Gather and interpret data resources

Students outline four ways of improving a given plan for an investigation to make it a fair test.

Task: Plan a fair test to see if adding salt water to water affects how long it takes to freeze. Assessment focus: managing variables.

Task: Describe what happens to ice in a glass of water, giving reasons, and explain where water forming on the outside of the glass comes from. Assessment focus: changes of state.

Task: Measure 100mL of water into three different pieces of equipment. Weigh the result and calculate the precision of using that piece of equipment. Assessment focus: measuring and evaluating the accuracy of equipment.

Students outline four tests they could do to find out if a newly described substance is a metal.

Students outline a test they could do to show if a substance is a metal or not.

Task: Students place in order four beakers of copper sulphate solution from most to least concentrated. They then explain what would happen if two beakers were put together, and explain the term "concentration". Assessment focus: solutions.

Students are provided with some information about testing leaves for starch. They are required to match the steps in the process with their purpose, and to explain what substance is present that turns iodine blue-black.

Students are given an outline of a fair test. They are asked to identify the aim, variables to be controlled, how to judge the results, and an aspect of replication.

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 are given diagrams of an experiment on photosynthesis using pond weed. Students are asked to put the diagrams of the experiment into the correct order, to give an aim, identify the gas produced, name the process in plants that produces this gas, and to write a conclusion for the experiment.

For this practical task students investigate water (and dye) movement in a plant when the stem of a daisy is cut lengthwise into three sections. Students record their observations and then explain their results in a scientific way. Key words have been provided.

Task: Students use an image of an Australian lizard to explain what purpose is served by the lizard's tail looking like its head. Assessment focus: features for survival.

This practical task is about heat absorption. From a given list students choose the equipment they would use to heat cold tap water as much as possible. Students complete the investigation, explain why each piece of equipment was selected, and record their results.

Students are given a diagram and information on the ratios of black- to grey-coated possums. Students answer questions relating to this information as well as identifying a method that could be used to determine the percentage of each coat colour.

Task: Read information and compare the special features that influence the chances of survival of black robins and fantails. Assessment focus: interpreting text to identify risk factors for survival.

Students explain the terms physical and chemical change. Then they read a passage of text and identify the six changes that have occurred and state if each change is a physical or a chemical change.

Task: Students describe two features of a skull that suggest it comes from a herbivore. Assessment focus: features of a herbivore's skull.

In this task, students look for patterns in electron arrangement in the periodic table. They use their ideas to place missing elements in the table, answer some questions about the patterns, and use the patterns to predict the properties of some elements.

Task: Explain how a change in the cockle population has affected one or more organisms in a food web in the short and long term. Assessment focus: Sorting observations and inferences; reading food chains and; using a food web diagram to predict impact of change.

Students look at two diagrams. The first shows iron nails in test tubes with boiled water or tap water, the second shows iron nails with moisture either present or absent. Students answer five questions about these investigations.

Students decide on the variables that will make an experiment about boiling water a fair test. Assessment focus: Recognising multiple variables.