SCIENCE, GRADES 6-8

Enrichment/Instructional Packet Answer Key

SCIENCE

Prince George’s County Public Schools

Division of Academics
Department of Curriculum and Instruction

The teacher will not grade this packet.

 MS Science Enrichment Module Answer Key

Activity Set A- SEP 4: Analyzing and interpreting data

Activity 1- Dolphins on the Coastline

Graph:

Which year most likely had temperatures between 10° Celsius and 32° Celsius for the longest amount of
time? C. 2009

Activity 2- The Ball Ramp

1. Which of the following statements best compares the balls in the investigation?
B. Ball 2 traveled farther than Ball 1.
2. Describe the relationship between the mass of the balls and the average distance the balls traveled.
Sample response: The higher the mass of the ball, the farther the ball travels. The ball at five grams only
traveled an average distance of 25 centimeters. The ball at ten grams traveled an average distance of 30
centimeters.
3. Describe the relationship between the mass of the balls and the average speed the balls traveled.
Sample response: The higher the mass of the ball, the faster the ball travels. The ball at five grams only
traveled at an average speed of 2.5 centimeters per second while the ball at ten grams traveled at an
average speed of 3.0 centimeters per second.

Activity 3- Testing Water Samples

1. Which of the following relationships is reflected by the data above?
A. When nitrogen increases, algae growth increases.
2. Create a title for the table above. Title: Answers will vary. Sample response: Percentage of Nitrogen
and Algal Growth
3. Describe the relationship between the percentage of nitrogen in the water samples and amount
of dissolved oxygen. In your response, be sure to include evidence from the data. Answers will vary.
Sample response: As the percentage of nitrogen increases, the amount of dissolved oxygen decreases
in the water samples. For example, in Sample X there is 10% nitrogen and the dissolved oxygen
reading is 6.2 mg/L. In Sample Y which has 15% nitrogen, the dissolved oxygen is lower with a reading
of 4.5 mg/L.

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Activity 4**- “Measuring Mass” (Discovery Education Techbook)
1. Make a prediction on which ball will have the highest mass. Answers will vary.
2. Create a data table to record the data on the mass of the various balls.
Ball Mass
Rubber ball 200 g
Metal ball 1000 g or 1 kg
Plastic ball 50 g

Activity 5**- “Getting to Know: Mass and Weight” (Discovery Education Techbook)
Suppose that a student in your class weights 100 pounds. Write a scientific explanation to describe how
this student’s weight on Mars compares to his weight on Saturn. Use what you have learned in the text to
support your claim.
Answers will vary. The response should include information to support that the student would have a higher
weight on Saturn than on Mars because the force of gravity is higher on Saturn than it is on Mars.

Activity Set B- SEP 3: Planning and carrying out investigations

Activity 1- Paper Planes
1. What type of information should the group of students include in the last column of each chart?
An average for the three trials
2. Which conclusion is most logical, based on the data? D. A short and wide airplane remains in the
air a greater amount of time than a long and narrow airplane.
3. After Trial 1, a group of students decided that Airplane Y would travel farther and stay in the air
a greater amount of time than Airplane Z.
Which is the best scientific reason the students should repeat the trial at least three times?
D. to reduce the likelihood of inaccurate results

Activity 2- Snowy Tree Crickets

1. The student's conclusion is most likely invalid because B. the data does not support the reasoning
2. Complete this chart for this investigation.
Independent variable Dependent variable Constants
Temperature of the cricket Number of chirps per 13 seconds Sample responses:
environment • Number of crickets
• Container the crickets are kept in
• Same food/water
• Same time of day

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Activity 3- Flying Fruit Flies
1. The most reliable method for collecting data is to count the number of fruit flies
A. on all three types of fruit every two hours
2. Complete this chart for this investigation.
Independent variable Dependent variable Constants
Type of fruit Number of fruit flies in the Sample responses:
container • Same type of fruit fly
• Same container
• Same size piece of fruit
• Observed the same amount of time

Activity 4- Oily Waves

1. Describe the error that the students made in this investigation.
The students used a different fan speed for each oil instead of using the same speed for every oil.
2. What should students do to develop more reliable data?
The students should use the same fan speed and conduct three trials for each oil.
3. Create a new data table in the grid provided above (or on your own paper).
Container Type of Oil Fan Speed
L None 1
M Canola 1
N Corn 1
O Olive 1

Activity 5- More Mass, More Distance?

