Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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ScienceInheritance, variation and survival35 min★★★ difficulty

Chapter 5: Investigation — does the evidence support the claim?

Scientific explanations become trustworthy when data, uncertainty and alternative explanations are handled openly.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Working scientifically: Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiry to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables
  • Working scientifically: Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations to draw conclusions
  • Working scientifically: Present observations using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs, and communicate ideas using scientific terminology

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations to draw conclusions

Key learning points

  • • A model dataset
  • • Test a mechanism
  • • Analyse honestly
  • • Reach a bounded conclusion

This lesson at a glance

  • 35 minutes
  • 14 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

interpretobservationsidentifyingpatternsconclusions

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Chapter 5: Investigation — does the evidence support the claim?

An English teaching video on this topic from FuseSchool - Global Education. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations to draw conclusions

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · A model dataset

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

A model dataset

Suppose a beetle population contains light and dark forms. After trees become soot-darkened, surveys find dark beetles rising from 18% to 67% over ten generations. The pattern is an association that needs explanation.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Test a mechanism

A fair investigation could place equal numbers of model beetles on light and dark backgrounds, vary only colour contrast, and record detection by observers. Repeat trials and randomise positions.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

Dark beetles rise from 18% to 67%. What can be concluded directly?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 14

Quick check

What makes the model-beetle test fair?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Analyse honestly

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

Analyse honestly

Calculate proportions, plot generation against frequency and describe the trend. Consider sample size, anomalous results and uncertainty. Correlation alone does not prove that predation caused the population change.

10

Explore the idea

Part 10 of 14

Learn

Reach a bounded conclusion

A strong conclusion states the pattern, cites numerical evidence, explains a plausible mechanism and names a limitation or further test. It does not claim more than the evidence shows.

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 14

Quick check

Which conclusion is strongest?

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Chapter 5: Investigation — does the evidence support the claim?

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. A class records that plant height increases as light hours increase, then levels off. What does the levelling off suggest?

  2. 2. Dark beetles rise from 18% to 67%. What can be concluded directly?

  3. 3. What makes the model-beetle test fair?

  4. 4. Which conclusion is strongest?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Select, plan and carry out the most appropriate types of scientific enquiry to test predictions, including identifying independent, dependent and control variables

  • Not looked at yet

    Interpret observations and data, including identifying patterns and using observations to draw conclusions

  • Not looked at yet

    Present observations using appropriate methods, including tables and graphs, and communicate ideas using scientific terminology

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