Reaction time required practical method

One of my pet hates as a teacher is when students say “use the same ruler” as a control variable for this experiment. So this slide and the next slide can be used to talk about why theoretically the type of ruler should not make a difference (unless they have significantly different surface areas).

You can then also get students to find out whether there actually is a significant difference, by getting them to carry out the ruler drop test as detailed on slide 4. This will get students to come up with there own method and then consider how to make there experiment accurate, valid, precise and repeatable.

The last task has them answer exam style questions and complete data analysis for a box plot.

This complete lesson requires only very basic equipment - 30cm rulers and 1m rulers. This resource is designed to:

1. Challenge students science skills
2. Revise the Paper 2 required practical
3. Create links between the Biology modules

The first slide is a starter based on a random mix of questions from other topics.

If you have any questions about this resource, please email wthresourcesh@gmail.com.