ELC Science
Component 5 – Energy Transfer and Efficiency
Teacher-Devised Assignment
Component
Skill Area
11
Skill Area
12
Skill Area
13
Skill Area
14
Skill Area
15
Total mark
/15
5
Which material is best at keeping things warm?
Aim: Find out which material is the best insulator for a hot water tank.
Tick () which items of equipment you will need from the list below:
beaker
black paper
paper towels
paper clip
thermometer
sticky tape band
polystyrene
cups
tongs
lid
rubber bands
stop clock
blue tag
white paper
safety mat
measuring
cylinder
plastic pen
kettle
water bath
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
Method
Cut out the 6 steps in the method below and then stick them on to a new sheet of paper in the
correct order.
Take a beaker and wrap a layer of material around it. Hold the material in place with a
rubber band.
Put a thermometer through the hole in the lid, and record the temperature of the water.
Take 3 more beakers and wrap different materials around those.
Record the temperature again after 10 minutes.
Put a known amount of hot water into the first beaker and put a cardboard lid on.
Repeat for the other beakers.
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
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To make it a fair test, I am going to...

keep these things the same:
...........................................

...........................................
...........................................
change only this:
........................................................................................................
I am going to measure .............................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
To get accurate results I must…………………………………………………………………………………
…….............................................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................
I predict that this will happen:
....................................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
Because…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
....................................................................................................................................................................
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
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To make sure that the experiment is safe I will……………………..
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………
Table of results:
Type of
material
Temperature at start in °C
Temperature
after 10
minutes in °C
Temperature
difference in °C
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
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Present your data using the most appropriate method.
I am going to use a: bar chart / pie chart / line graph.
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
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.................................................................................................................................................
From my results, I found out that ..............................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................
..................................................................................................................................................

What can you conclude from your results?
.............................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................................................
I think that my investigation:
was/ was not successful because
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
AQA Education (AQA) is a registered charity (number 1073334) and a company limited by guarantee registered in
England and Wales (number 3644723). Our registered address is AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.
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