ALDRIDGE STATE HIGH SCHOOL
YEAR 10 AGRICULTURE
P
FERTILISER TRIAL ASSIGNMENT
STUDENT’S NAME:
________________________________________
TEACHER’S NAME:
Date due
Draft :
Final :
Assessment Technique:
Written Assignment – Scientific report
TASK
A Group of farmers are unsure of how much urea, a nitrogen fertiliser, they should use on a field of
grain sorghum.
You are to design and perform a field trial to determine how much urea they need to apply to their
grain sorghum crop to gain maximum production.
Your report to the farmers will need to follow the format as shown below.
TITLE
AIM (What are you going to do?)
HYPOTHESIS (What do you expect the results to be?)
BACKGROUND INFORMATION (Research into growing of grain sorghum, nitrogen, fertiliser use,
nitrogen fertiliser, nutrients, plant nutrient uptake, etc.)
MATERIALS (What have you used to set up and run the trial?)
METHOD (Experimental design, step by step process explaining the setting up of the trial, performing
the trial, and collecting data.)
RESULTS (Data tables, graphs.)
DISCUSSION (Explanation of the results. What were the differences, why were there differences,
what influenced the results. Was there experimental error or bias? Explain any patterns found. Refer to
background data to confirm your results.)
CONCLUSION (Summing up of the trial. Address your hypothesis. Was your hypothesis correct?
Make recommendations on the amount that is best to use. Make suggestions for how the trial could be
improved, how to avoid experimental error. What suggestions are there for further research? Are there
additional things to find out?
NEVER USE FIRST PERSON WHEN WRITING A SCIENTIFIC REPORT
As part of this assignment students will be exposed to several aspects of Dimension
of Learning.
DIMENSION 2 DECLARATIVE AND PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE
Declarative Knowledge
To reach a satisfactory level in this assignment students will need a sound
knowledge on plant physiology and factors that affect plant growth.
Procedural Knowledge
Students will gather data on their trial and represent this data in a scientific
report which will include graphical representation.
DIMENSION 3 EXTEND AND REFINE KNOWLEDGE
As part of dimension 3 students will:
ABSTRACTING : Students will identify trends of growth and nutrient levels and
identify general patterns of behaviour based on learned knowledge
REASONING: Students will use generalizations and principles to sate conclusions about
specific data and results
CONSTRUCT SUPPORT: Students will construct support using facts and proven
scientific theory gained through their research
ANALYSE PERSPECTIVES: Students will identify multiple perspectives on plant
growth and examine why the data collected supports this or otherwise.
DIMENSION 4 USE KNOWLEDGE MEANINGFULLY
DECISION MAKING: Students will make decisions on experimental design and rates
of application of fertilizers.
PROBLEM SOLVING: Students will overcome constraints or limiting conditions that
are in the way of conducting a scientific experiment.
EXPERIMENTAL INQUIRY: Students will generate and test explanations of results
INVESTIGATION: Students will need to identify and resolve issues (results) that are
contradictory to scientific theory
SYSTEM ANALYSIS: Students will analyse a production system and its components
and make judgement on the manner in which they interact