CHSC Triple Science Network
Sharing ideas for teaching and Learning through How Science Works
(Please see separate document forour definitions of How Science Works – defining how teachers and pupils can learn through Investigative skills, Thinking Skills, Enquiryand thenApplications & Consequences)
The phrasing and exact words that you use when introducing these HSWHooksare key to you being able to engage and motivate your pupils. What follows are some of the ideas and links to resources which have worked for teachers within our TS Network – you may need to adapt the wording and pitch for your particular class.
Biology Hooks
Data manipulation & analysis
1Does stronger alcohol produce more liver damage? (Enzyme assay – pupils to design problem solving practical)
2Will doubling light double crop growth?
3Behaviour – Can you train a snail?
4Do putty-nosed monkeys really talk? – see paper in Nature on ‘Semantic combinations in primate calls’ May 2006
5Is there evidence that girls learn quicker than boys?
6Hook = You tube video of Yakult advert then, “They claim that the bacteria are “friendly” and “beneficial”. Is this true? What evidence would you need to gather?
7 and/or Is it better to wash you hair regularly with a mild shampoo or less often with a stronger one? Why?
8Are two ears better than one for survival? (Or – How can we prove that binocular vision gives you an advantage for survival?) See article in BBC Wildlife magazine May 2009 about Barn Owls offset ears and their facial discs acting like the pinna of the ear.
9Chewing bread for a long time your salivary amylase digests the starch into sugars and it tastes sweet. Would toasting the bread make any difference?
10Observing the rate of the heart beat of daphnia, can we work out the concentration of caffeine in red bull? What about other ‘energy drinks?’
11How fast does a nervous impulse travel? Are there accurate ways of seeing if temperature makes any difference to the speed of the impulse?
12Is interpretation of a specific ‘magic eye’ or optical illusion linked to gender or age?
13YouTube clip of chimpanzee reaction times (Kyoto University study) What evidence is in this clip, so what hypotheses (if any) can you form? Get the research paper share their data with pupils
14Is your resting heart rate affected by whether you are standing, sitting or lying down?
15How can we find strong evidence to prove whether smoking/exercise/diet/age/gender affects the time taken to heal after e.g. breaking a bone or cutting yourself?
16If the average lifespan of a species is 40,000 years before extinction. How long have we humans got?
Applications, consequences and explanations
17If we eventually cut down all of the rainforests will we suffocate?
18How could/shouldAustralia overcome the problems associated with their salty soils?
19Would it be worth doing the genetic engineering necessary to allow humans to photosynthesise? Why?
20Can scientists ever end Malaria through genetic engineering?
21Homeopathic dilutions – what does the evidence actually show? Search online for sceptics guide 5x5 and Ben Goldacres or the book Bad Science also , bbc science and nature site, also value judgements about testing and methodology
22Why do all female Wildebeest give birth at the same time of year?
23In intensive farming of animals such as pigs and chickens the animals are kept in large barns. What would be the optimum conditions of light, heat, food and exercise to maximise growth and muscle production to produce meat?
24Xenotransplantation – would you accept a pig heart if you had heart disease? Where do the pigs come from?
25Photosynthetic algae and bacteria – could these be the answer to the global fuel crisis? (See Micro-organisms in Industry Quick guide)
26Why are superbugs like MRSA such a problem? – What have we got to do to not only avoid them, but to cure the diseases caused by them? (see Micro-organisms in medicine Quick guide)
27Franken Foods video what happens to proteins when we digest and absorb them are GM foods really a risk to humans? (Also see Genetic Modification Quick guide)
28IVF – What does could/should happen to any ‘spare’ embryos after IVF? See (In Vitro Fertilization Quick Guide + )
Chemistry Hooks
Data manipulation & analysis
1Temperature challenge. After research pupils are given an envelope challenging them to achieve a specific temperature using a given exothermic or endothermic reaction.
2Is there a relationship between where an element is on the Periodic Table and how easily its carbonate decomposes?
3Show pupils a bottle containing a coloured liquid which is claimed to be new product “Superhol” which is being marketed as a fuel which produces 5% more heat than ethanol (really its just ethanol with a dye in it). Are the claims true?
4 Designer products – Chef wants to make mayonnaise (an emulsion) with as few eggs as possible so what must he/she do?
5Which sugar is best for making beer?
6Chemical Clock challenge. Demo sodium thiosulphate reaction. Give different groups of pupil’s envelopes with different times in – they have 2 lessons to make the reaction happen in that time.
7The text book says that for every 10 degree rise in temperature then the rate of reaction X doubles – is that true?
8Tea bags or tea leaves – which dissolves quicker? Why?
9Do saturated fats in food give more calories than unsaturated (data from food labels)
10Is flying more environmentally friendly than travelling by ship or train or car – need data tables.
11What is the carbon footprint of a Google search?
12Would you make alcohol faster if you added more and more sugar to your fermentation mixture?
13Buying the concentrated washing detergents, are they worth the money compared to the originals?
14Aspirin – are the supermarket branded cheap versions as good as the branded ones? (leading to titration data gathering)
15How accurate is our knowledge of the temperature differences between the different layers of the Earth?
