what’s the conclusion? student sheets a skills development activity for gcse

What’s the conclusion?

Student SheetsA skills development activity for GCSE

SS1 Test results (reusable) b is a version for higher ability students.

SS2 Program outline (consumable)

SS3 Hazard perception (reusable) b is a version for higher ability students

SS4 Flow chart (reusable)

SS5 Flow chart (teacher guide)

SS6 Report from the Daily Post (reusable)

SS7 Marking guide (reusable) For teacher use but can be used by students for self/peer assessment

SS8 Flow chart (reusable) Optional extra for the explain task

SS9 Flow chart (teachers guide)

Sheet number Title Notes

Contents

alcohol only(same amount as Buzz)

alcohol plus 50 mg of caffeine(half amount of Buzz)

mean

reacti

on

tim

e (

ms)

OCR SKILLUP : WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION? SS1a

Test resultsgroup 1 group 2 group 3

alcohol plus 100 mg of caffeine(same amount as Buzz)

before after before after before after

© OCR 2012


mean

han

d-e

ye

coord

inati

on

score

incre

ase in

reacti

on

ti

me (

ms)

amount of caffeine (mg)

Test results

Buzz (100 mg)

OCR SKILLUP : WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION? SS1b

© OCR 2012

decre

ase in

han

d-e

ye

coord

inati

on

test

score

amount of caffeine (mg) Buzz (100 mg)

Program outline

Intro: Abigail, our presenter, introduces Buzz and discusses the hypothesis we are testing.

The tests: Reaction times and hand-eye coordination: Abigail explains the tests and discusses the results. Write conclusions to describe what the evidence shows.

Do both pieces of evidence match our prediction? If so, describe our conclusion and the evidence that we collected which supports it.

OCR SKILLUP : WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION? SS2

Our prediction is that drinking both caffeine and alcohol together will result in their effects being cancelled out.

Wrapping up: Abigail gives our final thoughts. How could we make our conclusion more secure?

The controversy: Abigail explains that it seems that the makers are claiming that you can drink Buzz and drive. We discuss the hazard perception results. Explain how confident we are in the hypothesis that the effects of alcohol are cancelled out by caffeine. Do we think you can drink Buzz and drive?

© OCR 2012

Hazard perception

The test

You take a driving hazard perception test. The higher your score out of 50, the more aware you are of hazards when driving.

OCR SKILLUP : WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION? SS3a

Method120 people were split into 3 groups and each person did the test.The people in each group drank a different drink.They waited 20 minutes and did the test again.

alcohol only(same amount as Buzz)

alcohol plus 50 mg of caffeine(half amount of Buzz)

group 1 group 2 group 3alcohol plus 100 mg of caffeine(same amount as Buzz)


mean

score

© OCR 2012

The test

You take a driving hazard perception test. The higher your score out of 50, the more aware you are of hazards when driving.

Hazard perception

OCR SKILLUP : WHAT’S THE CONCLUSION? SS3b

decre

ase in

score

amount of caffeine taken (mg)Buzz (100 mg)

Method

120 people were split into 7 groups.

Each person did the test and then was given a drink that contained:

●A fixed amount of alcohol (same as Buzz)

●A different amount of caffeine(between 0-150mg)

The people were not told what was in their drink.

They waited 20 minutes and did the test again.

© OCR 2012

Yes

Yes

The hypothesis could be wrong.The hypothesis could be wrong.

No

Yes

Look at all the evidence.

You can have a HIGH level of confidence in the hypothesis.

Your cannot draw a clear conclusion about whether the hypothesis is correct.

Look at the method used to collect each piece of evidence.

?Does it all match your predictions?

Describe the evidence that supports it.

?Does most of the evidence match your

predictions?

You can have a LOW level of confidence in the hypothesis.

Describe the evidence that supports and

opposes it.

No

Describe the evidence that

opposes it.

?Are there errorsthat could lead to

inconsistent results?

Describe how to improve the method, to see if the hypothesis is really correct.

No

Suggest other hypotheses that would explain the results

you got.


START HERE

© OCR 2012

Yes

Discussion about the results from the tests.

Yes

The hypothesis could be wrong.The hypothesis could be wrong.

No

Yes

Look at all the evidence.

You can have a HIGH level of confidence in the hypothesis.

Your cannot draw a clear conclusion about whether the hypothesis is correct.


?Does it all match your predictions?

Describe this and the evidence that

supports it.

?Does most of the evidence match your

predictions?

You can have a LOW level of confidence in the hypothesis.

Describe the evidence that supports and

opposes it.

No

Describe the evidence that

opposes it.

?Are there any mistakes that could lead to

inconsistent results?

