VCE Chemistry – Unit 4, Outcome 3 Practical Investigation and Scientific Poster Task

Practical Investigation and Scientific Poster Task

TASK: In this area of study, you must design or adapt a practical investigation related to Unit 3 or Unit 4, or across both
Units 3 and 4. The investigation requires you to identify an aim, develop a question, formulate a hypothesis and plan a course of action that complies with safety and ethical requirements. Once this plan has been approved by your teacher, you will then undertake an experiment to collect primary qualitative and/or quantitative data, analyse and evaluate the data, identify limitations of data and methods, link experimental results to science ideas, reach a conclusion in response to the question and suggest further investigations which may be undertaken.

You must maintain a practical logbook for record, authentication and assessment purposes. Your findings are to be communicated in a scientific poster format according to the template below.

Poster section	Content
Title	Question under investigation
Introduction	Brief explanation or reason for undertaking the investigation, including a clear aim, a hypothesis and/or prediction and relevant background chemical concepts
Methodology and methods	Brief outline of the selected methodology used to address the investigation question
	Summary of data generation method(s) and data analysis method(s)
Results	Presentation of generated data/evidence in appropriate format to illustrate trends, patterns and/or relationships
Discussion	Interpretation and evaluation of analysed primary data
	Identification of limitations in data and methods, and suggested improvements
	Cross-referencing of results to relevant chemical concepts
	Linking of results to investigation question and to the aim to explain whether the investigation data and findings support the hypothesis
Conclusion		Conclusion that provides a response to the investigation question
		Identification of the extent to which the analysis has answered the investigation question, with no new information being introduced
References and acknowledgements		Referencing and acknowledgement of all quotations and sourced content relevant to the investigation

Students record in their logbooks all elements of their investigation planning, comprising identification and management of relevant risks, recording of raw data, and preliminary analysis and evaluation of results, including identification of outliers and their subsequent treatment. Both the students’ poster and logbook entries are assessed as part of Unit 4, Area of Study 3.

In Unit 4, Area of Study 3, you demonstrate their science communication skills by presenting the findings of a designed scientific investigation and the significance of these findings to both technical and non-technical audiences as a poster. The poster may be produced electronically or in hard-copy format and should not exceed 600 words. Supporting text, such as in tables, graphs, image captions, references and acknowledgements, are not included in the word count.

Posters are not limited to a particular paper size (or number of panels). The priorities for the communication should be conciseness, clarity and legibility.

You will use the following scientific poster format when reporting on their investigation.

	Title Student name
Introduction Methodology and methods Results	Communication statement reporting the key finding of the investigation as a one-sentence summary	Discussion Conclusion
References and acknowledgements

The centre of the poster will occupy between 20 to 25 per cent of the poster space and will be a one-sentence summary of the major finding of the investigation that answers the investigation question.

More detailed information on each section of the poster is on pages 3 – 5.

TOPICS: Electrochemistry, energy content, rates of reaction or extent of reactions

DUE DATE: Friday June 21^ST 11:59pm

SUBMISSION: Digital poster + digital copies of logbook entries

WORD LIMIT: 600 words (+/- 10%)

WEIGHTING: This task contributes 10% of the study score for Chemistry

Suggestions for effective scientific poster communication

Scientific posters are widely used in academia, research and in the general scientific community as a visual means of communicating the outcomes of scientific investigations. Key design principles for effective scientific poster communication include:

· Logical sequencing and easy identification on the poster of the hypothesis or question, aim and conclusion and other key parts of the investigation.

· Inclusion of only the essential details for conveying what was done in the investigation and what was discovered.

· Use of a range of visual aids (for example, tables, photographs, diagrams and graphs) to reduce the amount of text required and to avoid overcrowding of the poster.

· Use of font, font size and colours that will be easily read by all those viewing the poster.

· Careful editing of text – terminology and spelling should be checked; wording should be simplified; acronyms should be defined; and complexity should be reduced. Others with little or no background in the area under investigation should be able to understand the language and identify the key points of the investigation.

· Clear labelling of all images (for example, diagrams or photographs of the experimental set-up).

· Graphs drawn with clear, relevant scales, grids, labels and annotations.

· Editing of graphs derived directly from spreadsheet programs so that graphs do not have coloured backgrounds, grid lines, or boxes and that, in cases where multiple graphs are shown on the same set of axes, each graph is labelled rather than requiring a reader to use a key.

