Chapter 26

Appendix: Life Science

26.1 Investigation and Experimentation Activities.

The following activities are based on information provided within this FlexBook or taken
directly from the Teacher Edition.

The Scientific Method

Through this discussion, students will understand scientific tools and technology necessary
to perform tests, collect data, analyze relationships, and display data, they will understand
sources of unavoidable experimental error and reasons for inconsistent results, and how to
formulate explanations by using logic and evidence.

The Five-legged Frog

Here is an example of a real observation made by students in Minnesota (Figure26.1).
Imagine that you are one of the students who discovered this strange frog. As you go
through this discussion, determine the tools necessary to collect and analyze the data. Also
take not of potential places for expeerimental errors. Lastly, develop a fictional set of data
based on the experiments proposed in this discussion, analyze the data and present the data
to the class.

Imagine that you are on a field trip to look at pond life. While collecting water samples, you
notice a frog with five legs instead of four. As you start to look around, you discover that
many of the frogs have extra limbs, extra eyes or no eyes. One frog even has limbs coming
out of its mouth. You look at the water and the plants around the pond to see if there is
anything else that is obviously unusual like a source of pollution.