Applications, consequences and explanations
16Carbon capture and storage – does it mean that we can burn fossil fuels with a clear conscience? (see Carbon Capture and Storage Quick Guide) If we are pumping carbon dioxide into rock – in what form – will it be stable etc.
17Fluorination of water – discussion of ethics
18Which activity produces most global warming (electricity generation, cars & transport, aeroplanes, construction, volcanic activity? What would be the most effective thing for humans to do to reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere?
19Sunscreens use nanoparticles – is this safe – you can absorb nicotine through nicotine patches – will you absorb the nanoparticles? What other potential hazards could nanoparticles provide?
20Plastic toys, dummies and bottles – are they safe for babies as they will put them in their mouths? (What about the water bottles that you drink from? Is it OK to reuse them and for how long will the plastic be safe?)
21Plant extracts are marketed as ‘pure’ or herbal dietary supplements etc whilst man made medicines are thought of as ‘chemicals’. Are both equally valid as drugs and medicines?
22Something about the dilutions used in homeopathy – at what point do you get just pure water? Can there be any medicinal effect above the placebo effect beyond that point?
Physics Hooks
Data manipulation & analysis
1Does brown bread make toast quicker than white? Or if all bread sold was white – would toasters work quicker and so how much energy would be saved?
2How hot would liquid water have to be before ice sinks? – Link to global warming and icebergs
3How would we find out about the relationship between size of wind turbine blade and its efficiency?
4Is your range of hearing linked to your age? (Download function generator signal generator or mobile phone rings) link to 'mosquito device to keep teenagers away from shops etc.
5Terminal velocity – is it different in liquids and gases?
6Would you be hotter or colder if you sweated other liquids rather than saline? – e.g. ethanol
7What conditions would be needed to make a coke can explode?
8How much data will we need to convince people that there is evidence of life on other planets? Useful resource – bebo message from Earth site.
9Is there a maximum speed that cars can travel?
10How much evidence do we need to make the judgement that nuclear fuel is safe? Is it better to have one large nuclear power station or lots of small ones?
Applications, consequences and explanations
11How hot would liquid water have to be before ice sinks? – Link to global warming and icebergs
12After investigating electromagnets. Debate - Pose the question what would happen if we made electromagnets out of superconductors? - Link to MRI (see Medical Applications of physics quick guide)
13Will all of the investment in to the Large Hadrons Collider be worth it? (See quick guide). Or the money spent on the Hubble Space telescope?
14Manned space flight – is it worth the risk when probes can do the job? (Concept of risk – numbers of flights / deaths etc compared to other travel e.g. car)
15Discuss /debate Hook - If my GPS can tell me where I am and where to go, can it tell others where I have been? Who is reading my texts? How? (see quick guide)
16Gleise 581C and 581E is a rocky planet around another star - could it support life? Are all stars the same, what evidence is needed to prove life on extra solar planets? ( Quick guide exoplanets, Triple Science - Redbridge life of stars pack)
17If you drop a 1kg metal mass from a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, what will happen to its terminal velocity as it sinks deeper and deeper through the ocean?
18Static Garage video clip - Link to Brainiac - use of mobile phone in garage. What precautions should we take in filling stations?
19Forces, moments and fairground rides – How exciting can they be before they become dangerous – what factors are involved? See
20Can you really kill people by dropping pennies off tall buildings?
21How fat do you have to be to be bullet-proof? See
22Science Upd8 on Murdered Russian ‘spy’ Alexander Litvinenko called ‘Isotope killed ex spy’to introduce also see the videos on why do you think that alpha radiation was used?
23How much extra pressure is needed in the central escape tunnel of the Eurotunnel to ensure that it is kept free of smoke in case of emergency in one of the two train tunnels? Can you create a model to prove your hypothesis?
24After studying microwaves – show the You Tube microwaves, mobile phone, and popcorn video. Can we make this happen in the lab? So who should we believe about the safety of mobile phones?
25With limited funding, what ethical considerations should the local Health Authority consider before investing in a PET/CT scanner with cyclotron to produce the radioisotope?
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Cams Hill Science Consortium Triple Science Network 2009/10
A key issue for managers of KS4 Science is helping teachers to understand that they may need to change their pedagogy to deliver Triple Science in a more engaging and intellectually stimulating way rather than as a series of facts and theories to learn.
Running teachers workshop focussed on HSW discussion can help to give teachers a chance to grapple with some of their own possible preconceptions/misconceptions about models and modelling
Exemplar models & modelling questions for group discussion may include:
- In exactly what state is oxygen when it dissolves (ionic or covalent) – e.g. so that fish can ‘breathe’, or so that oxygen can dissolve in the mucus membranes of the alveoli? How could we prove our theory?
- Photosynthesis – is it true? Can the diffusion of carbon dioxide (0.04% of the atmosphere) really account for the kilograms of mass that will be accumulated by the growth of Leyllandi trees or fast growing plants like hemp? How could we prove our theory?
The aim being
- to get teachers to stop thinking that GCSE Triple science is about facts and theories
- to give them experience of feeling the uncertainty that pupils feel when they think about strengths and limitations of models and modelling
- To get them to think about they best way of formulating their own persuasions and discussions with their peers and think about how they could transfer these skills into the Triple Sci classroom.
Useful resource – Flipside magazine – your library can get it – try
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Cams Hill Science Consortium Triple Science Network 2009/10