experimental design practice simpsons

The Biology Corner

Biology Teaching Resources

Scientific Method and the Simpsons

Note: this is a new version of this activity , with new stories .

Old Version: Scientific Method and the Simpsons

This activity requires students to read stories where experiments were performed by members of the Simpson’s family. The stories are intended to be humorous.

Students must identify the manipulated and responding variables (independent and dependent), the control groups, and draw conclusions from the data gathered. Students also suggest ways in which the experiment could be improved.

Excerpt: “Homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. His friend Barney tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime….”

Grade Level: 6-9 | Time Required: 30 minutes

Links below are to the new version of the activity:

NGSS Science and Engineering Practices

1. Asking questions (for science) 3. Planning and carrying out investigations 4. Analyzing and interpreting data

Shannan Muskopf

High School
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Elaborate – Experimental Design with the Simpsons

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Elaborate – experimental design with the simpsons, e-learning activity sheet, directions: read each of the simpson character’s experiments. then answer the questions that follow, each experiment., smithers thinks that a special juice will increase the productivity of, workers. he creates two groups of 50 workers each and assigns each, group the same task (in this case, they're supposed to staple a set of, papers). group a is given the special juice to drink while they work., group b is not given the special juice. after an hour, smithers counts, how many stacks of papers each group has made. group a made 1,, stacks, group b made 2,113 stacks., 1. what is the control group, 2. what is the independent variable, who drinks the juice, 3. what is the dependent variable, how much work would the group with the juice get done compared to the group without the juice, 4. what should smithers' conclusion be, the juice does not improve the amount of work that gets done for a fact it decreases the amount of, work that gets done, 5. how could this experiment be improved, take multiple test and change the group that gets the juice, homer notices that his shower is covered in a strange green slime. his, friend barney tells him that coconut juice will get rid of the green slime., homer decides to check this out by spraying half of the shower with, coconut juice. he sprays the other half of the shower with water. after 3, days of "treatment" there is no change in the appearance of the green, slime on either side of the shower., 6. what was the initial (first) observation, seeing the green slime in the shower, 7. what is the control group, the slime he is trying to get rid of, 8. what is the independent variable, the stuff the he is using to get rid of the slime, 9. what is the dependent variable, which one would clean the most, 10. what should homer’s conclusions be, neither of them were capable of cleaning the slime, bart believes that seeds exposed to microwaves will grow extra-large plants, (maybe he's been reading too much radioactive man). he decides to, perform an experiment by placing 10 basil seeds in a microwave for 10, seconds. he compared the plants grown from the 10 microwaved seeds to, growth of 10 plants from seeds that had not been microwaved. after 14, days, he measured and averaged the height of the plants. bart found that, the average height of each group of plants was not statistically different., 11. what is the control group, how long the seeds have been microwaved, 12. what is the independent variable, the seeds that are microwaved and the seeds that aren't, 13. what is the dependent variable, which seeds will grow the tallest, 14. what should bart’s conclusion be, microwaving your seeds dosn't make a difference in which one grows bigger, 15. how could bart’s experiment be improved, microwave them longer, krusty was told that a certain itching powder was the newest best thing on, the market, it even claims to cause 50% longer lasting itches. interested in, this product, he buys the itching powder and compares it to his usual, product. one test subject (a) is sprinkled with the original itching powder,, and another test subject (b) was sprinkled with the experimental itching, powder. subject a reported having itches for 30 minutes. subject b, reported to have itches for 45 minutes., 16. what is the control group, the itch intensity, 17. what is the independent variable, how much was sprinkled on.