Term | Definition |
hypothesis | An educated guess/prediction about what will happen based on what you already know and what you have already learned from your research. |
inference | A tentative explanation based on background knowledge and available data. |
prediction | A forecast about what may happen in some future situation, based on the application of factual information and principles and the recognition of trends and patterns. |
experiment | A fair test driven by a hypothesis. |
conclusion | A summary statement based on the results of an investigation. Scientific conclusions are based on verifiable observations. |
dependent variable | The factor in an experiment that changes as a result of the manipulation of the independent variable. |
independent variable | The factor in an experiment that is altered by the experimenter. It is purposely changed on manipulated. |
constants | the things that are purposefully kept the same throughout the experiment. |
scientific prediction | a forecast about what may happen in some future situation, based on the application of factual information and principles and the recognition of trends and patterns. |
classification key | an important tool used to help identify objects and organisms. |
mass | the amount of matter in an object. |
volume | the amount of space occupied by an object. |
milliliter | a unit of liquid volume. |
length | the distance between two points. |
millimeter | one-thousandth of a meter and 1/10 of a centimeter. |
centimeter | a unit of length in the metric system; one-hundredth of a meter, or about two-fifths of an inch, about the width of a large clip. |
meter | a unit for measuring metric length; is equal to about 1 yard. |
kilometer | a metric unit and is a little smaller than 1 mile. |
temperature | measure of how hot or cold something is. |
degrees | units of temperature. |
Celsius | metric unit for temperature |
estimation | method of making an educated guess at a measurement. |