Name _________________________________ Class Period ____________________ Date __________

SIMPSON SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Smithers believes that Identify the:
his workers at the
1. Hypothesis
factory could be more
productive. He thinks The special juice will increase the productivity o workers.
_________________________________________
that a special juice
will increase the 2. Control Group
productivity of
B
_________________________________________
workers. He selects two groups of 50
workers each and assigns each group the 3. Experimental Group
same task (in this case, they’re supposed
A
_________________________________________
to staple a set of papers). Group A is given
a special juice to drink while they work.
4. Independent Variable
Group B is not given the special juice.
After an hour, Smithers counts how many Juice
_________________________________________
stacks of paper each group has made.
Group A made 6,587 stacks, Group B 5. Dependent Variable
made 1,113 stacks. Stacks
_________________________________________

6. What should Smithers conclusion be?

Hes hypothesis was right.
_________________________________________

Homer suddenly 7. What was Homer’s initial observation?

notices that the walls He noticed that hes shower are covered in a strange green slime.
_________________________________________
of his shower are
covered in a strange Identify the:
green slime. His
friend Barney tells 8. Hypothesis
him that coconut juice
_________________________________________
Coconut juice will get rid of the green slime.
will get rid of the
green slime. Homer 9. Control Group
decides to test this out by spraying half of
the shower with coconut juice every day. Water
_________________________________________
He sprays the other half of the shower with
10. Independent Variable
water. After 3 days of "treatment" there is
no change in the amount of green slime on Coconut Juice
_________________________________________
either side of the shower.
11. Dependent Variable
Green slime
_________________________________________

12. What should Homer's conclusion be?

Hes hypothesis was wrong.

_________________________________________
 Bart believes that Identify the:
mice exposed to
13. Hypothesis
microwaves will
become extra Mice exposed to microwaves will become extra strong.
_________________________________________
strong (maybe he's
been reading too 14. Control Group
much Radioactive
microwave
_________________________________________
Man). He decides
to perform an 15. Experimental Group
experiment by
placing 10 mice in the microwave for 10 _________________________________________
non-microwave
seconds. He then compared the
16. Independent Variable
performance of these 10 mice to another
10 mice that had not been exposed to the 7 out 10
_________________________________________
microwaves. His test consisted of a heavy
block of wood that blocked the mouse from 17. Dependent Variable
food. He found that 8 out of 10 of the
_________________________________________
8 out of 10
microwaved mice were able to push the
block away to get to the food. 7 out of 10 18. What should Bart's conclusion be?
of the non-microwaved mice did the same.
Hes hypothesis was right
_________________________________________

19. What are the ethical considerations of this

experiment?

_________________________________________

Krusty the Clown Identify the:

was told that a
20. Hypothesis
certain itching
powder was the Itching powder was the newest best thing on the market
_________________________________________
newest best thing it even claims to cause 50% longer itches.
on the market; it 21. Control Group
even claims to
_________________________________________
A
cause 50% longer
lasting itches. 22. Experimental Group
Interested in this
product, he buys _________________________________________
expe
the itching powder and compares it to his
23. Independent Variable
usual product. One test subject (A) is
sprinkled with the original itching powder, _________________________________________
original itching powder
and another test subject (B) is sprinkled
with the Experimental itching power. 24. Dependent Variable
Subject A reported having itches for 30
_________________________________________
minutes, Subject B reported to have itches
for 45 minutes. 25. Did the claims of the new product meet the
experiment outcome? Did it meet expectations?

_________________________________________