North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School

Class teacher · Katelyn Hanlon

BiPi 2026-27

40% of grade

Biology in Practice Investigation

Membranes, Osmosis & Food Preservation. Six stages, seven report sections, one deadline.

You are here

1 Sept 2026

Stage 3 / Weeks 1-4

Designing & Planning the Experiment

24days left

Due Fri 25 Sept 2026

What’s due: your full experimental plan, equipment list and safety assessment.

Report §3 — Designing and Planning — should be written by then.

Week 1 of 15
x

Next up

Conducting the Experiment

16 Oct

Stages 1-2 completed in 5th Year — report sections §1 Title and Introduction and §2 Background Research already written.

Timeline

What’s left this term

Tap a stage for what it involves.

Stage 3 / Weeks 1-4Now

Designing & Planning the Experiment

Fri 25 Sept 2026
Report §3 dueDesigning and Planning

Research question, hypothesis, a fair test with one variable, equipment list and a written safety assessment — detailed enough that someone else could repeat it.

  • State the research question you are actually answering.
  • Write a hypothesis that can be proved wrong.
  • Name your independent, dependent and controlled variables.
  • List equipment and quantities — the real ones, not the ideal ones.
  • Write the method as numbered steps.
  • Complete the safety assessment.
  • Decide now how you will record the data.

What good looks like · Another student could run your experiment from your method alone, without asking you a single question.

Teacher checkpoint · Your plan and safety assessment are signed off before any practical work begins.

Stage 4 / Weeks 5-7Upcoming

Conducting the Experiment

Fri 16 Oct 2026
Report §4 dueConducting the Experiment
Catch-up / Weeks 8-9Upcoming

Catch-up window

Fri 30 Oct 2026
No new section due
Stage 5 / Weeks 10-11Upcoming

Data Analysis & Conclusions

Fri 13 Nov 2026
Report §5 · §6 dueData and Data Analysis; Conclusions
Stage 6 / Weeks 12-14Upcoming

Finalising the Report

Draft 4 Dec -> final 11-12 Dec
Report §7 dueReferences + full clean-up

Report sections

All seven sections, and when each one should be written

§1Title and IntroductionStages 1-2 · 5th YearDone
§2Background ResearchStage 2 · 5th YearDone
§3Designing and PlanningStage 3 · 25 Sept 2026Due now
§4Conducting the ExperimentStage 4 · 16 Oct 2026To come
§5Data and Data AnalysisStage 5 · 13 Nov 2026To come
§6ConclusionsStage 5 · 13 Nov 2026To come
§7ReferencesStage 6 · 11-12 Dec 2026To come

Report rules

The bits people lose marks on

Length
1,500 words maximum. References, data tables, formulae and labels do not count.
Images
20 maximum, including photographs, graphs and diagrams.
Font
Arial, black text only. No colour, no highlighting, no other fonts.
Headings
14pt bold. Each section starts on a new page.
Body text
12pt at 1.5 line spacing.
Margins
20mm on all four sides. Portrait orientation only.
Page numbers
Bottom centre of every page.
AI use
Any use of AI tools must be declared. This is assessed as your own individual authentic work.

How it’s marked

200 marks

A
Title, Introduction, Background Research, References
Marks: 50
B
Designing and Planning, Conducting the Experiment
Marks: 50
C
Data and Data Analysis, Conclusions
Marks: 50
D
Scientific Literacy — assessed across the whole report, not as its own section
Marks: 50