· Axis labels formatted in sentence case (Not in Title Case and NOT IN ALL CAPS).

· Calculations presented in a clear, non-repetitive manner (for example, one sample calculation can be shown and then the results of similar calculations can be displayed in a table) and appropriate units must be shown.

· All references stated and appropriate acknowledgments provided.

· Creation and checking of a mock-up poster prior to submission of a final poster for assessment.

Scientific Poster Sections

In more detail, each section of the scientific poster should contain the following:

· Title: The poster title should be written as a question that briefly conveys the interesting issue, the general experimental approach, and the system. The title will essentially state the aim of the experiment, and explicitly state the dependent and independent variables.

· Introduction: An overview of the purpose of the investigation and why the research question is of interest. The investigation should be placed in the context of appropriate background theory (including relevant secondary sources of reliable information) and prior investigations and linked to a hypothesis (before a brief description of the experimental approach that tested a hypothesis or research question is provided). Sufficient background information, definitions and relevant formulas should be used to enable a peer to understand the nature of the investigation. The poster’s introduction is an appropriate place to put a photograph or illustration that communicates some aspect of the research question.

· Methodology: The investigation type, apparatus, materials and procedure should be described briefly although well enough to allow others to replicate it exactly. The detail used for a formal practical report is not required; for example, figures and flow charts can be used to illustrate experimental design, a photograph or labelled drawing of a system or setup may be included, and the method that was used could be summarised as a flow chart. This section should clarify why the investigation was performed in the way that was chosen.

· Results: In this section, relevant raw data generated from the investigation (recorded in your logbook) should be selected to be included on the poster. You should consider the most appropriate form in which to present the data, for example table form, as an easy-to-read figure or as percentages/ratios. It is not an effective use of poster space to present both a table of results and a graph since they both represent the same information. The following points should be checked in constructing the poster:

o ensure that graphics are clear, easily read, titled and fully labelled

o clearly present data trends and/or relationships

o sequentially number all tables, graphs and diagrams

o use a sentence or two to draw attention to key points in the tables, graph and diagrams

o only provide a sample calculation for repeat calculations

· Discussion: This section explores the implications of the findings and judges the potential limitations of the experimental design. It focuses on a question of understanding ‘What is the meaning and/or the significance of my investigation results?’ This involves analysis in explaining what the results clearly indicate, what has been found and what is known with certainty based on results in order to draw conclusions as well as interpretation in explaining the significance of results, identifying ambiguities and further questions that arise, and finding logical explanations for problems in the data.

In this section, you should:

o Show clearly whether the data supports, partly supports or refutes the hypothesis by stating the relationships or correlations the data indicate between independent and dependent variables. The relationship between the evidence and the conclusions drawn from the evidence should be made explicit. The terms ‘proved’, ‘disproved’, ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ in relation to the aim should be avoided since this level of certainty may be unlikely in a single investigation; terms such as ‘supported’, ‘indicated’ and ‘suggested’ are more appropriate to evaluate the hypothesis.

o Compare expected results with those obtained, analyse experimental design and errors and acknowledge any anomalous data or deviations from what was predicted. Ignoring data that contradicts claims or predictions is a departure from scientific method. Such data should be examined carefully and, where possible, the procedure should be repeated to obtain further data. If replication is not possible then flaws in the procedure or investigation design should be identified and you should discuss how and why the procedure or investigation design may have affected the data, and how the procedure or investigation design could be changed to eliminate – or minimise the effects of – the identified flaws. If an experiment was within the tolerances, you could still account for the difference from the ideal.

o Derive conclusions based on findings about the research question and link conclusions to the aim of the investigation.

o Relate findings to earlier work undertaken in the area under investigation. The investigation will be an extension of previous theoretical understandings and investigations undertaken and these should be discussed in relation to the student’s own data. If the investigation relates to a specific theory, consideration of how well the theory has been illustrated may be included.

o Discuss limitations of the investigation design and suggest improvements or possible future work that could be done to refine or extend conclusions.

· Conclusion: The conclusion should state the main investigation result and whether the hypothesis was supported. This should be justified using specific details selected from the investigation findings.

· References and acknowledgments: Listed references should be referred to in the body of the poster. Any standard referencing format may be followed, for example, Harvard or APA. Individuals should be thanked for specific contributions (for example, access to specialist equipment use, statistical advice, laboratory assistance) and the organisation for which they work, and their position should be included. References and acknowledgments are not included in the poster word count.