LS1.3b - Homeostasis Experimentation

Possible Q's to ask: 

• What traits of students in the class could you use to create experimental groups? 

• How could you write a research question to answer the questions above? 

• How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your experiment?

Goals: 

• Evaluates weaknesses and limitations.

  • Evaluation of Results - 

    • Were the measurements accurate (close to the true values) and precise (close to each other)?

    • Is your conclusion (claim) reasonable or not, based on your evidence?

    • Each comment needs to be supported with evidence from your data.

  • Limitations of Procedure - 

    • Focus on Design of experiment

      • Control Variables: What variables did you not control or forgot to control?

      • # of Trials: 

        • Did you collect enough trials to eliminate possible outliers?

      • Range of data: 

        • Did you collect data over the entire range of possibilities that your equipment allowed for?

        • Did you collect too much of a range? Beyond the limitations of your equipment. Did you max out your sensors/measuring device?

• Improving the Experiment:

  • From the list of Limitations above, suggest reasonable improvements to the design of the experiment to increase the reliability of your evidence.

  • Utilize a table as shown to the right

  • Note: do not say “Measurements could have been more accurate…” or “there was error in measurement.” Or “we could have worked harder/paid more attention.” Those are not valid evaluation statements and you are just wasting paper. 

  • Are there further experiments that can be performed or did the data suggest other avenues to explore?