DUNGOG HIGH SCHOOLSCIENCE DEPARTMENT

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROJECT

YEAR 10 2014

This project is a compulsory part of the Science course for all students in NSW. Any student who does not complete the task will receive a Board of Studies N award warning letter. Students who do not meet course requirements in Science do not receive a RoSA.

Due Dates:

Part 1 (Preliminary report) 17th March 2014

Part 2 (Final report plus this booklet) 4th April 2014

Late Policy:

If you cannot hand this task in by the due dates you must complete an illness/ misadventure appeal form within two days of the due date or on return to school if absent. The head teacher will consider the appeal and notify you of the outcome. There must be very good reasons for an appeal to be successful. If illness is claimed as a reason for an appeal, a doctor’s certificate will be required. If the appeal is due to absence from school, very good reasons will be required. Appeals involving computer malfunction or lost assignments will not be upheld. It is your responsibility to save and keep multiple copies of your work.

Name:_______________________________ Class:________

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Choosing a Topic

Select a topic that interests you, something that you are prepared to work on for several weeks, at least. Is there a problem that you would like to solve?

Start by doing some reading. There are many books and websites available which contain ideas for projects.

It is best for you to be CREATIVE and ORIGINAL. Make the project your own unique endeavour.

Project Ideas

About PlantsMost plant investigations would involve too long a time frame for this project.

Involving Chemistrye.g How can new dyes or indicators be made from natural products?

Of consumer intereste.g. How can you best prevent bread or cheese or yoghurt from going mouldy?

Into everyday problemse.g. What is the best way to remove ink marks from school clothes?

Studying animalse.g. How can I prevent snails from eating lettuce seedlings in my vegetable garden?

Studying electricitye.g How can a lemon or an orange act as a battery to power a clock?

For more IdeasSee Appendix 1 and the following website has some more ideashttp://www.csiro.au/resources/ps1z1.html

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Planning What to Do

Planning your Experiment

The hypothesisForm a hypothesis. This is an “educated guess” about what you think will happen in a certain set of circumstances or conditions. You will need to decide what these conditions are. It is important that you keep as many factors the same as possible, so that you can clearly interpret the results. Your hypothesis must be able to be tested. It needs to be simple and very specific.

EquipmentYou will need to decide on the equipment that you are going to use and the method that you will use.

The VariablesWhen you carry out an experiment there will be several conditions or factors that could change during the experiment. These factors or conditions are called VARIABLES.Some variables will be kept the same throughout the experiment while others are changed.For your experiment to be a FAIR TEST, as many variables as possible should be kept the same while you change one particular variable. In this way you can sort out which change led to the results that you obtained. If only one variable changes, while all others are kept the same, the results that you can detect must be caused by the variable which has changed.

AccuracyWhen making measurements, you need to be careful to ensure that they are as ACCURATE as possible. To do this, you will need to think carefully about what you are trying to measure, and the tools that are available to use for measuring

Repeating an experiment more than once will give you more confidence in your results. It also enables you to detect results that are unusual. You need to keep repeating your experiment until you get several answers which are very similar.

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What are you actually going to do?What are you going to find out?

What measurements and observations will you need to take?What results do you expect to obtain?Which factors will affect the results?

Preliminary ReportYou must complete this sheet and have your project approved by your teacher before starting any experiment. You will not be given approval if your teacher considers it dangerous, impractical, harmful to living things or the environment etc. You also need to have your parent’s approval for your particular project as projects may sometimes involve expenses or inconvenience at home.

Keeping a RecordAn important part of carrying out your investigation involves keeping track of the work that you do and the decisions that you make. You could use One Note on your computer or obtain a book in which you can record your original idea and the comments that other people made when you discussed it with them.

Your teacher will probably want to check it from time to time. You will need touse it to keep track of the time you spend on your project.

In your log book, record your hypothesis, your research and discussions, the aim, the list of equipment that you need, your method, all results and all other work. If you make changes to the method or if you have problems which need to be overcome, this information should be recorded. Can also include diagrams and/or photos where necessary.

Record all your thoughts and ideas in your book. Make notes and comments in your book. It is like a diary.

Your Log Book is not your final report.

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Recording your ResultsStart thinking about how you are going to report you results. Could you take some photographs to show what happened? Would a graph or a diagram be useful? Can the information be recorded in a table to make comparison easy? Look at the results and think about what they mean? Has your original aim been answered or do you need to carry out further experiments to help you come to a conclusion. Are any of your results unexpected? How can you explain them?You do need to be able to prove that you conducted the experiment. Photographs, even taken on your phone are a great thing to include.

Discussion and ConclusionThe last part of your project involves a discussion of the results that you obtained. Describe any difficulties that you had carrying out the experiment and interpreting the results. Any suggestions for how the experiment could be improved should be included here too. You also need to outline your research and discuss how it relates to your experiment and your results.Finally, write a conclusion based on the results that you obtained.

AknowledgementsIt is important in any project that all the help that you received is acknowledged with a bibliograpy. A bibliography is a list of books, magazines, internet sites and other resources you have used to complete a task. A bibliography always comes at the end of a piece of work and is always arranged in alphabetical order. A bibliography must include:

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the name of the author or editor the date the item was published the title of the article the full title of the book

the publisher of the book the internet address “n.d.” stands for ‘no date’

For example:BookWhalley, K. 2003, Science Focus 1, Pearson Longman, Sydney.

