A Detailed Look at Each Step - Pasco School District
A Detailed Look at Each Step
Essential Question
This question (with a question mark “ ? ”) tells the readers what you investigated. It is typically one sentence and does not include a prediction or hypothesis. It is similar to a title for the experiment but it is written with the rest of the steps.
Examples: Will water boil faster than lemonade? Can an ant find sugar with different scents present?
Typical Problems With Essential Questions
1. Finding an experiment
• I have about 15 books that can be used to collect ideas.
• There are a number of great websites that have many possible experiments.
1.
2.
3. - life
4.
• Talk to relatives, students, teachers, and find two things that can be compared in an experiment.
• The school library and public also have books to be checked out.
Remember: An experiment can be simple or if you find yourself interested in a subject, run your idea passed me and GO FOR IT !!!
2. Changing an activity to an experiment.
Many of the books I have provide ideas for activities to teach a concept about astronomy, earthquakes, chemistry or another subject. These activities need to be tweaked in order to make them into experiments. It may be helpfull to keep in mind that an experiment compares at least one situation to another. This means that something must change in an experiment. In the examples above I would compare the boiling point of water versus lemonade, or the effectiveness of one brand of eraser versus another. Many experiments are possible and often times an experiment will not have anything to with the original activity other than the materials.
3. Being able to measure something (Determining a responding variable).
Imagine the traditional baking soda and vinegar activity where there’s lots of bubbling, fizzing, and excitement. What type of experiment could be done with this activity? A common experiment is to change the amount of vinegar to see if it will cause a larger reaction?” Fine that works, but what would a student measure? Of course, the ingredients will need to be measured each time, but the most important measurement would be the size of the erupting fluid.
(measuring continued)
Experiments dealing with time will require a stopwatch or watch that shows
seconds. Experiments with growth will need to be measured using a ruler or tape measure in centimeters. Some experiments may require using a thermometer, a protractor for angles, or other tools.
Hypothesis
An hypothesis is a three –part statement that is used to describe your experiment. It includes a manipulated variable, a responding variable, and a prediction. Manipulated and responding variables are discussed later in Step 4 if you forgot what these are and want to look them up. Students should use the prompt below as a guide to their hypotheses . You may need to tweak the prompt in order to fit your experiment.
If a person used (manipulated variable) and
(manipulated variable) to see which would
(responding variable) , then the (prediction).
*Normally the prediction tells which would of the two manipulated variables would do something more.
**I am not asking students to explain their predictions.
Examples:
1.) If a person used tap water and lemonade to see which would boil faster, then
the tap water would boil faster.
2.) If a person used Bounty paper towels and Western Family paper towels to see which would absorb more water, then the Bounty towels will absorb more water.
Materials List
A materials list is made up of the items needed to perform the experiment. Because many things need to be the same in an experiment, you will need to include how much of each item was used.
* paper and pencil do not need to be included
** use a bulleted list instead of a paragraph format
Example:
(Which Will Boil Faster Tap Water or Lemonade Experiment)
• 1 measuring cup
• 4 cups tap water
• 4 cups lemonade
• stove top (set on high)
• timer
• pot
Variables
There are three variables that students are expected to use in their reports.
1.) Controlled Variables: Many things are kept the same in an experiment to order to be fair. In the experiment above, the amount of water and lemonade would need to be same because whichever liquid had less would have an unfair advantage. The temperature of the stove top would need to be the same for each liquid as well as the starting temperature of each liquid. I ask students to provide two controlled variables for this section.
2. Manipulated Variable: To make sure that an experiment is fair and doesn’t become too complicated, only one item should be changed in an experiment. The item being changed is at the heart of your experiment. The different types of liquids being boiled were changed in the example above.
3. Responding Variable: Every experiment should include some measure of the manipulated variables. The responding variable tells the readers what changes you were observing to the manipulated variables. In the boiling experiment described above, the responding variable would be the time it would take for the each liquid to begin boiling. In the paper towel experiment, the amount of water being absorbed with each paper towel would be the responding variable.
Typical Problems:
• Students do not use vocabulary. Students will need to use three different complete sentences for the three variables. (The responding variable in the experiment was the time it took for each liquid to boil.)
• Students abbreviate. Do not use “C.V.” for controlled variable or the same idea with any of the other variables.
Safety Precautions
This section is gives the reader any warnings that may be necessary before beginning the experiment. The warnings may be related to personal safety or household safety. A brief description of any threats and how they can be avoided is sufficient. At least one precaution is required, though if you plan to boil water 1.)a hot stove top 2.) boiling liquid both should be included. Points will be lost if I feel that the reader hasn’t been prepared for a threat. This could be serious.
Procedures
Procedures are set of directions that a person uses so that an experiment can be done again exactly the same in the future. Two of the most important steps that are found in every experiment are to record data and repeat trials.
Record data: After performing the experiment once and observing the responding variable, it is necessary for the person doing to the experiment to write down any observations or measurements.
Repeat trials: Typically, at least three trials of one variable and three trials of another variable are required. This means that if a person were doing a paper towel comparison, six experiments would actually need to be performed. Three would be needed for each brand.
It is nice if all of the trials can be done at the same time but sometimes it is necessary to perform the whole preparation for the experiment six separate times. Ugg. I know this can be time consuming but look for shortcuts. It is your experiment and you can tweak it if you want to. Just make sure that your hypothesis is tested.
Some experiments require a large numbers of steps, but there are a few shortcuts that are allowed that can save students time. A few of the acceptable shortcuts are listed below.
• Some directions are understood without telling the reader. “Go to sink, turn on cold water, fill to one cup, set cup down, turn off water, take water to table” is too much. Instead, “Collect one cup cold tap water” is enough.
