Science Assessment ~ Items ~ CR017002

A student is interested in the behavior of fish. He has 4 fish bowls and 20 goldfish. He puts 8 fish in the first bowl, 6 fish in the second bowl, 4 fish in the third bowl and 2 fish in the fourth bowl.He places each fish bowl under light, he keeps the temperature at 75°F for all four bowls, and he observes the behavior of the fish.

What can the student find out from doing just this experiment?

If the number of fish in the fish bowl affects the behavior of the fish.
If the temperature of the fish bowl affects the behavior of the fish.
If the temperature of the fish bowl and the amount of light affect the behavior of the fish.
If the number of fish, the temperature, and the amount of light affect the behavior of the fish.

Details
Performance
NGSS

Topic: Control of Variables
Correct Answer: A
Misconceptions

Distribution of Responses

Chart showing distrubtion of responses for Item CV017002

Students Responding Correctly

Group	Correct	Total	Percent
Overall	2355	5054	47%
Grades
6–8	1042	2793	37%
9–12	1300	2238	58%
Gender
Male	1142	2484	46%
Female	1183	2509	47%
Primary Language
English	2106	4346	48%
Other	195	604	32%

View data table

Science and Engineering Practices: SEP3 Conduct an investigation and/or evaluate and/or revise the experimental design to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence that meet the goals of the investigation.

Science Assessment

Item CR017002: A controlled experiment involving the behavior of fish in fish bowls, in which the number of fish in the bowls varies and the temperature of the water and the amount of light is held constant, allows you find out the effect of the number of fish on fish behavior.