Write a scientific explanation to explain the outcome of these investigations. In your explanation, be
sure to include
● whether or not the prediction was supported
● the conclusion of the investigations
● the strength of the data presented
● supporting evidence from the data

Answers will vary and should contain the bulleted information above.

Activity Set C- SEP 2: Developing and using models

Activity 1- Air Quality in the U.S.
1. Which of the following regions of the United States had the worst air quality on this day? C.
Eastern Coast
2. What evidence do you have from the maps to support your response? There are more “X”
marking on the Eastern Coast than any other area shown.

Activity 2- A Few Blocks from Home

1. How far and in what direction does the student travel from home to school? C. 3 kilometers south
and 5 kilometers west
2. Add a location to the map and write the directions to arrive to that location from the school.
Answers will vary based on student choice.

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Activity 3**- “States of Matter” simulation (Concord Consortium) The responses below are sample
responses to the simulation questions.
1. Describe the motion of the atoms in the gas. The particles move quickly and bounce off of each
other.
2. Why can’t you store a fixed amount of gas in an open container like a glass? Because the gas
particles move around quickly and will escape through the opening.
3. Describe the movement of the atoms in a liquid. How do they move relative to each other? The
particles in a liquid are packed more closely than the particles in a gas and they bump back and forth
into each other without bouncing far away from each other.
4. Why does the liquid expand to fill the bottom of the glass? In a liquid, particles spread out to take
the shape of the container that they are in.
5. Describe the movement and arrangement of atoms in a solid. The particles in a solid vibrate in
place without separating or bouncing off of each other.
6. Why does the solid have a specific shape? Why does it not change shape? The particles in a solid
have a fixed position. The particles only vibrate in place and do not move around.

Activity 4- The Temperature of Water

1. Draw a particle model of the water at point X. [Hint: Think about what the solids looked like in the
simulation.]
A particle model of X would look similar to the image below.

2. The type of energy that most directly caused the ice in the beaker to melt was
A. heat energy

Activity 5- Particles and the States of Matter

When water changes its state it appears to look different to the human eye. On your own paper, create
a chart to show the different states of water (as a solid, a liquid, and a gas). Be sure to include the
following:
• What the water particles look like (a model)
• How they behave in each state of matter
• The average temperature of the particles in each state of matter
Answers will vary but should include the information listed above.

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 Activity Set D- SEP 5: Using mathematics and computational
thinking
Activity 1- The Ball Toss
1. Calculate the average greatest height in meters for the three students and add the information
to the chart. 8.23 meters
2. How do you think the heights might change if each student threw a different ball such as a
basketball, a baseball, and a beach ball? Answers will vary. Sample response: The height the ball
travels might vary greatly based on the size and mass of the ball.

Activity 2- Plant Growth Over Time

1. How many centimeters did the plant grow from Day 10 to Day 25? C. 16 centimeters
2. Which set of dates shows the greatest plant growth? C. Between Days 15 and 20

Activity 3- Calculating Density

1. The masses for equal volumes of the three liquids are different because the liquids
B. contain different atoms

2. Calculate the density for each liquid and add it to the chart. Density = Mass/Volume
Density of water= 1.0 g/mL; Density of olive oil= 0.9 g/mL; Density of rubbing alcohol= 0.78

Activity 4- The Ice Skating Rink

What is the average speed of the student in meters per second?
A. 1 meter per second

Activity Set 5- Rain, Trees, and Frogs

1. What is average number of frogs per year for the ten-year period? 129.2

2. Explain how environmental conditions affect the population cycles of wetland organisms. In
your scientific explanation, be sure to include
● the relationship between the amount of precipitation and the number of trees
● the relationship between the amount of precipitation and the number of frogs
Answers will vary but should include the information above with specific numerical data. When the
average precipitation is higher, there are less trees. The opposite is true for frogs. When the average
precipitation is higher, there are more frogs in this ecosystem.

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