Key Stage 2
Meaning
An evaluation is when you look at your results to decide if they are right or you think about your method to see if it could be improved to get better results.
About Evaluations
- You can evaluate your results by comparing them to the results you expected or the results from other people. This allows you to decide whether to trust your results or whether you need to find a way to improve your experiment.
- You can evaluate your method by trying to find things that went wrong or were not good enough. You can then write an improved method using that evaluation to try again.
Examples
Aim
- To find out how sunlight affects the growth of cress.
Prediction
- The cress that gets sunlight will grow green shoots and the ones in the dark won't.
Description of Experiment
- 1. Cress seeds were placed in several pots.
- 2. Half of the pots were placed on the window sill and half in a cupboard
- 3. The cress was observed every day to see how they were growing.
Results
- The plants on the window sill did not grow.
- The plants in the cupboard grew roots only.
- The soil for the plants on the windowsill was dry.
- The soil for the plants in the cupboard was damp.
- The pots on the windowsill were hot to the touch.
Evaluation The results did not match the prediction based on our textbook. The method was not good because the soil on the windowsill went dry because of the warmth and sunlight but the soil in the cupboard stayed damp. This meant sunlight wasn't the only difference between the two groups of cress. To improve the experiment both sets of plants should be watered to make sure they also have enough water to grow.