Skip to content
Your progress

Checking your sign-in…

Who's learning?

Each profile keeps its own read lessons, badges, streak, and practice scores on this device.

Lesson 4 of 10

Change one thing

Show on a big screen

8 min

Text size

Change one part of a request. Then a difference can point at that part. An attempt is one request and its answer.

Attempt 1: a plain Sports Day request.
Step 1 of 4
  1. Attempt 1: a plain Sports Day request.
  2. Attempt 2: the same, plus who it is for.
  3. Answer B names the visitors. Answer A did not.
  4. Only one thing changed, so start with it.

Flip what changes in attempt B. Read what it proves.

Loading lab…

The rule

Change one thing between two attempts. Then a difference can point at that thing. Ask each attempt more than once. One tool can answer the same request differently.

Science uses the same idea. A variable is a thing that can change. Change only one, so the comparison is fair.

Attempt 1 is "Write about Sports Day." Attempt 2 is "Write about Sports Day for visitors." Only the reader changed. So a difference between the answers may come from that change.

One change in each round
RoundWhoLengthMaterial
1changedsamesame
2samechangedsame
3samesamechanged

Change all three at once. The answers may differ. Then you cannot tell which change caused the difference.

Try the lab to finish this lesson.