Investigatory Project Work (FROM NCERT PRACTICAL MANUAL BOOK)

 Investigatory Project Work (FROM NCERT PRACTICAL MANUAL BOOK)

This is applicable to all practical subjects of senior secondary classes.

This is not my write-up but a guideline of NCERT. These guidelines are neglected by teachers and educators.

 

 

Investigations, unlike practical exercises, are a journey into the unknown. They start with a question or hypothesis, and you're not given a step-by-step guide. Instead, you're provided with general guidance, which allows you to shape your own path. For instance, you could delve into the fascinating world of genetics and investigate the traits you and your classmates inherit from your parents and ancestors.

 

Projects, on the other hand, are even more open-ended. They are practical investigations that you, as an individual or a group, initiate. This is your chance to take the reins and explore a topic that truly interests you. Projects also involve evaluating your findings, refining your ideas, and designing further investigations, giving you the freedom to shape your own learning journey.

This may lead to evidence that enables answering the question posed at the outset. Some of these projects would take about a few hours to complete, while others may take a few weeks. Some are laboratory-based, while others involve fieldwork. Many could be carried out at home.

 

Investigatory projects are obligatory assignments involving purely experimental procedures so that you report on, duplicate, or adapt something someone else has already discovered. They may also involve some other form of investigation. For example, you may undertake to investigate the richness and patterns of biodiversity (flora and fauna) on your school campus and prepare a mural of it or investigate the effects of physical fitness on your pulse rate.

Choosing an Investigatory Project

Your teacher may guide you in your choice of topic. The more original or new the project is, the better it will be. However, it must be realistic regarding the time available and at a level attained in higher secondary biology. You must review the available literature to determine what type of work has been done. This will help you to reject some of the alternatives and possibly cause you to modify others. It may also be the source of new ideas. By doing these investigatory projects, you will not only gain experience in research but also unlock opportunities for learning skills such as photography, electronics, etc., fostering your personal growth and development.

 

 

 

 

Identifying the Objectives of the Project

Having identified a possible project, you should be able to identify and list the tentative objectives you hope to attain by completing that investigation. For example,

INVESTIGATORY PROJECT WORK

Suppose your project involves studying the biodiversity of birds in your district/state, examine the data in the light of some questions (say, how do the birds in Rajasthan differ from those in Assam or Bihar?) your investigation might attempt to answer.

Suppose your project involves investigating leaf mosaics, revealing the complexity of the growth correlations that lead to efficient light interception. Also, the factors that might affect this type of study should be suggested. Keep the aim of your project simple. Investigate only one factor at a time, and never allow yourself to be sidetracked. Remember that time may be too short for follow-up and any fascinating secondary aspects you may encounter.

Designing Projects

Having established the objectives of your chosen project, you must have an

experimental design. This will allow you to collect the data you need to test the hypothesis scientifically. For example, if your project involves

investigating the hypothesis that stale milk contains more bacteria than fresh milk, devise the procedure you would adopt to carry out your investigation.

Planning Investigations

Having decided on your topic for scientific investigation, you should carefully think about your investigation plan in some detail. These may include

What hypothesis can you make?

How can you ensure that your experimental tests and measurements are accurate and reliable?

What controls do you need?

How many variables are you investigating? Correctly identify key variables as independent and dependent.

Are your variables discrete or continuous?

Identify appropriate control variables for a fair test.

How many repeat observations or samples will you require?

What instruments/equipment or techniques will you use to obtain relevant information? Identify suitable materials and equipment to be used.

If your investigation requires a questionnaire, design and standardise before implementation.

Is your intended procedure safe and ethically permitted, i.e., taking care of

living organisms' distress or suffering and environmental damage?

How will you collect your data? How do you plan to analyse your results? Would you employ statistical or other methods? Are scale range, interval, and number of values chosen adequate and reasonable?

Executing the Project

Following planning, the teacher has to approve a brief description of the expected procedures in advance. Having decided what controls you need to use, list your experiment's components and determine what substances to use and how to set the experiment. You should also choose what type of readings or measurements you will make, how often and how many. Note the source of error, if any, that you come across.

¨ Handle instruments and equipment appropriately to give accuracy.

¨ Repeat measurement.

¨ Keep proper controls and the variables constant.

Reporting/Writing of Project

A format, such as given below, can be followed.

(i) Title of the investigatory project: Write the project's title, for

example, ‘Inheritance pattern of eye colour’.

(ii) Objectives: Express the effect of one variable that the experiment is designed to investigate as clearly as possible.

(iii) Materials needed: This might be just a list or a diagram if a particular

piece of apparatus was used.

(iv) Method: Describe the procedure stepwise, including the precautions

taken, if any.

(v) Result: A suitable chart or table for recording and organising your

readings or measurements should be made before you start the

experiment.

(vi) Analysis and interpretation: Observation data are factual and may

not be as expected by you.

(vii) Discussion: Discuss briefly the implication of your results and suggest

extensions of any kind that can be undertaken.

(viii) Conclusion: Given the results obtained and related work done on

the topic of the project, and write the conclusion briefly.

(ix) References: Any work related to the project which you have come across through books/articles or any other source should be written as a reference, for example, Michael Michalco (2001), Cracking Creativity, Berkeley, Ten Speed Press. This write-up is meant to train the students in scientific methods. In other words, it accentuates the spirit of enquiry and investigation in young minds.

The operational aspects of doing a project include choosing a hypothesis or problem to be investigated, collecting data in a designed manner, analysing the data in a scientific way, drawing conclusions which are justified and discussing the results in the light of known knowledge and bringing out its importance. Finally, it includes the scientific way of communicating the findings. While your discovery during the investigatory project may not merit a Nobel Prize, it may help you discover something, a fact or a relationship that was unknown to you and that was not recorded in any book that was available to you. Scientists refer to this as an independent discovery. Your investigation will indeed, give a sample of the thrill of discovery.

Following are pages on procedural guidelines about a few suggestive investigatory project work.