Extended Projects in Year 7

•Experience of genuine research

•Encourage questioning and open-mindedness

•Basis for later work in science

Time What you should be doing Done? Details / notes

September - October

Choose a topic to research

Find out information so that you can make a prediction (hypothesis).

Keep a diary of what you found out, the sources of information you have used (references) and finally your hypothesis.

November - December

At home, try out different ways of testing your hypothesis (pilot studies).

Keep a diary of what you tried, what went well, what did not and the improvements you made. (Think about precision, accuracy and reliability.)

January - February Write a plan for your final experiment. In it identify:The independent variableThe dependent variableThe confounding variables

March - April Complete your plan by writing how you will control the confounding variables.Finally say how you have made your experiment as precise, accurate and reliable as possible.

May You will carry out your experiment and be assessed on you practical skills.

You will also be assessed on the table and graph of your results.

You will hand in your diary.(Your diary and the assessments of your practical skills, table and graph make up 25% of your summer examination marks.)

Year 7 Physics Research Project: record sheet

•Check plan at an early point to ensure they are focussed on the hypothesis.

•More work on designing tables and graphs in

advance of final practical

•Need to assess more objectively‣ Questioning, open minded approach to science‣ Routine science skills‣ Foundation for further research

barryd@clsg.org.uk