Good Science Victorian Curriculum Year 7

INVESTIGATIONS
Investigation 7.4
The sustainability game
KEY SKILL
REPRESENTING DATA
When you write a formal investigation report there is
always a results section that includes your data, often as
a table, chart or image. Choosing how to represent your
data so that it can be clearly communicated to someone
reading your investigation report is an important
skill. In this investigation, after you have collected and
recorded your data in the results table, turn your table
into a chart or graph.
Hint #1: There are many ways to visualise your data, such
as bar charts, line graphs and pie charts. Make sure you
choose the best one for your data set.
AIM
To demonstrate how to use a resource so that it can
continue to be used in the future
MATERIALS
• 60 marbles
• container
METHOD
The aim of the game is to have collected the most
number of marbles at the end of eight rounds.
1 Count out 20 marbles into the container (your
source), leaving the others as reserves.
2 Copy the results table into your notebook, adding
a title and rows as needed.
3 To begin, decide how many marbles you will remove
from the ‘source’. The number of marbles you remove
at each round can only vary by one. For example,
30 min
if you remove three marbles in round 1, you can take
two or four out in round 2.
4 At the end of each round, add one marble from the
reserves for every four marbles left in the ‘source’.
For example, if there are 16–19 marbles left, four
should be added. If there are 1–3 marbles left, none
should be added.
5 Continue removing and adding marbles until you run
out of marbles in the ‘source’ or make it through eight
rounds. Record your results in your table.
6 Construct a graph of your results. Plot the number
of marbles taken on the y-axis with the number of
rounds on the x-axis.
QUESTIONS
1 Compare your results to those of other groups.
Who collected the most marbles at the end of eight
rounds? Who collected the least? Did anyone run out
of marbles from the source before the end of eight
rounds?
2 Compare the different strategies that were used.
What strategies allowed for a sustainable use of the
resource? What strategies were not sustainable?
Why?
3 Did the marbles in this game represent a renewable
or non-renewable resource? Justify your response.
4 How would the rules and outcome of the game have
been different for the other type of resource?
CONCLUSION
Copy and complete:
‘The results show that: (respond to the aim)’.
Level 1
RESULTS
TABLE I7.4
Round
Number in source at
start of round
Number removed from
source
Number left in source
Number added to source
at end of round
173