Term | Definition |
OBSERVATION | use of senses to gather information
touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing |
INFERENCE | interpretation based on past experience or prior knowledge
based on observation |
HYPOTHESIS | explanation for observations
if...then... statement |
THEORY | well tested explanation that unifies many observations |
VARIABLE | factor that CHANGES in an experiement |
CONTROL | factor that remains the same |
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE | variable that is being changed in an experiment (x-axis) |
DEPENDENT VARIABLE | variable that is being measured or observed in an experiment (y-axis) |
QUALITATIVE | data collected that is based on observations
=quality...colors, smell, textures, tastes |
QUANTITATIVE | data collected that is based on measurements
=quantity...height, mass,density,speed, temperatures |
INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF MEASUREMENT | the metric system
unit based on multiples of 10 measuring length, mass, volume |
METER | (m) base unit to measure length |
LITER | (L) base unit to measure volume |
GRAM | (g) base unit to measure mass |