A fortune teller fish is a small piece of plastic shaped like a fish. When placed on a person’s hand, it appears to “come alive,” curling, flipping, or moving in different ways. 

Task:
Design an experiment to investigate one factor that may affect the movement of a fortune teller fish.

In your design, be sure to:

1) Predict: What caused the “fortune teller” fish to move in your palm?

2) Identify the independent variable that causes the fish to move

3) State a clear hypothesis, using an IF_____THEN_______ statement  predicting what you think will happen.

4) Identify the dependent variable 

5) List the controlled variables

1. Validity : The experimental setup was good. The experiment measures what it claims to measure.  

2. Reliability : The results will be the same if the experiment is repeated by others. It is consistent. 

3. Peer Review: Scientists read and review each other’s work by using peer reviewed scientific journal

4. Bias: The tendency to favor some results or explanation over others. 

_________________________________________________________________

How can we evaluate whether a study is valid, reliable and well designed?

• Sample size is very important in evaluating the reliability and validity of a study.   Sample size relates to how many subjects in each group.  (People = at least 1000. Plants/Animals = at least 100)

•  Repeated trials 

• Trials conducted over a longer period of time.

• repeatable (replicated) by another scientist to produce the same result.

• Only a single independent variable should be tested at a time.

• There should also be a control group for comparison as well as experimental groups[s].

• Conclusions should be supported by the data; 

Researchers wanted to investigate how different amounts of water affect seed germination. They took 20 identical bean seeds and divided them into two groups: Group A received the normal amount of water daily (1 gallon), while Group B received 2 gallons of water . After one week, the researchers recorded how many seeds had germinated in each group.

Task:

Identify the following parts of the experiment:

1. Hypothesis

2. Independent Variable

3. Dependent Variable

4. Controlled Variables

5. Control Group

6. Experimental Group