• Take your time and go through each direction for one variable clearly. In the boiling water and lemonade example, this is just what steps does a person have to do to find out how long it takes for a cup of water of boil on a high temperature. Be sure to include record data. Suppose 10 steps were needed. After these steps were complete, the next step (step 11) can be to “repeat steps 1 through 10 two more times.” The remaining steps are also easy and can be done as “repeat steps 1 through 11 with lemonade.”
Diagram
A diagram is a drawing or picture that helps someone perform the experiment. A diagram must have labels in order to identify objects. A diagram may also use symbols instead of dimension to assist readers. Drawings with stick figures work as well.
Table
A table is similar to a T chart. It allows the reader to read the actual numbers from the experiment. Sometimes two columns are used and sometimes more. Several examples are given below.
| |Water |Lemonade |
| |(seconds) |(seconds) |
|1 |30 |48 |
|2 |26 |53 |
|3 |35 |39 |
|Mean (Average) |30.3 |46.6 |
or
| |1 |2 |3 |Mean |
| | | | |(Average) |
|Water |30 |26 |35 |30.3 |
|(seconds) | | | | |
|Lemonade |48 |53 |39 |46.7 |
|(seconds) | | | | |
Things to Note:
• A table contains a title that is related to the data in the experiment.
• Means are given for each variable (water and lemonade) To find the mean for water, I had to add 30 + 26 + 35 and then divide by three because there were three trials. 30 + 26 + 35 = 91 and 91 (3 = 30.3
• Expect decimals and write them down as you see them. Rounding to the tenths place is fine. (30.3 was really 30.333333)
• Underneath the labels for water and lemonade, I included what the numbers represented.
Data Analysis
This section simply states the means collected from the table. In the example above, I am looking for students to write, “The mean time for the water to boil was 30.3 seconds. The mean time for the lemonade to boil was 46.7 seconds.” It is as simple as that. I want sentences and will not give credit to “=” equal signs.
Conclusion
The conclusion is where the essential question is finally answered and the prediction from the hypothesis is established as either right or wrong. Two or three sentences can complete this section easily. It is important to refer to your original Essential Question and prediction, while using similar vocabulary, and state as a matter of fact what you discovered. Do not worry if your prediction was incorrect, I will not take away points if you made an honest effort and had unexpected results. That’s just part of science. Additionally, including the mean is optional in this section.
Examples from the Essential Question and Hypotheses from page one.
1.)If a person used tap water and lemonade to see which would boil faster, then
the tap water would boil faster.
Conclusion: The experiment demonstrated that tap water boils faster than lemonade. My original prediction was correct.
2.) If a person used Bounty paper towels and Western Family paper towels to see which would absorb more water, then the Bounty towels will absorb more water.
Conclusion: The experiment demonstrated that Bounty paper towel absorb more water than Western Family paper towels. My original prediction was correct.
(Sample Experiment) James Barttleby
June 12, 2007
Essential Question
Does coffee (caffeine drinks) improve a person’s reflexes?
Hypothesis
If a person performed a coin flip from an elbow with and without coffee to see which would be caught more often, then the attempts with coffee would be more successful.
Materials List
• Drinkable coffee (at least three cups on three different days)
• Coin
Variables
Two controlled variables for the experiment would be the type of coin being used and the position that the arm was held.
The manipulated variable for the experiment would be attempts made with and without coffee.
The responding variable for the experiment would how many times the coin was caught.
Safety Precautions
Youth should not drink excessive amounts of coffee because it may lead to poor health problems.
Procedures
1. Find a quarter and practice catching a flipped coin from the elbow to hand. I found that I had more success when I placed the coin closer to my elbow.
2. Collect and drink 1 cup of coffee at a reasonable rate.
3. Attempt flipping the quarter from the elbow to hand and record results.
4. Repeat step three 10 times and calculate the mean.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 on a different day or least 4-5 hours after the first trials.
6. Repeat step 5
7. Repeat step 1 (beginning without coffee, practice)
8. Repeat steps 3-4 (1st set of trials)
9. Repeat steps 5 twice (Leave space between trials to prevent practice)
Diagram
Table
Results of Coffee and Reflexes Experiment
| |Coffee #1 |Coffee #2 |Coffee #3 |Plain #1 |Plain #2 |Plain #3 |
| |(number of catches) | | | | | |
|1 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |1 |
|2 |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 |1 |
|3 |1 |0 |0 |1 |1 |0 |
|4 |0 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |
|5 |1 |1 |0 |1 |1 |0 |
|6 |1 |0 |0 |1 |0 |1 |
|7 |0 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |
|8 |1 |0 |1 |1 |1 |0 |
|9 |1 |1 |0 |1 |0 |1 |
|10 |1 |0 |1 |0 |1 |1 |
|Totals |7 |4 |4 |7 |8 |7 |
| |Mean with coffee was 5 |Mean without coffee was 7.3 |
Data Analysis
The mean for flipping coins with coffee was 5. The mean for flipping coins without coffee was 7.3.
Conclusion
This experiment demonstrated that reflexes improve when a person does not have caffeine in the bloodstream. My hypothesis was incorrect.
-----------------------
Baking Soda
Vinegar
Length in centimeters
Brand A
Brand B
Sample Diagram of Boiling Rates of Water and Lemonade
Pot of
Water
Pot of Lemonade
Stove Top
Times for Water and Lemonade to Boil
Times for Water and Lemonade to Boil
or
1 cup of water
Sample Diagram of Boiling Rates of Water and Lemonade
Elbow
Coin
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