Scientist’s Name: _________________________________ Class: 8__ Date: ______________

1. Work Hard. Get Smart. HW-5 Scientist’s Name: _________________________________ Class: 8__ Date: ______________ Mrs. Bouchard – 8th Grade Science Scientific Method: Experimental Design Directions: Read the description of the experiment and try to identify the variables. Use the definitions below to help you. Use complete sentences. Independent Variable: The variable you are testing, the variable that you control. Dependent Variable: Changes because of the change in the independent variable. It is the variable you are measuring. Control: The variables that need to stay constant. They do not change. Tom Brady notices that he throws the ball better during some games. Coach thinks that Tom Brady throws the ball farther when he wears his white jersey. The players all think that Tom Brady throws the ball better when he wears his blue jersey. Tom decides to test this and plays 5 games wearing his blue jersey. He then plays 5 games wearing his white jersey. His passes were farther during the games when he wore his white jersey. It turns out that Tom also ate pancakes for breakfast on the days that he wore his white jersey and he ate eggs on the days that he wore his blue jersey. Now, what are the independent variables? What is wrong with this experiment? What should Tom do to improve this experiment?