Science Culminating Assignment- Designing Your Own Experiment

Name: ______Partner: ______Date: ______

ScienceCulminating Assignment- Designing your own experiment

Introduction

Throughout the semester you have performed a wide variety of experiments in the areas of biology, chemistry, and physics. With a method provided, you and your partner completed these experiments and documented the results. In the discussion portions of these lab reports you used your understanding of science to help you interpret your results and link them to real world applications. Now it is your turn to use the knowledge you have accumulated to design and execute your own experiment relating to one of the units we have studied (biology, chemistry, physics or earth & space). The purpose of this culminating assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the scientific method through designing and conducting a cause and effect experiment, and presenting your findings to the class.

Outline of deadlines

The culminating assignment will have deadlines assigned to different components to ensure that you and your partner are working towards the final product of the assignment which will be a presentation of results to the class.

Expectations of partners

This project will be worth 5 % of your final mark in the course. It should be taken very seriously and deadlines should be respected. Make smart choices when choosing your partner- select someone who you are able to work with responsibly. If you and your partner are experiencing any difficulties it is your responsibility to seek assistance from your teacher AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Very little class time will be devoted to this assignment, the overall expectation is that the project is your responsibility to plan and execute with some guidance from your teacher. As with any other class assignment, your teacher will be more than willing to meet with you at lunch to answer questions as long as you arrange the meeting ahead of time.

Planning Sheets

The planning sheets (see pages 3-6) provided in this package will assist you and your partner in developing your ideas and planning an experiment that will be feasible and follows the “cause and effect” pattern of a true experiment. Time will be given in class to work on completing these planning sheets. Each pair will meet with the teacher to discuss the planning sheets before the set deadline.

Suggestions to help you stay organized

While planning sheets are provided to help you determine what you will be investigating and what materials you will require, other components of the experiment will have to be documented by you and your partner throughout the experiment. A notebook or duotang should be used to keep track of experimental data throughout the course of your experiment (ie. for recording measured values in a data table, recording qualitative and quantitative observations, keeping track of experimental errors). This notebook/duotang should be kept in a safe location and should be brought to class during scheduled work periods.

The Final Product- Presentation of your experiment to the class

Once the experiment is complete, and the data is collected, each pair will work together to develop a presentation which will clearly explain their findings to the class. The instructions for the presentation can be found on pg 7. The presentation must be in the format of a computer presentation using the template provided on the class website ( teacher pagespendergast handouts culminating activity) and meet the specifications outlined in the presentation guidelines section.

Planning Sheet #1

DAY 1

Step 1 – Brainstorm three cause and effect questions preferably related to the areas covered in class. (i.e. how something can effect something else)

Possibility # 1:

Testing the effect of ______on ______

Possibility # 2:

Testing the effect of ______on ______

Possibility # 3:

Testing the effect of ______on ______

Step 2 – Consider how you will conduct each experiment. What will you measure? If you cannot come up with a feasible way to make your measurements then the experiment needs to be redesigned or dropped.

Possibility # 1: What will you measure?

______.

Possibility # 2: What will you measure?

______.

Possibility # 3: What will you measure?

______.

Step 3 – List at least 3 controlled variables.

Possibility # 1:

______

______.

Possibility # 2:

______

______.

Possibility # 3:

______

______.

Step 4 - Which of the 3 possibilities would be the most realistic experiment for you to conduct and why? Consider safety, timelines (under 2 weeks to conduct), availability of materials.

______

______

Step 5 – Discuss your choice with your teacher. Do not continue until you have approval.

Teacher comment box.

Planning Sheet #2

DAY 2

Step 6 - List all the materials that you need.

Step 7- Planning your methods

Answer the following questions to help you develop your methods section:

-Indicate the amount of each material you will need.

-How long will the whole experiment take?

-How will you measure?

-How often will you measure?

-How many trials are you going to run?

Use these answers to write a step-by-step methods section of how you would set up your treatment(s) and make your measurements. Number your steps and be specific. Refer to previous labs to help you write this section.

Methods

Presentation Guidelines

1. Must be a computer presentation such as PowerPoint using the template provided
2. Font size should be between 24-32 and easy to read
3. Must be between 5-10 minutes in length
4. Questions are encouraged, presenters should be prepared to answer questions

Format for presentation using PowerPoint template

This table is designed to outline what information is required for the presentation. The “Content” column explains what information should be present on each slide as either text or images. The “Presenter’s Role” column identifies the role of the presenter when that slide is being presented. Remember- in a presentation you should not be reading directly from your slides (except for slides 1 and 2), the slides should be an outline of what you are discussing. Keep the amount of text on each slide to a minimum and use the points on the slide to help you discuss the topic.

SCIENCE

Culminating Assignment- Designing your own experiment

Marking Scheme (All areas are considered)

1