Describe how to improve the method, to see if the hypothesis is really correct.

No

Suggest other hypotheses that would explain the results

you got.


START HEREThe reaction times tests and hand-eye coordination do but not the hazard perception test.

Students could take both routes here to a certain extent.

Good area for debate – the students may spot some parts of the test that they feel were mistakes e.g. not waiting long enough after drinking and before taking the test.

The effects of alcohol are not cancelled out by the affects of caffeine (or it does but at concentrations not tested)

Teacher notes

© OCR 2012

Our conclusion from this study is that eating broccoli can prevent the growth of cancer.

Report from The Daily Post

Scientists grew cancer cells and normal healthy cells outside of the body. They then added different concentrations of the chemical to each (higher than amounts naturally found in broccoli) and measured the growth of the cells. These graphs show the results:

concentration of chemical added

gro

wth

of

can

cer

cells

1 Use the results on graph A to explain how The Daily Post came up with their conclusion.

2 Study graph B.

a Comment on how confident you are with their conclusion and explain why.

b What further data would help you to be more confident in the conclusion?

Research published last week found that a chemical found in broccoli slows down the growth of cancer cells.

concentration of chemical added

gro

wth

of

norm

al cellsgraph A graph B


© OCR 2012

Report from The Daily Post : Marking GuideWorking critically with science General criteria

Report from The Daily PostTypical student response

Low demand

Explain how a conclusion is based on the scientific evidence which has been collected.

● The Daily Post came up with their conclusion that eating broccoli can prevent the growth of cancer.

● The results in graph A shows that as you increase the concentration of the chemical found in broccoli, the growth of cancer cells slows down.

(1-2 marks)

Standard demand

Discuss the level of confidence in a conclusion based on the identification of a qualitative relationship between variables and the way further predictions can lead to more evidence being obtained.

As above plus:

● Graph B shows that the increasing the concentration of the chemical found in broccoli also slows down the growth of normal, healthy cells. This shows that the chemical could slow down the growth of all cells in the body, not just cancer cells.

(3-4 marks)

High demand

Identify and critically analyse conflicting evidence, or weaknesses in the data, which lead to different interpretations, and give a detailed explanation of what further data would help to make the conclusion more secure.

As above plus:

● Confidence in The Daily Post’s conclusion is low because the concentrations of chemicals used in the experiments were much higher than what is normally found in broccoli. This means that eating broccoli will not provide the body with a high enough concentration of the chemical to affect cancer cells.

● The tests were done on cells outside of the body so the effects of the chemical inside the body may be totally different for example, the chemical may be digested in the stomach and never enter the bloodstream. Also, it might be more or less effective on different types of cancer cell e.g. might be highly effective on (say) stomach cancer cells but less effective on (say) brain cancer cells.

● Further data needs to be collected using the same concentration as found in broccoli on cancer cells inside a human body.

(5-6 marks)


© OCR 2012


No Your cannot draw a clear conclusion, as the results are inconsistent.


Describe what it shows.

Look at the 2nd piece of evidence (graph/chart/table)

Yes

?Do both pieces of evidence match your

prediction?

?

Describe how you think the problem led to inconsistent results.

Yes


You can draw a clear conclusion to answer the original question.

START HERE

Look at the 1st piece of evidence (graph/chart/table)

?Can you find any problems?

Describe the evidence which supports and opposes the hypothesis.

© OCR 2012


Write the conclusion and describe the evidence that supports it.

No Your cannot draw a clear conclusion, as the results are inconsistent.


© OCR 2012

Drinking Buzz will result in no change to your reaction times. They clearly show that as the amount of caffeine increases the depressive effects of the alcohol are cancelled out.

The predictionis that drinking buzz will result in no change to reaction times and hand-eye coordination and bothsets of results show that this is true.

Drinking Buzz will very slightly decrease your hand-eye coordination (around one less ball caught in 30 seconds). They clearly show that as the amount of caffeine increases the depressive effects of the alcohol are cancelled out.

The conclusion is that drinking Buzz has no effect on reaction times and hand-eye coordination, and this is supported by the data.

You can debate here that this route should be taken in light of the hand-eye coordination results. Do the students think that this result is enough proof that the results are inconsistent?

Teacher notes



Look at the 2nd piece of evidence (graph/chart/table)

Yes

?Do both pieces of evidence match your

prediction?

?

Describe how you think the problem led to inconsistent results.

Yes

You can draw a clear conclusion to answer the original question.

START HERE

Look at the 1st piece of evidence (graph/chart/table)

?Can you find any problems?

Describe the evidence which supports and opposes the hypothesis.


Write the conclusion and describe the evidence that supports it.

what’s the conclusion? student sheets a skills development activity for gcse

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