Planning sheet for independent experimental work in Physics
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SECTION 11 Title. ...................................................................................................................................
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(Be thorough and careful - try to make your title about what you are going to do.) 2 Introduction
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(Briefly - how are you going to introduce the topic and the question.) 3 Research question
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(Be careful - try to make your question about what you are going to do.) 4 Hypothesis
a What do you expect to happen?
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b Why? The why is important.
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Rely on what you know about the principles of physics or what a student has done in the past or go on the internet and find information to help you.)
5 Methods
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(What equipment do you need - how are you going to set it up and what are you going to do with it. BE SPECIFIC!)
6 Variables
a What are you going to measure - what graphs are you going to plot.
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b What things do you have to keep constant. BE SPECIFIC!
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SECTION 2What areas of the process did you have trouble with last time.
a Writing a good title and research question.
b Developing and explaining an hypothesis.
c Making enough measurements to get enough points on the graph. (7-8 minimum.)
d Mechanical problems with apparatus.
e Including tables of raw data and tables of processed data WITH ERRORS.
f Plotting graphs with the correct errors and plotting second graphs that are straight lines to confirm the relationship and to determine errors on the slope by fitting extreme lines.
g Including sample error calculations.
h Writing a discussion.
i Writing an adequate evaluation with suggestions for further work.
j Finding time to read and use the writing guides provided.
7 HOW WILL WHAT YOU ARE PROPOSING THIS TIME HELP YOU WITH THE SELECTION OF DIFFICULTIES YOU HAVE MADE ABOVE?
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8 WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO HELP YOURSELF?
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9 WHAT HELP DO YOU NEED NOW FROM ME - OR SOMEONE ELSE?
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