Here are some guiding questions to help you write your lab report.

This is mainly
to assess Criterion B & C and this is a summative assessment. After you have
written your content, please delete away the guiding questions. Ensure your
written lab report should be in black but you may have colour for your diagrams
and tables.

Research Question:
What are you testing? Aim of your experiment. Formulate your research question and your research
question should include both your independent variable and your dependent variable.

Background Information:
These are guiding questions to help you write, do background research: you should write around 300-400
words. Do some research / read up some books and also my notes. You can also insert diagrams to
illustrate your knowledge but make sure that each diagram you put have a short description at the bottom
eg: Figure 1: Types of materials

First paragraph
 Give a short introduction about density
 Why do different materials have different density
 Why is it important for us to measure density
 Give some real-life examples of how density is related to our daily life eg: to know whether material
will float or sink, Examples of when you see difference in density – like why oil will float above
water, why ice float above water, How do we float? is it easier to float in swimming pool or sea
water, how do we use density to separate blood components?
 Differences between metals and non-metals in terms of their properties – especially their density
 How do we measure density of different objects? For regular objects and irregular objects

Restate your research question – mentioning that you are going to test for densities of different materials,
some which are metals and some which are not.

Hypothesis:
Give a prediction on what you will likely observe based on your prior knowledge. Will the density be
different? Which type of material, metal or non-metal? Which will likely be the lightest and which one will
be the heaviest?

Independent Variable:
Write down what is your independent variable and describe any reasoning for these materials?

Dependent variable:
What are you going to measure/observe what results and how are you going to measure them? Explain
why you are going to use this to measure?
Control variable:
What are the things you are going to keep the same and how will it impact the experiment if you do not
keep the same? Methods on how to keep it the same?
Control variables Reasoning Methods

Materials & Equipment:

List down the things you used including all chemicals and reagents in bullet point, separate equipment list
and material list.

Methods:
Describe the steps u took to conduct the experiment in detail. Detailing how much you put how long you
wait, etc. number the steps 1,2,3….. you can insert diagrams to show the set up of your experiment

How did you calculate the density? Write down the formula.

Safety, environmental and ethical considerations:

Concerns Risks Prevention

Results table:
Type of Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
Materials Volume Mass Volume Mass Volume Mass
Aluminium
Lead
Copper
Brass
Iron
Zinc
Acrylic block
Wood
Styrofoam
Rubber Bung
Plastic Bung
 Type of Materials Density (g/cm3) Float / Sink
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Mean
Metal Aluminium
Lead
Copper
Brass
Iron
Zinc
Non-metal Acrylic block
Wood
Styrofoam
Rubber Bung
Plastic Bung

Average of all metals: Calculate the average of all different metals

Average of all non-metals: Calculate the average density of different non-metals

Graph
Draw a bar chart of the different materials. If you can fit all into one graph, good. If not, make two different
graph, one for metal and one for non-metal. I suggest you use Microsoft excel to do this.

Analysis:
 Describe your results by linking it back to your results and hypothesis.
 Eg: Metals are more dense than non-metals based on the results as the overall average of all
different metals is ….. and overall average of non-metals is ……… because…….
 Does it support or reject your hypothesis? Give reason as to why this is the results you have based
on scientific reasoning. Could it mean something different? What does it prove?
 Among the metals, which is the lightest? What is it used for and how does low density helps?
 Among the metals, which is the heaviest. What is it used for and how does the high density helps?
 Among the non-metals, which is the lightest and what is it used for and how does the low density
helps?
 Where there any unexpected results Do some research to find out what is the cause of these
changes and explain them.

Evaluation:
 What are the strengths of your experiment?
 What is the weakness of your experiment and how can you improve them further?
 Think of equipment precision, design of experiment accuracy in measurement and what are the
different ways you may improve them? If you are not sure, you can ask me…
 Are your independent variable sample sufficient, what other food you should have consider testing
and what test to conduct and why?

Source of Error/Limitation Impact on experiment Improvements

Conclusion:
 Write a summary of your experiment, findings and impact on your knowledge/real worlds
application.

Difference between state, outline, describe and explain

Example:

State
The experiment can be improved by doing more trials.

Outline:
The experiment can be improved by doing more trials for 0.5˚ C as there appear as the sample size is too
small / there appear to be an anomaly. By repeating the experiment, this would ensure the reliability of our
results.

Describe: The experiment can be improved by doing more trials for 0.5˚ C as there appear as the sample
size is too small/ there appear to be an anomaly. This is likely due to random errors while conducting the
experiment. By repeating the experiment, this would ensure the reliability of our results.

Explain: The experiment can be improved by doing more trials for 0.5˚ C as there appear as the sample is
too small / there appear to be an anomaly. The anomaly could be due to inaccuracies while measuring the
amount of acid or random errors due to chance. By repeating the experiment, we could create a larger
sample which can reduce the margin/impact of errors. This would increase the reliability of our results.

Difference between state, discuss, evaluate