Format for submitted experiments

Please try to keep to the following format for writing up experiments.

Title

For example, “Freezing and Melting of Water”

Introduction

• Brief description of the experiment
• What the experiment is trying to teach
• Any prior knowledge / understanding required
• Target age groups — please include actual age groups (eg 9 to 11 year old’s). It’s OK to also include ‘Key stage 2’ or ‘Year 5’ but bear in mind these mean different things in different countries.

Equipment required

• Data logging equipment required (eg DrDAQ and two external temperature probes)
• Other equipment (eg two beakers of water, some salt and a freezer)
• Any safety issues or warnings

Experiment setup

• A description of how the experiment should be setup
• A diagram or photograph of the setup
• If the setup of the software for the experiment is fairly simple, then it should be included here (this is after all part of the learning experience). If the setup of the software is complicated and would distract from the experiment itself, then we can create a settings file for PicoScope or PicoLog based on the results files you give to us. The student can then be instructed to simply load the settings file and start collecting data.

Carrying out the experiment

Instructions on how to carry out the experiment. Some indication of what to expect here would be useful if it can be done without revealing the results. For example in an experiment to measure the pH of fizzy drinks explain that neutral is pH seven and that some drinks are far from neutral. This will give the student confidence in what they are doing and will help them realise if the experiment is not working.

Questions and discussion of results

This section should contain questions about the results and what the results show.

The appeal and usefulness of the experiment can be greatly enhanced by having different sets of questions aimed at different age groups. For example in an experiment to compare the freezing of pure and salt water the questions for younger children might include which beaker of water froze first and which beaker melted first. For older children the concept of latent heat could be introduced.

Further study

This could include further analysis and discussion of the results, for example in the above experiment questions could be asked about the effectiveness of putting salt on icy roads.

Suggestions could also be made for further experiments, for example how does the concentration of salt water affect the results or what results would you expect if the liquids were boiled rather than frozen. The emphasis here is on ideas for further study - results and graphs are not required.

Results and answers

Please make sure that all questions you have set the student are answered here. We can’t all be experts in all subjects!

Results graphs can be included here, but please remember to also submit the PicoScope or PicoLog data files.

Teachers’ notes

Please include:

• Any safety issues
• How long the experiment will take to setup
• How long the experiment will take to perform
• Any hints, tips or pitfalls with the experiment

Submitted by

Your claim to fame. Feel free to include email contact details (for comments / suggestions for improvements) or a website (if you have published the experiment on the net).

Submitting experiments — file formats

If possible experiments should be submitted by email (experiments@picotech.com). If this is not possible, please post them to Pico Technology.

Text — Microsoft Word or PDF files preferred. Plain ASCII text by email is also acceptable.

Graphics — most formats can be accepted. For diagrams and drawings GIF/PNG files are preferred. For photographs JPG (JPEG) files are preferred.

Data files — when performing an experiment, please send us the raw data files (.PLW files for PicoLog or .PSW files for PicoScope).