Grabbing their interestHooksThe HIAS Science Team

Scientific enquiry

What do you think?Why do you think that?How could you find out?What is the evidence telling you?

You can apply the enquiry cycle to all sorts of things.

For example, a popular yogurt drink claims that you can feel the difference drinking it makes after 14 days.

Use the cycle how would you test that?

And theres the classic tea bag enquiryOne manufacturer claims that their tea bags, which are shaped like a pyramid, allow the tea to dissolve quicker than other shaped bags.

Is this true?Or just advertising nonsense?How could we find out?

Leave the details of the approach to them, but maybe focus their thinking on:

1. Try to explain what happens using your ideas about particles.2. Try to make sure that the quality of the evidence you collect is as good as possible.

A variation might be something has been bugging me..in the TV advert for Dettol, we re told to kill as many bacteria as possible BUT the ads forandtell us to drink bacteria!!Can they both be right?

The media & adverts are a great resource to get pupils thinking about science Bad Science in The Guardian(Check out Dont dumb me down by Ben Goldacre in the May/June edition of PSR)

The Mirror website great stories, easy to read but rarely any evidence!

UPD8 from the ASE

Adverts dont get me started!

The "Acid Bath" murders (Oaklands School)Good one this!John Haigh was freed from prison in 1944 and became an accountant with an engineering firm. Soon after, by chance, he bumped into McSwann in the Goat pub in Kensington. McSwann introduced Haigh to his parents, Donald and Amy, who mentioned that they had invested in property. On 6 September, 1944, McSwann disappeared. Haigh later said he hit him over the head after luring him into a basement at 79 Gloucester Road, London SW7. He then put McSwanns body into a 40-gallon drum and tipped sulphuric acid on to it. Two days later he returned to find the body had become sludge, which he poured down a manhole.

Cillit Bang! (Brookfield School)The furring up of kettles, boilers, washing machines, pipes and radiators can cause problems. The deposits left behind in the bathroom, in the shower, bath and wash basin are unsightly. There are many products on the market to prevent lime scale or remove it.But how effective are the claims made by the advertisements?Consider Barry Scott and his Cillit Bang advert on T.V. Limescale is simply calcium that sticks, and if solid calcium dissolves this fast [lump of solid calcium starts fizzing], imagine how Cillit Bang works on taps and sinks.

Well Barry, limescale is not simply calcium that sticks and so, no, I cannot imagine how Cillit Bang would work. The two are not directly related! (Rant, rant)

Using limestone as a substitute for limescale (lime scale is too difficult to obtain, chalk is too porous and ummmchalky, marble is too dense) your job is to test the following for their ability to dissolve calcium carbonate:Cillit Bang (of course) 2.98 for 750mlTesco Bathroom Cleaner 0.65 for 500mlBath Power 2.45 for 500mlVinegar 0.48 for 300mlCitric acid 0.43 for 200ml

EquipmentAnything in the laboratory (well, almost)Top pan balance, sensitive to 2 decimal places in grams.Limestone chips.Range of commonly used and available descalents. Hammer

The Y9C group Collaborative group of Hampshire science teachers.Based on some work originally done in Liverpool the Aim4Five ProjectFocus disaffected Y9 pupils.Practical work discussion test questions.Still being evaluated in the light of the KS3 test results

Are the Zorgeons already here?

A meteorite landed on Earth. It contained a new element. Scientists called the element jovium.

(a)The list below shows some properties of jovium.Which two properties suggest that jovium could be a metal? Tick two boxes.It has a high melting point.It does not stick to a magnet.It is a blue solid.It is a good conductor of heat and electricity.It glows in the dark.2 marks ABCDE

The Thermit ReactionWhy is this similar to a meteorite?

Discussion

Why is this reaction like a meteor coming through the atmosphere?

Why does it get hot when it comes through the air?

Examples of meteorites.Why are all these meteorites different?

How could we find out whether they are made of metals or non metals?

Flame Tests

Different metals burn with a different coloured flame.

What colours do the following metals go?

MetalColourCalciumCopperLithiumPotassium

Now put your sample into the flame.

What metals do you think it contains?

How could you separate one of the substances?

(b) A scientist put a piece of the meteorite in water and stirred it. This produced a blue solution with tiny, solid, black particles in it.He separated the black particles from the blue solution using the apparatus below.(i) Give the name of this method of separation..............................................................

1 mark

(ii)The diagram below shows the results. What do the labels A and B show? Write your answers on the lines.

2 marks(c)The scientist poured the contents of the flask into a dish. Two days later there were blue crystals in the dish, but no liquid.

at the starttwo days laterWhat happened to the liquid in the dish?.............................................................................1 mark

SubstanceReaction with hydrogen peroxideLiverGlassHair rootCarrotPotatoPlasticAluminium foil

What do your results tell you?

Discuss your findings in your group.

Now test your sample.

What can you conclude?

I forgot to put the lid on!!!

How could you test to see whether the living things are still inside?

How are they adapted to escape and survive in our World?

Head lice are insects which cling onto a persons hair.(a) The drawing below shows a head louse.

20 actual sizeWhich part, labelled on the drawing, does the head louse use to cling onto a hair?...1 markantennaclawabdomeneye

So these are four questions that will help us plan lessons to help children think like scientists. Could this describe a lot of what we do? We dont do it all at once - & what about the final question??