Gather and interpret data resources

Task: Identify which variables should be kept the same to compare reaction times. Assessment focus: control of variables.

In this NEMP task students discuss observations of six unknown common household powders. They design a chart for results, find properties for each, and identify what each powder is. Assessment focus: identifying substances; teamwork.

Task: Process and interpret data in a table to identify the best paper to use for a game. Evaluate the reliability of the collected data. Assessment focus: using evidence to answer a question.

Task: Students fill in a chart to select the best material for making 6 objects, and give reasons for their answers. Assessment focus: properties of materials related to use.

This practical task requires students to plan and carry out a fair test to find out which paper type will soak up water the best.

Task: Look at the arrangement of fibres for four different paper towels, arrange an appropriate sequence of instructions, carry out the instructions and then communicate the data in an appropriate graph that will help answer the question. Different elements of the nature of science are embedded throughout the tasks. Assessment focus: planning and carrying out a fair test, using evidence to answer a question.

For this practical task students plan and carry out a fair test to determine which of four different cups will keep water the hottest over 10 minutes. Students are also required to graph their results and write a conclusion.

Task: Match everyday terms about properties with their meanings. Use their understanding about properties of paper and their uses to justify appropriate questions to investigate. Assessment focus: asking questions about paper properties.

Task: Create, use and identify ‘rules’ based on observable and/or measurable physical properties of common plastics. Assessment focus: classifying & identifying.

Students complete a table for six common objects by stating the material used to make each object and a useful property of that material.

Task: Describe and compare some physical properties of plastic objects and identify the properties scientists might use for classifying materials. Assessment focus: classifying using physical properties.

Task: Predict, observe and explain what will happen when a balloon containing another balloon filled with water is thrown. Assessment focus: making and explaining predictions and observations.

Task: Predict, observe and explain what will happen when a balloon containing another balloon filled with water is thrown. Assessment focus: making and explaining predictions and observations.

This practical task requires students to plan a method to determine which magnet is the strongest. Students carry out their plan, record results and write a conclusion.

Task: Students differentiate between simple observations and inferences, and between observations that require measurement and those that do not. Assessment focus: observing scientifically.

For this practical task students investigate and report on what they noticed about a model river and how different sized materials are moved by the water.

This task requires students to determine the best way to dissolve Milo the quickest. Students are given the opportunity to determine this by trial and error, then they are asked to write up their result and a conclusion.

Students are given some solids and liquids for this practical task. They plan how they would find out which liquids are solvents for any given solid, carry out the task, and write a conclusion.

Task: Describe how features of the New Zealand long-tailed bat help it to survive. Assessment focus: identifying features for survival.

Task: Describe on a chart how a duck's features help it to survive, then infer what might happen if these features were changed in some way. Assessment focus: how adaptations aid survival.

Task: View photograph to explain how a chiton protects itself in its environment. Assessment focus: identifying features that help to protect an animal in its particular environment.

Students investigate energy transfer by colliding marbles, explaining their observations, and what happens to the energy of the moving marble on impact.

Students are given an experimental setup of heating water with a burning peanut and are asked how they could change this in three ways to get a greater temperature increase. Students are also asked to give two important experimental conditions that should remain the same if the experiment was repeated.

Students describe the images seen in flat and convex mirrors.

Task: Predict, observe, and explain where a piece of wood floats in a container of water and oil. Assessment focus: flotation related to density; explaining predictions.