Look at these animals.

How does the temperature of their habitat affect the size of their ears?

Arctic Fox Desert Fox

Look at these animals.

How does the temperature of their habitat affect the size of their ears?

Look at these animals.

How does the temperature of their habitat affect the size of their ears?

Desert Mouse

Lemming (mouse like creatures

found in artic)

So the evidence suggests, animals in hotter

climates have larger ears

Why do you think this may be?

I think animals in

hot climates have bigger ears so they

can fan themselves to keep cool

I think animals in hot climates

have larger ears because sound waves do not travel as well in the

heat

I think animals in hot climates

have larger ears to keep

the flies away?

I think animals lose heat through

their ears so animals in hot climates need

bigger ears

I think animals in hot climates

have larger ears because it is

harder to catch prey so they need to hear REALLY well

You are going to plan an experiment to test your ideas

Planning an investigation

Step 1 Decide what you will do to investigate

your question

Step 3 Getting Accurate

results What variables do

you need to control to make it a fair

test?

Step 4Resolution

What scale of measurement are you going

to use?

Step 2 Independent

Variable What are you going

to change?Dependent

VariableWhat are you going

to measure?

Step 6 Do you need a control in your

experiment?

Step 5 What

equipment are you going

to need?

Step 7 What do you Predict will happen and

why?

time

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

5

4

3

2

1

0

Dis

tanc

e

0 6 10 11 23 49

Number of leaves

Wat

er lo

ss (

ml) 8

6

5

3

1

0

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Time (m)

40

30

20

10

0

Gas

Pro

duce

d (m

l)

Hei

ght

(m)

Age (years)

0 5 10 15 20 25

2.5

2

1.5

1

0.5

0

Spot the mistakes in these graphs

(s)

(m)

0 10 20 30 40 50

8

6

4

2

0

Recording your Results

Design a table to collect your results in

This is usually

the thing you

change

These are usually the things you have measured

NEVER FORGET YOUR UNITS!!! (e.g. s, m, cm, N)

Use a PENCIL and RULER

What did your What did your results tell you?results tell you?

Evaluating your Evidence

How Repeatable are your results?

How Accurate are your results?

Do your results show a strong pattern?

Did you do enough

conditions or should you have done

more?

Are all of your repeats similar?Did you do your

anomalies again?

Are the results close to the line

of best fit?Should you have

thought more carefully about

your plan?

Are your results as good as other peoples in the class?

How would you improve your

experiment if you were to do it

again?

So is this the only reason animals have

big ears?

Can you find out why Indian and African elephants have different sized ears?