The purpose of the simulation is to explore various experimental designs before carrying out an actual investigation in the classroom.
Through this process, the children will consider important factors in designing and carrying out an experiment. They will look at whether it is safe, whether accurate measurements can be taken and ensure that a fair test is carried out where appropriate.
The simulation will then pose a series of questions for the children to discuss as a group, before remedying the design. Through this process, the children will be consider important factors in designing and carrying out an experiment to help them that is safe, enables accurate measurements can be taken and ensures a fair test where appropriate.
When the children are happy that they have solved the issues, the experiment can be re-run and analysed. Ultimately, this should ensure that they will consider the important factors when they set up the actual experiment in the classroom.
The purpose of this extended activity is to explore the importance of being able to reproduce the results of an experiment in subsequent tests. If a test gives the same results when it is repeated then the results can be considered reliable and not random. The simulation requires the children to set up an experiment and a repeat experiment - both under the same conditions. As well as being the same, the experiments must be safe, fair and accurate.