Help students evaluate experiments

Students have a very limited experience, and are expected to be able to evaluate practicals they have never seen before. We need to give them tools to structure their thinking about evaluation. Effective activities to build these tools include the ‘SAME’ approach, comparing possible methods for the same experiment, and sorting cards into ‘accuracy’ versus ‘reliability’ piles. These ideas work to their best if they are built into the regular practice of teaching practical work.