Susan observed that different kinds and amounts of fossils were present in a cliff behind her house. She wondered if changes in fossil content occurred from the top to the bottom of the bank. She marked the bank at five positions: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 m from the surface. She removed 1 bucket of soil from each of the positions and determined the kind and number of fossils in each sample.
What is the independent variable?
What is the dependent variable?
What is one constant from the experiment?
What is one control from the experiment
The independent variable in this experiment is the position of the sample along the bank (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 m).
The dependent variable is the kind and number of fossils in each sample.
One constant from the experiment is that Susan removed the same amount of soil (1 bucket) from each position.
One control from the experiment could be a sample taken from an unaffected area, without any cliffs or bank, to compare the fossil content to the samples taken from the bank.
The independent variable in this experiment is the position or depth along the bank (5, 10, 15, 20, 25 m from the surface).
The dependent variable is the kind and number of fossils in each sample.
One constant from the experiment could be the size of the bucket used to collect soil from each position.
One control from the experiment could be a sample of soil collected from a position that is not part of the marked positions (e.g., a random position nearby), to compare with the samples collected from the marked positions.