Exam practice

principle

precautions

pattern

demonstrate

continuous (it never stops: every answer leads to new questions). The word “paragraph” is not used.

Scientific learning is the careful, step-by-step study done to find the answers to the questions (what? why? how?) that come to our mind when we observe an object or an event. It involves observing, asking questions, guessing answers, testing them, recording and analyzing the data, drawing a conclusion and writing a report.

When we observe an object or an event carefully, we become curious, and questions come to our mind: what, why and how. Trying to answer them step by step is scientific learning.
Example: we wake up every morning to the sound of an alarm clock. Thinking about it, we ask: How does the clock make the sound? How does the sound reach our ears? How do we hear it? To answer, we can study how sound is made, test our guesses (for example, touch a ringing bell to feel it vibrate), record what we find, conclude that sound is made by vibrations that travel through the air to our ears, and write a report.

• Through practical work we test principles and facts ourselves, instead of only reading about them.
• Seeing and doing makes the learned principle clearer, and we remember it longer.
• It teaches skills: observing, measuring, using apparatus safely, recording data and writing reports.
• It is how new facts are found: every scientific fact was first discovered or checked by practical work, in or out of a laboratory.
• It can be done in many ways (observing, testing, surveying, project work and making models), so it fits every topic of science.

Report writing is writing a detailed description of a piece of practical work after it is done: its title, objective, materials, figure, procedure, observation, analysis, result, conclusion and precautions.
We write reports:

1. to give the details of the work to the people concerned;
2. to share what was found clearly, so that everyone can understand it;
3. to compare the result of the experiment with its objective;
4. to keep a record of the conclusion and of the problems met during the work;
5. so that others can repeat the work and check the result.

• Write the parts in the right order, beginning with a clear title and objective.
• List all the materials, so anyone can repeat the work.
• Draw a neat, labeled figure.
• Write the procedure step by step, in the past tense (“The flask was heated”).
• Write the observations honestly, exactly as seen, even when they are not what you expected; use tables and units.
• When analyzing, check the calculations, take the average of repeated readings, and see whether the data really support the result.
• Make sure the result and conclusion answer the objective.
• Write the precautions taken.
• Keep it short, clear and tidy.

1. Title: the name of the work.
2. Objective: its purpose.
3. Required materials: the apparatus and substances used.
4. Figure: a neat, labeled drawing of the set-up.
5. Procedure: the steps done, in order, in the past tense.
6. Observation: what was seen or measured, in a table or graph.
7. Analysis: working out what the data show.
8. Result: what the analysis shows; whether the objective was met.
9. Conclusion: the general fact learned from the result.
10. Precaution: the care taken to prevent accidents and errors.