Question

Gloria wanted to find out if the color of food would affect whether kindergarten children would select it for lunch. She put food coloring into 5 identical bowls of mashed potatoes. The colors were plain, red, green, yellow, and blue. Each child chose a scoop of potatoes of the color of their choice. Gloria did this experiment using 100 students. She recorded the number of students that chose each color
Answer these

A.Identify the independent variable, groups of the independent variable(including the control group, if there is one), dependen tvariable, controlled variables / constants, and number of samples/replicates or repeatedtrials.
B.Identify the hypothesis for the experiment. If the hypothesis is not explicitly stated, write onefor the scenario.
C.State at least two ways to improve the experiment described in the scenario.

Answer 1

The independent variable is the variable that does not change despite inputs. In this experiment, the independent variable is the color of mashed potatoes. The control group is what the experimental group is measured against to determine how much change there is. Plain potatoes is the control group. Number of samples is how many different opinions are taken into account. In this instance, the number of samples is equal to the number of students, or 100. There are no repeated trials. She only did the experiment one time. The hypothesis is what the experimenter believes will happen. Gloria did not state the hypothesis for the experiment. She could have said, "I believe that students will choose colored mash potatoes than plain." This experiment can be improved by repeating the experiment at more schools. Also, it can be improved by increasing the number of students tested.