“Okay. Let's figure something out and ask Mrs. Dewey if we can work on it before we play the game again,” said Nicholas. “Whatever we do, we'll have to do two experiments, one for each size of marble.”

Here are Frank and Nicholas's data tables:

Mrs. Dewey thought Frank and Nicholas had such a good idea that she encouraged all the teams to design experiments to help them make predictions: “If you use the TIMS Laboratory Method, it will help you organize your thinking.”

You are going to do the experiments Mrs. Dewey's class is working on. The results of the experiments should help you make predictions when you play the game Fill It First.

You will collect and organize data that will help you make predictions about the volume of marbles when you know the number of marbles. You will investigate two sizes of marbles, so you will need to do two experiments.

  1. What are the two main variables in the experiments?
    1. Which of the two main variables is the manipulated variable? Justify your answer.
    2. Which is the responding variable? Justify your answer.
    3. What letters will you use to stand for the two main variables?
  2. Frank and Nicholas want to look for patterns in the data to help them make predictions about the volume of the marbles when they know the number of marbles. What important variable should be held fixed in each experiment so they can do this?