1.What do we believe?
2.How do we know?
3.What is the evidence?
Check with your teacher to see what he/she wants you to put on your cover page.
Purpose of the introduction is to give a brief statement that explains exactly what your investigation is about and why you chose this topic. You also use this paragraph to state your prediction on the outcome of the experiment. You can embellish this section if you like, but you must answer these questions:
*What is the general topic of the investigation?
* Why did you choose this topic?
* Specifically, what will you be testing (or comparing)?
* How will you measure the results?
*What do you think will happen?
I love to play softball and wondered if the type bat I used made any difference in how well I hit the ball. (Questions #1 & 2 above) Specifically, I want to compare wooden bats with aluminum ones. (Question #3) I will see which bat hits the ball the farthest. This way I will know which kind I should buy. I think the aluminum bat will hit the ball farther than a wooden bat. (Questions #4 & 5)
This is to help you with page 2 of the report.
Purpose of the experimental design is to summarize the important aspects of your investigation.
Title: The Effect of the Type Bat on How Far You Can Hit a Softball
Hypothesis: If I use an aluminum bat, then I will hit the softball farther.
Independent Variable: The type bat
How I will change it: wooden bat, aluminum bat
Dependent Variable: How far I hit the ball
Number of Trials: 10 (with each bat)
Control: The aluminum bat (The control in this case is arbitrary, but you may wish to make it the aluminum bat, since that is the bat you think will perform better.)
Constants: the size bat the batter/swing technique
the softball the playing field
time of day weather conditions
the pitcher
Here’s help with page 3 of the report.
Purpose of the procedure is to give detailed instructions on how to run your experiment. You should be specific enough so that another scientist could run the experiment exactly as you did. It is customary to list all materials needed as your first step.
1. Gather the following materials:
1 regulation softball
1 wooden softball bat
1 aluminum softball bat of equal size and weight (I used a 30” bat)
1 playing field
1 pitcher, 1 batter, and 1 spotter to see where the ball first hits the ground
1 tape measure, 100 feet long
2. Using the wooden bat, stay up at bat until you have hit five pitches into fair territory. Have the spotter measure the distance of each hit to the nearest foot, using the place where the ball first hits the ground as the spot to measure to.
3. Take a five minute rest.
4. Repeat step #2 using the aluminum bat.
5. Take a five minute rest.
6. Repeat steps 2 – 4.
Here’s some helpful information for page 4.
Purpose of data tables is to put your observations into an organized table in order to make the analysis of the data easier to do.
(Please enlarge your browser's screen for display of Data Table)
Type Bat How Far I Hit the Ball in Feet
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | T6 | T7 | T8 | T9 | T10 | Average Distance Hit in feet | |||
| ALUMINUM | 95 | 70 | 80 | 80 | 60 | 40 | 50 | 55 | 75 | 65 | 67 | ||
| WOODEN | 50 | 85 | 80 | 55 | 55 | 40 | 45 | 55 | 65 | 75 | 60.5 |
This first column lists all the different ways in which you changed the independent variable. Use the information here for your X axis. |
This middle section shows the dependent variable results. Note that there is one column for each set of trials run. |
This last column is for the values derived from each row across. Oftentimes it will be the average or sum of each row. Use the information here for your Y axis. |
Use this section to help you with the graph page in your report.
The purpose of a graph is to put data into “picture” form. It is sometimes easier to spot trends when the information is shown in graph form as opposed to in a data table.
1. Put the title of the investigation at the top of the page.
2. The independent variable goes on the X axis.
3. The dependent variable goes on the Y axis.
1. List your data pairs in column form: X,Y. The upper right side of the graph paper is usually a good place to do this.
2. Label your axes.
3. Use an appropriate scale and one that is easy to work with. Multiples of two, five, or ten are much easier to work with than are multiples of three, seven, or twelve, for example.
4. Use a bar graph if the independent variable is made up of separate, distinct units. Ex.: brand of softball bat – there is no such thing as a brand and a half. You would use one bar for each brand tested.
5. The Y axis on a bar graph should start at the value “zero”. Otherwise, you may get a false impression of exactly how many times bigger one bar is compared to another.
6. Leave a space between bars.
7. Color, shade in, or otherwise decorate all bars so they stand out better.
8. Use a line graph if the independent variable is a continuous measurement. Ex.: distance, temperature, volume. (There may be exceptions.)
9. Draw a “best fit” line after the coordinates are plotted on the line graph.
10. The direction and steepness (slope) of the line drawn are what you want to look at to determine trends.
Check with your individual teacher regarding whether or not you can use a computer generated graph or if you have to make one by hand.
Purpose of the conclusion is to discuss what you found out in your investigation as well as to evaluate how well the experiment was designed and run. Answer the following questions and use the described format.
First paragraph questions: 1. What was the purpose of the investigation? Remind the reader what is was you were trying to find out in your experiment. 2. What were your major findings? In other words, what did the data tell you? 3. Did the data support your original hypothesis? Remember, you do not lose points if the data did not back up your hypothesis. Science is not about knowing all the answers ahead of time; it’s about coming up with good explanations given the evidence (observations) that you got. 4. How do your results compare to those of similar experiments? If you do not know of any similar investigations, say so.
Second paragraph questions: 1. What is a good explanation for the results
you got? In other words, WHY do you think your experimental results came
out the way they did? Be sure to explain these for each way you changed
your independent variable. NOTE: Do not explain WHAT happened;
explain WHY it happened that way. 2. What other miscellaneous
observations did you make? For example, did you notice variables that you
had not thought to look for before you started?
Third paragraph questions: 1. Do you have any recommendations on how
to improve the procedure you used in this investigation? Could you have
done things differently or better in order to make your findings stronger?
You can always add more trials to improve an experiment, but is there
anything else you would do differently if you were starting with the exact same
questions?
Sample Conclusion Page
I conducted this experiment because I wanted to see which kind of softball bat hits the ball further, a wooden one or an aluminum one. My trials showed that on average the aluminum ball hit the ball further, but only by a few feet (67 vs. 60.5, or a 9% difference). My data did support my hypothesis. Two of my classmates tried this experiment and got about the same results that I did.
I think the aluminum bat hit the ball further because it didn’t absorb the impact from the ball as much as the softer wooden bat did. This would mean that even if I didn’t swing, but just held the bat out, the ball would still bounce back more from the aluminum bat than from the wooden one. I think the aluminum bat had a better grip on it too.
If I did this experiment again, I would run a lot more trials because there wasn’t too much difference in the results from the two bats. I think the batter should wear batting gloves too, so the grip would be the about the same for both bats. For another investigation, I could try using a baseball instead of a softball. I could also try different kinds of pitches to see if the bats acted differently depending on the type of pitch.