Scientific enquiry

Scientific Enquiry

There are different types of experiments:

There are different types of skills:

Wordwall - How to write up your experiment

Fair testing or reliable results?

Wordwall - Variables and experiments

Think of the apparatus that you need.
You could draw a picture, draw a diagram or you could write a list of what you need.

Think of how you are going to do your experiment.
You could draw numbered pictures, write each stage as numbered steps or bullet points.
You need to decide on the one factor (thing) that you are going to change. This is called the dependent variable.
You need to decide on the one factor (thing) that you are going to measure or observe. This is called the independent variable.
Decide which piece of apparatus you are going to use to measure with.
What units (cm, kg, N, ml) will you be using when you are measuring?
You need to have thought about fair testing and getting accurate results (see below).

Everything in an experiment must be kept the same so that it is fair (except for the one thing that you are measuring and the one thing you are changing).
The factors that you keep the same are called the control variables.
To be fair you might keep the same amount of liquid, the same amount of time, the same amount of stirs, the same temperature, the same type of liquid etc.

Try to keep your measurements accurate by using the same pieces of apparatus, for example, thermometers.
Take repeat readings (usually 3) and work out an average result (add the 3 results together and divide by 3).
If you are using a stopwatch the same person should be in charge of timings because people have different reaction times.
If you are using a thermometer make sure that the thermometer is not touching the sides or bottom of the beaker.

This tells everyone what you found out.
Remember that this is not listing your results but deciding what the results tell you.
Think about and explain how you could have improved your experiment.

Report abuse