In Year 7, we had a look at working scientifically. We investigated what it means to work like a scientist, which means applying the scientific method.
The students completed an experiment in class and then wrote up lab reports.
Below is a sample lab report a student completed on our Height vs Bounce experiment. The lab report is an excellent example of concise and effective writing, which shares scientific knowledge.
Height vs Bounce
Objective:
See how the height from which we bounced the ball affects the height of the bounce.
Hypothesis:
I think that the higher we bounce the ball from, the higher it will bounce.
Materials
-tape measure
-a ball of any type
Method:
1.Position the tape measure accurately
2.Let the ball bounce from 50 cm
3.Record how high it bounces
4.Repeat steps 2 and three with 100 cm and 150 cm
Fair Test:
Independent variable:
What we changed is the height from which we bounced the ball.
Dependent variable:
We measured how high it bounced.
Control variables:
We kept the ball the same.
Results:
| Height(cm) | Bounce(cm) | Average(cm) |
| 50 | 36,27,34 | 32 |
| 100 | 47,67,69 | 61 |
| 150 | 94,96,100 | 97 |
Conclusion
We can say that my prediction was correct, so the experiment is an example of a positive correlation because the higher you bounce the ball from the higher it will bounce because the ball has more time to accelerate so the force that hits the ground is stronger.
Evaluation
The good of the experiment is that we each did the experiment three times and we each commented so we had three different opinions. We could have improved that we didn’t use a very good tape measure so our results weren’t very accurate. This means that our measurements were not precise. In the future I would like to test how the strength you use when you throw a ball affects the speed of it.