Identifying Variables Worksheet

Instructions: Read the question, hypothesis and experiment. Identify the variables for each example.

Experiment #1
Question: Does penicillin prevent infection?
Hypothesis: If the medicine prevents infection, than the medicine will prevent the growth of bacteria that cause
infection.
Experiment: Leo placed two circles of paper in a Petri dish (something used for growing bacteria). One circle
of paper was soaked in penicillin. The other had nothing on it. He poured a liquid filled with bacteria into the
Petri dish. Both circles of paper were placed in the Petri dish about 3cm apart.
At the end of the experiment, a circle with a radius of 2cm formed around the circle of paper soaked in
penicillin. There were no bacteria growing in the 2cm circle. No change had occurred around the other circle of
paper. The bacteria were growing well.

amount of pencillin
A. What was the independent variable? ______________________________________________________
amount of bacteria formed
B. What was the dependent variable? ________________________________________________________
the petri dish with nothing on it
C. What was the control? _________________________________________________________________
D. Was there a constant variable? same type of paper, petri dishes, and amount of bacteria liquid
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Experiment #2
Question: Do different types of music affect how well a person can do his/her homework?
Hypothesis: Music that does not have a strong beat makes concentrating on a homework assignment easier.
Music with heavy beats makes concentration more difficult.
Experiment:
Sara Lilia pulled out four different CD’s to find out which type helped her to finish her homework the
fastest. The first CD was rock, the second reggaeton, the third classical, and the fourth was cumbia. She chose a
math assignment that required concentration.
Sara Lilia used a stopwatch with an alarm to make sure that she only listened to each CD for 5 minutes.
Each time the alarm went off, Sara Lilia recorded how many problems she was able to finish.
At the end of the experiment, she found that she was able to concentrate the most with the classical
music, then the rock, and the cumbia. She noticed that she did not concentrate much at all with the reggaeton
and felt like dancing and singing along instead of working.

different CD’s
A. What was the independent variable? ______________________________________________________
Amount of problems finished
B. What was the dependent variable? ________________________________________________________
no control group
C. What was the control? _________________________________________________________________
same amount of time listened to CD’s
D. Was there a constant variable? ___________________________________________________________

In Science experiments, it is very important to “control the variables” so that there is only ONE independent
variable and ONE dependent variable. We “control the variables” by making anything else that could
change during the experiment into a constant. For example, if you are doing an experiment to find out what
material can hold more water, then it is important to make sure all the materials you are testing are the same
size. Why is it so important to control the variables? What would happen if we did not control them?
We control the variables so that the experiment doesn’t have any other unexpected outcomes. If we
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didn’t control variables, then parts of our experiment would be left unproven or false because there
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isn’t anything to compare them to that is regular
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 Identifying Variables Worksheet

Instructions: For the following experiments, identify and describe the (IV) independent variable, (DV)
dependent variable, (CG) control group, and (Con) the constant.

1) Different rose bushes are grown in a greenhouse for two months. The number of flowers on each bush is
counted at the end of an experiment.
Different rose bushes grown
IV_____________________________________________________________________

the number of flowers

DV_____________________________________________________________________

same temperatures, same sunlight, same amount of food & water

Con____________________________________________________________________

2) You water three sunflower plants with salt water. Each plant receives a different concentration of salt
solutions. A fourth plant receives regular water. After a two-week period, the height is measured.
the amount of salt
IV_____________________________________________________________________

the height of the plants

DV_____________________________________________________________________

a fourth plant receives regular water

CG_____________________________________________________________________

3) Three wax palm trees are kept at different humidity levels inside of a greenhouse for 12 weeks. One tree is
left outside in normal conditions. Height of the tree is measured once a week.
different amounts of humidity
IV_____________________________________________________________________

height of trees
DV_____________________________________________________________________

one tree is left outside in normal conditions

CG_____________________________________________________________________

same type of trees, water, and sunlight

Con____________________________________________________________________

4) One tank of goldfish is fed the normal amount of food once a day, a second tank is fed twice a day, and a
third tank four times a day during a six week study. The fish’s body fat is recorded daily.
amount of food
IV_____________________________________________________________________

body fat of fish

DV_____________________________________________________________________

one tank of goldfish is fed the normal amount

CG_____________________________________________________________________

same types of goldfish, same types of tanks, same type of food

Con____________________________________________________________________

5) Strawberry plant clones are given different amounts of water for a 3-week period. First strawberry plant
receives 400 millilitres (ml) a day. The second strawberry plant receives 200ml a day. The third strawberry
plant receives 100ml a day. The fourth strawberry plant does not receive any extra water; this plant only
receives natural ways of receiving water. The height of the strawberry plants is recorded daily.

different amounts of water

IV_____________________________________________________________________

height of the strawberry plant

DV_____________________________________________________________________

the fourth plant doesn’t get any extra water

CG_____________________________________________________________________

same type of plants, sunlight, and type of water

Con____________________________________________________________________