WebpageHeaps, S. 1996 (updated 2009), ‘History of chemistry ’, Chemistry, Wikipedia. Retrieved 1 January 2014 from http://www.wikipedia.org/chemistry.html

Webpage (No Author, no publication date)“Light: The eye and colour vision” n.d., Physclips, UNSW. Retrieved 3 March 2014 from http://www.animations.physics.unsw.edu.au/light/eye-colour-vision/

The Final ReportThe following is a list of

headings that you should use when writing your report.

Title Hypothesis Aim Variables

o Dependent Variable

o Independent Variable

o Controlled Variables

Equipment Safety Issues Background

Information Method Results Graph Analysis Conclusion Bibliography

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PRELIMINARY REPORT SHEET

Name: __________________________ Science Class: _____________

Teacher: ___________________________

Title of Project:______________________________________________________

My Hypothesis:

___________________________________________________________________

Brief description of project:

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Controlled variables Independent variable Dependent variable

(What I will keep the same) (What I will change) (What I will measure)

Parent Acknowledgement:

I am aware that the science project that my son/daughter is about to commence is a major assessment task and will be used in the calculation of the end of year grade in science. I am aware of the area of investigation and approve of this topic. I am also aware that the project is designed as an individual student assessment, and the final date for submission of the completed project is 4th April 2014.

Signature (parent/guardian) ______________________________

Teacher approval _________________________ Date _____________

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Risk Assessment Form

Severity

Likelihood of something happening

Very likely could happen

at any time

Likely Could happen

sometime

Unlikely could happen but

rarely

Very unlikely could happen but probably

never will

Kill or cause permanent disability or ill health

1 1 2 3

Long term illness or serious injury

1 2 3 4

Medical attention and several days off work

2 3 4 5

First aid needed 3 4 5 6

The table above gives a number, which indicates the degree of risk involved in the use of a piece of equipment or a chemical.

1 indicates the greatest risk and should be avoided

6 indicates a minimal risk

Your risk assessment

List the equipment, chemicals and biological material, used in your experiment, that may be hazardous and why it may be hazardous. Give each item a number based on the table above and list the precautions taken.

Outline of Risk Risk Number Precautions to mitigate risk

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Marking Criteria

Name:____________________________ Class:_______

Markavailable The complete work should show Mark

awarded1 Title :

The title of the experiment is appropriate1 Hypothesis:

An appropriate hypothesis for the experiment is stated11

Aim:Correct format (not a question etc)Is succinctly stated

1 The independent variable is identified and described1 The dependent variable is identified and described3 All controlled variables are identified and described2 The equipment used in the experiment is listed

112

Risk assessment:Safety issues identifiedSafety precautions have been takenRisk assessment completed

2 Background Information

111

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Method:Instructions written in numbered stepsEach instruction must be a commandThere are no personal pronouns (I, we, us etc) and it is written in the present tenseIt uses scientific languageMethod is complete and will allow a solution to the problem

4 Experimental design:Experiment could produce valid results; repetition if appropriate; innovative and interesting.

32

Results:Table with appropriate headings and unitsPhotos, samples or other physical evidence

11111

Graph of results:TitleLabelled axesCorrect units usedPoints correctly plottedAppropriate scale

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3

AnalysisWhat scientific principles have been demonstrated by the experiment?Discuss your results and explain any trends.Show evidence of changes made to experiment or suggestions to improve experiment.Discuss your research and relate it to your experiment

10

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Conclusion:Clearly state the results of the experiment..Compare the results with your hypothesis.

121

Log book:Shows dates Evidence of planningEvidence of research and/or consultation

1113

Presentation:Legible or word processedCorrect grammar and spellingCorrect use of scientific languageBibliography and acknowledgement of help received; several sources and correct format.

60 TOTAL MARK

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Project Ideas

Do not start any investigation until the project has been approved by your teacher

Design learning experiments to examine factors affecting learning, eg noise

Investigate strength in a substance, eg glue, cotton, hair, paper, elastic band, building materials etc

Make bricks out of various materials and test their strength

Test the colourfastness of various materials

Investigate the effectiveness of various soaps or detergents

Test various hairsprays for effectiveness

Test nail polishes for hardness

Compare the effectiveness of various shampoos

Investigate whether warm or cold water freezes first

Investigate whether the use of aluminium foil makes a difference in cooking times

Investigate whether there is a relationship between gender and reaction time

Investigate the relationship between concentration and the effectiveness of disinfectors

Investigate the effectiveness of rust inhibitors

Investigate the effectiveness of oven cleaners

Investigate the effectiveness of batteries

Investigate the warmth of various socks

Investigate the relationship between slope angle and soil depth or erosion rates

Investigate the distribution of mosses and light level

Are stains removed faster in hot or cold water

Which fabric is easiest to clean (wash, remove stains from)

Which material is most resistant to creasing

On what type of surface do ice cubes melt fastest – plastic, wood, metal or ceramic

Do all cereals absorb the same amount of milk

Do all plastic bags, shopping bags carry the same weight without breaking

How strong are plastic wraps

How strong is a toothpick

What type of paper aeroplane will travel the furthest

Does the height of a person affect their ability to run 100m in a given time

What conditions affect the solubility of salt or sugar

Does the type of wood affect the wood’s ability to soak up water

What brand of paper towel is the most absorbent

Which detergent will dissolve oil best

Test various board waxes for effectiveness

The effect of a dye on different materials

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