Drying Puddles Investigation

Year 4 ScienceWater Cycle3 pages

About this worksheet

A Year 4 science investigation sheet on how temperature affects evaporation, over three pages. Three identical dishes start with 100 ml of water and stand outside in the sun at 28ยฐC, in a warm classroom at 24ยฐC and in a cool cupboard at 12ยฐC. Pupils subtract to find the water lost, name two things kept the same, draw a bar chart and finish a conclusion. The key gives 60, 30 and 10 ml. It follows the England National Curriculum Year 4 objective that links evaporation to temperature.

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Curriculum objectives covered

Science - States of matter

โ€œidentify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperatureโ€

Question 5 completes the sentence The warmer the place, and question 6 asks why the coldest dish lost the least water.

Science - Working scientifically

โ€œsetting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair testsโ€

Question 3 asks which two things were kept the same to make the test fair.

Science - Working scientifically

โ€œrecording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tablesโ€

Pupils complete a results table and draw a bar chart on a scale already printed for them.

What's inside this worksheet

The Evaporation Test

A picture of the three dishes, then a results table with the water at the start and the water left after one day. Pupils work out how much evaporated in each place, say which dish lost the most and name two things that were kept the same.

Bar Chart and Conclusion

A chart frame with a scale from 0 to 70 ml in steps of 10, for three bars. Pupils then choose words from a bank (more, less, faster, slower) to complete the conclusion and explain why the cool cupboard dish evaporated the slowest.

Answers

The subtractions 100 โˆ’ 40, 100 โˆ’ 70 and 100 โˆ’ 90, bar heights of 60, 30 and 10 ml, and model answers for the fair test and the conclusion.

How teachers use it

Write-up of a real test

Run the same test with dishes on a windowsill and in a fridge, then use the sheet to record and explain what you saw.

Predict the bars

Ask pupils to sketch the three bars lightly before they subtract, then check the sketch against the table.

Conclusion talk

The key accepts more or faster for the first gap. Ask pupils which they prefer and why, before you share the answer.

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