Variables and Hypothesis

Does the presence of frogs indicate whether the pond is healthy?

Abstract

Have you ever heard the expression "a canary in a coal mine"? In the 1900's and earlier, coal miners brought canaries with them into the mines to act as early warning signals. The canaries were very sensitive to low levels of dangerous gases, so if the birds stopped singing, or got sick, then the miners knew to leave immediately, even if they felt fine. As it turns out, our froggy friends are also very helpful at signaling problems, not in mines, but in and around bodies of water. Try this environmental science fair project to find out how.

Objective

To determine the percentage of malformed frogs in a local pond and determine if it is greater than what is expected for a healthy pond.

Credits

Kristin Strong, Science Buddies

Independent Variable 

Frogs

Dependent Variable 

Pond Health

Hypothesis 

A healthy pond would be beneficial to frogs, thus there would be more frogs in that pond if the pond is healthy.
Since an unhealthy pond would be dangerous to frogs, lesser frogs would stay in an unhealthy pond.

Jericho's Post on the scientific method

The scientific method is a method where perseverance is required. This is due to the fact that there a quite a number of procedures and also this procedure requires redoing if the hypothesis does not match the results.. As they say, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Zahid's Post on the scientific method

The scientific Method uses common sense and also creative thinking in order to make hypothesis that are sometimes senseless but might work and also requires many tries and

Hypothesis and variables

Solid Motor Rocket Propulsion

Abstract

What does it take to launch a satellite to explore Mars, or a mission to the moon? This project has several possible variations for exploring the physics of rockets. This is rocket science!

Objective

The objective of this project is to measure changes in a rocket's performance based on differences in the rocket's motor.

Credits

(1) Barber, Trip. "Model Rocketry in Science Fairs." National Association of Rocketry. http://nar.org/pdf/science_fair_rocketry.pdf, accessed October 2, 2004.

Independent variable

The type or motor used for the rocket

Dependent variable

The speed of the rocket

Hypothesis

The more powerful the motor, the faster the rocket will move.

Cheng Feng's post on the Scientific Method

The scientific method is sort of a trial an error method. This is because if you fail an experiment,  you can keep trying out different experiments, until you succeed.

Roles in the team

Leaders - Cheng Feng
Video IC - Jericho
Poster, Blog poster - Zahid