Part - Plants and Salt (a little more realistic scenario)
In this part, you will be given the initial observations, and asked to propose a question, hypothesis, and experimental design to address the problem.
Here's the situation: On a walk down to the beach, you observe that the plants change as you get closer to the ocean and finally no plants grow when you get to the beach itself. You also observe that there are salt crystals in the soil close to the beach, but not farther away from it.
1. Formulate a valid question based on the observations listed above.
2. State a proper scientific hypothesis based on your observations and the question you asked above. Remember that it must be testable.
3. Propose an experiment that would test your hypothesis. What sort of data would you collect, and how would you analyze it? Would you gather data in the field, or would you conduct a laboratory experiment, or both? Why? Remember that a valid experiment should be free from any bias (should not be set up to favor any particular outcome). Also such an experiment must be repeatable (by you and by others).