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Crib Sheet
Our guide to educational jargon, teaching
methods and the strange things children may bring back from school
as homework. If there is a particular aspect of your child's
education you wish explaining, use the POL Ask
an Expert service.
Science Experiments
To non-scientists, science may sound a bit daunting, but it's
really just a way of finding out about the world in a consistent
and organised fashion.
However complicated it gets, science can be broken down into
a few steps:
- Observing and recording
- Making a theory
- Testing the theory and recording the results
- Adjusting the theory to fit the results you got
Most of this is pretty straightforward, but there are a few
points about testing that children sometimes have difficulty
getting to grips with. All of them are to do with making sure
you get a valid result. These points also apply to testing materials
and constructions in Design Technology.
Know what you're testing
For instance, you might make paper aeroplanes and then test them
to see which flies best. But what does best mean? Is it the one
that flies furthest, even if it spirals out of control? Is it
the one that flies most smoothly? Or the one that stays level
for longest?
Compare like with like
For instance, you can't measure one distance in metres and another
in yards.
Tests have to be fair
If you're trying to work out which of two things works best,
you have to test them in the same way. For instance, if you're
trying to decide which of two paper aeroplanes flies furthest,
you need to start them off at the same height and in the same
conditions (eg, inside or outside; windy or not windy).
Only change one variable at a time
If you change more than one variable, you won't be able to tell
which one caused the difference in your new results. For instance,
if you decide to improve your paper aeroplane by using lighter,
stiffer paper, and a design with wider wings and a longer tail,
you may very well succeed - but you won't know which of the four
things you changed made the difference.
Although the example given is from a Design Technology project,
these points apply just as well to science.
Science in the National Curriculum
Helping with Science Homework
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