9SCIE - Introduction to Pūtaiao
Finn Le Sueur
2024
What is the objective of your experiment?
An aim describes what you will be investigating (the purpose of the experiment). Keep it simple, one sentence long.
e.g. The aim of this experiment is to investigate the relationship between the colour of the Bunsen flame and how fast the water heats up.
A prediction for the outcome of the experiment.
A hypothesis should make a specific and testable prediction about the outcome of your experiment. It must make a prediction about the effect of your independent variable on your dependent variable.
e.g. I think that an orange flame will heat the water to 100C more quickly than the blue flame.
The variable that you will change throughout the experiment.
Be specific about what exactly you are changing. Where possible, you should include units of measurement.
e.g. We will change the mass of the projectile (measured in kgs). We will use 0.25kg, 0.5kg, 0.75kg, 1kg and 2kg masses.
The variable being measured.
Be specific about what you will measure and the units of measurement of the dependent variable.
e.g. We will measure the time taken to produce \(10ml\) of carbon dioxide gas.
Things that you are keeping constant in between trials.
Include at least three control variables for your experiments and explain how they keep the experiment fair.
You must have control variables to have a fair test.
Without control variables you cannot be sure if your independent variable (flame colour) was the thing affecting the time taken to heat the water.