Exploring and Designing

Inquiry 1:  Exploring and Designing

I1.1    Exploring

• Demonstrate independent thinking, initiative, and insight
• Consult a variety of sources
• Select sufficient and relevant sources of information
• Formulate research questions and hypotheses
• State and explain predictions using scientific understanding

I1.2    Designing

• Demonstrate creativity in the designing, implementation and presentation of the investigation
• Develop investigations that involve hands-on laboratory experiments, databases, simulations, modeling and surveys
• Identify and justify the choice of dependent, independent and control variables
• Justify the range and quantity of measurements
• Design and explain a valid methodology
• Pilot methodologies

I1.3    Controlling variables

• Calibrate measuring apparatus
• Maintain constant environmental conditions of systems  
• Choose representative random samples and minimize sampling errors
• Set up a control run where appropriate