Name: ______Partner: ______
Only you can help.. SAVE FRED!!!
(Reviewing the Scientific Method)
Our Wormy buddy, Fred, has been spending his summer boating around the Great Lakes. But he’s not too bright (after all, the brains of worms are pretty small): He’s never learned how to swim and he never wears his life preserver!!! (He could probably learn a few things about
safety from you 8th grade scientists!)
The worst has happened! His boat has capsized and he’s stuck! Fortunately, his life preserver is in the boat, but unfortunately he does not know how to reach it without falling off and drowning.
Use the Scientific Method to figure out the steps you and your partner will take to save Fred:
How can you and your partner save Fred using only 4 paper clips? You may not touch Fred, the boat, or the life preserver directly with your hands.
Step 1: Question:______
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Materials:
1 Gummy Worm
1 Gummy life preserver
1 Plastic Cup
4 Paper Clips
Step 2: Research: Make some observations about Fred and each of the materials listed above.
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Step 3: Hypothesis: With your partner, write down in one or two sentences how you two plan to save Fred. (Remember that a hypothesis is an ‘if-then’ statement: I think that if I do this, then this will happen)
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Step 4: Test your hypothesis: Brainstorm the specifics of how to execute the plan you stated in your hypothesis (You don’t need to write anything down for this step).
Step 5: Procedure: As you work with your partner to save Fred, remember to write what you did STEP BY STEP! Anyone should be able to read your procedure, follow it step by step, and get the same results as you did.
When saving Fred, remember to follow the rules:
1. You must get the life preserver out from under the boat (the cup) and it has to be put around Fred’s waist (his middle).
2. Fred, the boat, the life preserver can be touched only with the paper clips. NO HANDS.
3. DO NOT EAT FRED OR THE LIFE PRESERVER!! (Why would you EAT someone you’re trying to save????)
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- Once you have successfully gotten the life preserver around Fred’s waist, let your teacher know! Then go back and edit/re-write your procedure STEP BY STEP (how did you use the paper clips to get the life preserver from under the boat? how did you get it around his waist? Etc.) You are editing and re-writing your procedure because, chances are, you may have taken some extra steps that didn’t work or that you do not need, etc.
New Procedure:
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Step 6: Observe/Collect Data: Draw THREE pictures in the boxes below…
A. A picture of the set up before you saved Fred,
B. A picture of the set up during the saving procedure (Were the paper clips holding something? Etc)
C. A picture showing how Fred looked like when he was saved.
Step7: Conclusion: You and your partner will each write a summary of your experiment. It should include the following:
□Restate the question you were trying to answer.
□Explain the rules of the experiment
□ Was your Hypothesis on how to save Fred correct?
□ If it was not totally correct, how did you change your procedure to save Fred?
□ Analyze the data… there may be different ways to save Fred, but what steps do you think are critical for solving this problem?
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