds in each pot to
sprout. This is a controlled experiment because your goal is to keep
every variable constant except the type of soil you use.
You control these features.

o A variable is a characteristics, number, or quantity that

increases or decreases over time or take different values in
different situations. It is anything that you can change or control

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 in an experiment. There are three (3) kinds of variable in an
experiment.

o Controlled Variable are kept in constant. They do not receive

any treatment. In your previous experiment, the controlled
variable are the amount of water and the sunlight received by
plants, the temperature, the amount and type of soil, the size of
the pot where the tomato seeds have been plant.

o Independent Variable are the factors that you change or alter

during the experiment. These variables cause corresponding
effect on other variable. The amount or the presence of nitrogen
fertilizer is considered as the independent variable in our
experiment.

o Dependent Variable are those that you observe and are

considered the response to an independent variable. These
include the growth of the plants in terms of height, number of
leaves, and other characteristics.

• Natural experiments or quasi-experiments are those that rely solely

on observations of variables of the system under study. Here, the
observer does not manipulate any variable but simply collect all the
possible data to determine the factors affecting a particular
phenomenon.
In astronomy for example, an astronomer who wishes to test
hypothesis which states that “sun rays are collapsed clouds of
hydrogen” cannot employ a controlled experiment but will only resort
to observation of various clouds of hydrogen in various steps of
collapsed and other related information.

• Field Experiment is the third type and is named to draw a contrast

with laboratory experiments. It examines the real world using scientific
method and often used in social sciences such as political science,
economics and psychology.
Example: How does childrearing differ across social classes?
Approximately one month each participating and observing in the
homes and lives of 12 different families.

• To genuinely test the hypothesis, the experiment should be a “fair test”

a phrase that describes a scientifically valid experiment. Fair testing
occurs when you change only one factor at a time while keeping other
conditions the same.

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 • A fair test is where you test the influence of one variable on the other
without other variables interfering with the investigation. A fair test
ensures that your data is reliable. The part of the experiment without
the variable being tested is called the control group. The part that
contains the variable being tested is called the experimental setup.
The control group is necessary for comparison.

• Characteristics in designing a simple experiment

1. Is as simple as possible.
2. Shows the direction of better results.
3. Permits conclusions that have wide validity.
4. Gives results that are easy to interpret.
5. Includes the plan for analysis and reporting of the results.
6. Enables the experimenter to detect important differences.
7. Provides unbiased estimates of the factor effects and associated
uncertainties.

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