Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi,

My son is wanting to do his science project on the 3 cheesecake methods and which method allows the cheesecake to rise higher with the least amount of cracks for his project this year. However, according to our guidelines only one variable can change throughout the project. Are the 3 methods considered the one variable we are changing? Since each method requires different temperatures, cooking time, etc, we are trying to make sure that these aren't seen as independent variables. We would love some clarity on this, if possible.

Thank you!

Hi there!
I was reading through this experiment and I believe you are correct, the different methods are the changing variable (the independent variable) and the dependent variable(s) is the amount of rise/severity of cracking. The slight variations within each method compared to the others are out of scope for this particular experiment.

I hope this clears things up. If you have any questions, please let me know. Good luck!