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Scientific Method & Engineering Process Flashcards

7 cards from real STEM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Scientific Method & Engineering Process flashcards as text

  1. A student collects reaction time data from 30 trials. Which measure of central tendency would best describe the typical result if several extreme outliers are present?

    Answer: Median

    The median is less affected by outliers than the mean, making it a better measure of central tendency when extreme values are present.

  2. Which characteristic makes a hypothesis 'testable' in a scientific investigation?

    Answer: It must be possible to design an experiment that could potentially prove it false

    Testability (falsifiability) means an experiment can be designed whose results could potentially contradict the hypothesis.

  3. A STEM teacher wants students to practice the full engineering design cycle in one class period. Which activity best achieves this?

    Answer: Building and testing egg-drop containers with limited materials, then redesigning based on results

    The egg-drop activity requires students to define constraints, design, build, test, and iterate — covering all phases of the engineering design cycle.

  4. When graphing experimental results, a student places the independent variable on the x-axis. Why is this convention used?

    Answer: It reflects the cause-and-effect relationship, showing how changes in the independent variable affect the dependent variable

    Placing the independent (manipulated) variable on the x-axis and the dependent variable on the y-axis visually represents the causal direction of the experiment.

  5. A class builds three versions of a water filter using different materials and measures turbidity of output water. Which element represents the dependent variable?

    Answer: The turbidity of the output water

    Turbidity of the output water is what changes in response to the filter material, making it the dependent (measured) variable.

  6. Which of the following best illustrates the concept of 'reproducibility' in scientific research?

    Answer: Multiple independent laboratories obtain consistent results using the same protocol

    Reproducibility means independent researchers can replicate an experiment and obtain consistent results, strengthening confidence in the findings.

  7. In STEM education, 'constraints' in a design challenge refer to which of the following?

    Answer: The limitations such as budget, materials, time, or size that restrict the design

    Constraints are the restrictions or limitations (e.g., cost, available materials, time) within which engineers must design their solutions.