An independent variable is something in an experiment that is being changed. For example, A basketball coach is giving his players new shoes to see if those increase their performance on the court. In the experiment, the coach is giving them new shoes which would be the independent variable.
A dependent variable is a result of the independent variable. For example, the basketball coach changed his player's shoes and their game performance increased drastically. In this experiment, the coach gave them new shoes and their game performance increased. The player's game performance is the dependent variable since it was changed due to the independent variable being the shoe change.
