Year 7 2017
Practical Writing: Class experiment
Learning Intentions
To be able to explain the key components of a scientific experiment.
To be able to write up a scientific experiment in the set conventions
Success Criteria
To Identify the independent, dependent and control variables in an experiment
Be able to develop a hypothesis that includes the independent variable and dependent
variable.
Practical Investigation: Class experiment
Aim: (write a sentence that start with ‘To’).
When writing an aim, think about the point of the experiment. What are we trying to achieve? Are we
focusing on one specific outcome or variable? Are testing whether one group works better or if we can
change the outcome of something.
To_________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________
Independent Variable: This is the variable in the experiment that is being manipulated or changed. This
is often what you are looking at to see if it has an effect on something.
E.g. Students will do more work if it is cold in class. The independent variable is the temperature of the
class. We can test how much work they do when it is hot, medium and cold.
What is the variable in our class experiment that is being changed?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Dependent Variable: This is the variable in the experiment that we measure. This variable is what
changes as we change in the independent variable.
E.g. Students will do more work if it is cold in class. The dependent variable is how much work they do.
We can measure the effect temperature has on work by changing the temperature and measuring the
amount of work done in hot, medium and cold classrooms.
What is the variable in our class experiment that is being measured?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Control Variable: The control variable is factors in the experiment we need to keep the same to make it a
fair experiment. There is often many factors that need to be controlled to keep an experiment fair and is
not limited to one. Think about our example experiment above. What if one student in the hot room got
given 4 hours to do work and a student in the cold room got 1 hour. Would the experiment be fair?
Think about different factors in our experiment that might make it unfair.
What can we keep constant?
What are some control variables in our experiment?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Hypothesis: (this is an educated guess or production about what the boiling point of water might be and
what will happen to the particles).
The hypothesis should contain the Independent variable and the Dependent variable and the
relationship between them.
It is best started with:
“It is predicted that” or “It is hypothesised that”
Hypothesis template:
“It is hypothesised that the (independent variable) is changed/added/used it will make the (dependent
variable) go up/down/higher/lower.
E.g. It is hypothesised that those who study in a cold room will get more work done than those who
study in a hot room.
Independent
Variable
Dependent
Variable
Write a hypothesis for our experiment:
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________
Number of words remembered results:
Start
End