Science Week 1: Enquiry Type - Pattern Seeking
Question
Is there a link between the length of
your outstretched arms and your
height?
Take measurements of the people in your house to try and answer the question
above. You might measure in centimeters or in the number of pencils long. Once you
have measured someone’s outstretched arms and their height compare the
measurements.
How about other body parts eg. Foot length and height, Foot and forearm, Hand and
Leg length etc.
Younger Children Older Children
Create a poster that explains what you Write a report of your investigation
found out. Can you include in your showing your question, hypothesis, method,
poster: your equipment, what was easy results.
and hard to carry out, your result. When analysing your results, was your
hypothesis correct? How could you have
improved the investigation? What other
investigations could you carry out?
Challenge About this type of Scientific Enquiry
Draw a graph to show your results One of the main types of enquiry that scientists carry
out is Pattern Seeking. This is when scientists make
observations and measurements and then try to see if
there are any patterns or ways to link what they
observe.
Astronomers use pattern seeking to discover new
planets and celestial objects.
Sport scientists use pattern seeking to help improve
athletes' performance.
Science Week 2: Enquiry Type - Fair Test
Question
How can you change a paper spinner to
make it accurately hit a target.
Carry out a fair test to explore what makes the spinner fall most accurately. Make a paper spinner
and drop it from a height above the target. Does it land in the centre every time?
Make sure to only change one thing at a time so that you can say what improved the spinner. . Eg.
The height dropped, number of wings, number of paperclips, size of paper, type of spinner.
1. Cut an A4 piece of paper into 3 equal
rectangles
2. Cut and fold rectangle as shown below:
Fold along dotted lines, cut solid lines
3. Attach a small amount of mass to the
bottom of your spinner eg. paper clip or
blue-tac
4. Draw a target zone on another piece of
paper or place a target on the floor.
5. Drop the spinner above the target and
watch where it falls.
Younger Children Older Children
Create a poster that explains what you found Write a report of your investigation showing your
out. Can you include in your poster: your question, hypothesis, method, results.
equipment, what was easy and hard to carry When analysing your results, was your hypothesis
out, your result. correct? How could you have improved the
investigation? What other investigations could you
carry out?
Challenge About this type of Scientific Enquiry
Imagine you are trying to advertise the spinner. A fair test is when scientists look at all the different
Create a leaflet on how to make the best things (variables) that could affect the result. Then only
spinner making sure you use the evidence you change one of them to see if it affects the outcome. By
have recorded to support your claim that it is only changing one variable, scientists are able to
the best type of spinner. confidently say that that caused the result. Eg. If they
changed the number of wings and the mass of the
spinner they would not know if it was the mass or the
number of wings that changed their result.
Fair testing is used to develop new medicines.
Science Week 3: Enquiry Type - Identifying and
Classifying
Question
How can you identify objects in your
house?
Select at least 10-15 random objects in your house. Consider how they are similar and
how they are different to each other.
Younger Children Older Children
Draw the selected objects into groups Create a classification key to identify your
based on what they have in common. selected [Link]:
Eg. Size, colour, shape,
Challenge About this type of Scientific Enquiry
Research Carl Linneaus who created the Identifying and classifying is how we can make sense
system of taxonomy, which is how we and order of the world around us. This enquiry type
requires using observation and reasoning skills.
classify living things.
Examples of classifying include how we classify
[Link] animals, plants and foods.
o-was-linnaeus Identifying and classifying is used by scientists to help
[Link] learn about the natural world and therefore assist in
ps-video/science-ks2-the-work-of-carl- conservation projects. You can often help scientists
linnaeus/zhnjf4j to identify and classify using websites such as
[Link]
Science Week 4: Enquiry Type - Observation
over Time
Question
How does a shadow change over time?
Shadows change due to the Earth rotating on its axis. Attach a thin object to your
window, eg a pen, ruler or opaque tape. Place a piece of white paper on the
windowsill directly below the object. Make sure the object is in the centre of the page.
A shadow should appear on your paper. Draw around the shadow and label it with
the time. Check on the shadow every hour or half hour throughout the day, each time
drawing and labelling the shadow.
Younger Children Older Children
Look at the shadows that you have Use your observations to make a sundial.
drawn. When was the shadow What distance is there between each hour? Is
longest? When was it shortest? each hour the same distance apart? Would
Create a labeled drawing showing the clock be correct all year around? Would
how you set up your experiment. your clock work if it were used in a different
country eg. Australia, South Africa, Algeria?
Challenge About this type of Scientific Enquiry
Can you make a shadow puppet Observation over time enquires help us to identify
theatre? and measure events and changes in the natural world
as well as physical processes. This enquiry type
requires using observation, reasoning and analysis
skills.
Jane Goodall used observation over time to research
how chimpanzees behave.
NASA carried out a ‘Year in Space’ experiment to
find out the effect of gravity on humans.
Since 1840 a bell has been ringing at Oxford
University to test its battery duration.
Science Week 5: Enquiry Type -Research
Question
What nutrients are in your food?
It is important to eat the right amounts of a variety of different food types. Look in
your kitchen to find out what different types of food you can find.
[Link]
[Link]
Younger Children Older Children
Separate the foods that you find into Look at the labels of the food that you find.
the below categories: Which foods have the highest
Fruit and Vegetables; Meat & Fish; fat/sugar/carbohydrate/fibre content?
Dairy; Carbohydrates and Starch; Which foods have the lowest
Sugars and Fats. fat/sugar/carbohydrate/fibre content?
Count how many of each category you Do the portion sizes match the packet size?
have. Can you make a poster or chart
to show how many different nutrients
you found?
Challenge About this type of Scientific Enquiry
Record all the food you eat for a week. Scientists use research to investigate their hypotheses
Then, work out the nutritional value of (predictions) and answer their scientific questions. In
this task we used secondary sources to find the
your food.
answer. This enquiry type requires using skills to
Are you eating a balanced diet? compare and evaluate information; separating fact
from opinion; recognising bias; and an ability to
extract key information.