WHAT BENEFIT IS THERE TO REPEATING YOUR EXPERIMENT?

RESULTS FROM THE SAME EXPERIMENT SHOULD BE SIMILAR. THIS MEANS THAT THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM A CAREFULLY DESIGNED AND CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT MUST BE REPRODUCABLE. YOU ARE GOING TO REPEAT YOUR EXPERIMENT TO SHOW THAT YOUR RESULTS WERE NOT JUST A "ONE TIME AFFAIR" OR A "FLOOK" OR "FUDGED". THE MORE TIMES THAT YOU REPEAT YOUR EXPERIMENT AND GET THE SAME OUTCOMES, THE MORE RELIABLE YOUR WORK BECOMES. REPEATING YOUR EXPERIMENT TAKES TIME AND WILL LIKELY HAVE A MONETARY COST ASSOCIATED WITH IT. TIME AND MONEY MUST BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN YOU DECIDE HOW MANY TIMES TO REPEAT YOUR EXPERIMENT, OR EVEN IF YOU SHOULD REPEAT YOUR EXPERIMENT.

IF YOUR EXPERIMENT SHOWS SIMILAR RESULTS EACH TIME IT IS PERFORMED THEN YOU KNOW THAT YOUR EXPERIMENT MUST BE SOUND AND THAT YOUR CONCLUSION IS VALID. YOU WILL HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR HYPOTHESIS AND YOU WILL HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC.

ACTIVITY

REDO YOUR EXPERIMENT:

1. HAVE YOUR EXPERIMENT IN YOUR PROJECT LOG BOOK, COMPLETE WITH TITLE, HYPOTHESIS, PURPOSE, PREDICTION, MATERIALS, PROCEDURE, DATA AND OBSERVATIONS.
2. ORGANIZE YOUR EXPERIMENT MATERIALS SO THEY ARE READY FOR YOU TO USE.
3. ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE DONE THE EXPERIMENT SAFETY CHECKLIST THAT CAN BE FOUND ON SEVERAL WEBSITES OR THE SAFETY CHECKLIST PRINTED ON PAGE 750 OF THE SCIENCE CONNECTIONS 10 TEXTBOOK. IMPLEMENT YOUR SAFETY MEASURES.
4. OBTAIN YOUR TEACHER'S OR PARENT'S PERMISSION TO PERFORM YOUR EXPERIMENT. DO NOT PERFORM YOUR EXPERIMENT IF AN ADULT IS NOT AWARE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
5. RECORD YOUR MEASUREMENTS IN YOUR DATA TABLE AND RECORD YOUR OBSERVATIONS.
6. YOUR EXPERIMENT MIGHT REQUIRE THAT YOUR EXPERIMENT SIT UNDISTURBED FOR A FEW DAYS OR FOR A PERIOD OF TIME. IF THIS IS NEEDED, ARRANGE A QUIET PLACE TO STORE YOUR EXPERIMENT.
7. CLEAN UP YOUR WORK AREA AND RETURN ALL EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS.

ANALYZE THE RESULTS:

1. COMPARE YOUR EXPERIMENT RESULTS FROM THE TWO TIMES THAT YOU PERFORMED YOUR EXPERIMENT.
2. ACCOUNT FOR ANY DIFFERENCES THAT YOU FIND.
3. DECIDE WHETHER THE DIFFERENCES ARE SIGNIFICANT AND IF THESE DIFFERENCES INDICATE THAT FURTHER TESTING IS REQUIRED.
4. IF FURTHER TESTING IS REQUIRED, DESIGN FURTHER TESTS OR EXPERIMENTS. FOR EACH EXPERIMENT THAT YOU CONDUCT, FOLLOW THE EXPERIMENTATION SEQUENCE OUTLINED ABOVE.

ASSIGNMENT

REFER TO THE ANALYSIS OF YOUR RESULTS FROM THE ACTIVITY SECTION OF THIS LESSON. WRITE A PARAGRAPH THAT SUMMARIZES YOUR ANALYSIS. KEEP A COPY OF THIS ANALYSIS IN YOUR PROJECT LOG BOOK AND EMAIL A COPY OF THIS ANALYSIS TO ME.

ASSESSMENT

YOUR EXPERIMENT REPORT WILL BE MARKED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES USED BY THE CANADA WIDE SCIENCE FAIR AND MANY REGIONAL SCIENCE FAIRS TO EVALUATE THE SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT OF THE PROJECT. CONSULT THE POLICY, PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES MANUAL FROM THE YOUTH SCIENCE FOUNDATION OF CANADA TO LOCATE THE MARKING SCHEME. THIS MARKING SCHEME CAN ALSO BE FOUND BY FOLLOW THE SASKATOON REGIONAL SCIENCE FAIR LINKS FROM THE VIRTUAL SCIENCE FAIR.