School Improvement in Maryland

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Standard 1.0 Skills and Processes

Topic A. Constructing Knowledge

Indicator 1. Gather and question data from many different forms of scientific investigations which include reviewing appropriate print resources, observing what things are like or what is happening somewhere, collecting specimens for analysis, and doing experiments.

Objective c. Explain that comparisons of data might not be fair because some conditions are not kept the same.

Selected Response Item

A student is investigating which type of soil is best for growing tomato plants from seeds. The student plants four tomato seeds in each of three different containers of soil.

Which step of the procedure would help the student get the most reliable results?

  1. Place one container in a dark room.
  2. Use different types of tomato seeds.
  3. Change only the soil type in each container.
  4. Water each container with a different amount of water.
/share/assessment_items/xml/items/msa_science_5_046.xml

Correct Answer:
C