Question

maggie is a member of her school’s environmental club and is interested in recycling. she asks the question, “how does exposure to the environment affect recyclable plastics?”
what best describes why and how maggie should change her question to make it a better scientific question?

• the answer to the question leads to a testable hypothesis, so the question should be changed to prevent testing.
• the question involves giving an opinion about recycling, so it should be changed to rely only on facts.
• the focus of the question is too broad, so it should be narrowed to a single environmental factor.
• the results are too uncertain, so the question should be changed to one that has a known outcome.

Explanation:

To determine the correct answer, we analyze each option:

• Option 1: A scientific question should lead to a testable hypothesis, so preventing testing is incorrect.
• Option 2: Maggie's question is about the effect on plastics, not an opinion on recycling, so this is wrong.
• Option 3: "Exposure to the environment" is broad (includes many factors like temperature, UV, moisture). A better scientific question narrows to one factor (e.g., "How does UV exposure affect recyclable plastics?"), so this is correct.
• Option 4: Scientific questions explore unknowns, not just known outcomes, so this is incorrect.

Answer:

C. The focus of the question is too broad, so it should be narrowed to a single environmental factor.