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General Science and Teaching

The dependent variable and how to teach it

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Danielle Grey Danielle Grey 1425 Points

I have been a teacher for six years now, and now that I am teaching the scientific method, I am continuously looking for exciting ways to teach it. I believe the old method of having a science fair and letting a student test which brand of paper towels is the best, is not the best way to reach our students in today's world. I had an idea of letting my students create their own birdfeeder, or a squirrel feeder, and figuring out a way to measure how much food was eaten from the feeder. I would love to know other ideas on how to teach dependent and independent variables, along with the scientific method.

Mary Bigelow Mary Bigelow 10285 Points

The idea of investigating the relationship between birds and what type of seeds they eat is an interesting one. Years ago, I participated in a citizen science project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's seed preference study. The location of the feeder, type of feeder, time of day, what species of bird was attracted, type of seed, etc could all be investigated with the measure of how much seed was consumed as the dependent variable. The Corneyoull Lab may have some resources to get ur started on this, and they have a journal in which students can publishe there results. Local Audubon societies may be able to help with purchasing bird seed. Good luck! I'd love to hear about your study!

Anthony Super Anthony 20 Points

Hello,

It's great to hear that you're looking for innovative ways to engage your students with the scientific method! I think you can have students plant seeds in different soil types or expose them to varying light conditions. They can measure growth over time and analyze which conditions yield the best results. Or you can use a ruler drop test or reaction time apps to measure how different stimuli affect reaction time. Students can record and analyze their findings.

Anthony Super Anthony 20 Points

Hope that my answer is useful for you.

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