Data and Evidence
5th Grade Science · 9 lessons
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Lessons
- 1Splitting Light with a PrismLight behaves as both a wave and a particle. White light can be separated into a spectrum of colors using a prism. Each color has a different wavelength.Lesson
- 2Fair Tests and Controlled VariablesA fair test changes one thing at a time and holds everything else steady. If you change the ramp angle and the ball at once, a difference in distance tells you nothing about which change caused it.Experiment
- 3Choosing the Right GraphA bar chart compares separate categories; a line graph shows how one continuous quantity changes with another; a scatter plot looks for a relationship between two measurements. Choosing wrongly hides the pattern you measured.Lesson
- 4Repeats, Means and ReliabilityOne measurement can be wrong by accident. Taking three or more repeats and using the mean reduces the effect of random scatter, and comparing the repeats tells you how much to trust the mean.Experiment
- 5Reading Someone Else's DataBefore trusting a graph, check three things: what is on each axis, what the units are, and where the scale starts. A bar chart whose axis begins at 90 rather than 0 can make a tiny difference look enormous.Lesson
- 6Evidence Versus OpinionEvidence is a measurement or observation anyone could repeat. An opinion is a preference. Both are legitimate, but only evidence settles a scientific question, and mixing the two is the commonest fault in a written conclusion.Lesson
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