Who is the scientist?

1. Who is the scientist? Outcomes Children understand why, in science, it is important to collect measurements and observations.

2. Teachers’ Notes • On the following slides are questions. Around the questions comments have been placed. Children must decide which of the comments is most likely to represent a scientific approach to finding the answer.

3. I’m not sure. I will need to go outside and try to find lots of different snails. Of course they do. I have seen one in my garden twice. It looked the same both times. • Do all snails look the same? I think they do all look the same. I will check by asking my mum as she knows everything. We’re not sure. We will look for snails on the Internet to see if there are different types.

4. I’m not sure. I will collect three different size balls and drop them one at a time. I will use a ruler to measure how high each ball bounces. I’m note sure. I will collect three different sizes of balls and drop them. I will look to see which bounces the highest. • Will the biggest toy balls bounce the highest? I saw something like this in a film. Two balls were bouncing down some stairs. I think the smallest one bounced better. We’re not sure. We are going to email the man in the toy shop. He will tell us the answer.

5. It must be the same temperature as my hand. Chocolate always melts in my hand. I read in story once that it was a sunny day when the chocolate melted. So, it needs to be as hot as the Sun. • How hot must it be for chocolate to melt? I’m not sure. I’m going to place chocolate buttons on the playground, in the classroom and in the fridge. I will see which melts first. We don’t know. We are going to place a chocolate button in a bag and put it into some water. We will make the water warmer until it melts.

6. I’m going to keep a diary. Every Friday for a year I will take pictures of five different trees around the school and stick them into the diary. I’m not sure. I’m going to ask my grandad. He likes to spend time in the garden so I’m sure he’ll know. • Do trees change during a year? Trees never change they are always brown and green. I already know the answer. We are going to use the Internet to look at pictures of trees at different times of the year.

7. I think they will all sink. When I watch my dad cooking, all the potatoes sink to the bottom of the pan. I’m not sure. I will sit in the bath with a carot and a strawberry and see if they float. • Do all fruit and vegetables sink? I do not know. I will find out by placing lots of different fruit and vegetables in a washing bowl full of water. We already know. Apples float when we do apple-bobbing, so all the other fruit and vegetables must float.

8. I am not too sure. I will test different torches by placing layers of tracing paper over the light until I can’t see the light. The brightest torch will be the one with the most layers. My torch at home is the brightest torch. I know this because my friends say that it is brighter than the ones they have. • Which torch is the brightest? The biggest torch is always the brightest. I just need to find the biggest torch. We are not sure. We are going to choose five different torches and go into a dark room. We will see which torch lights up the most space.

9. That is easy. It is the drum. You can hit that really hard so it must be the loudest. I’m not sure. I am going to use a data-logger to measure the loudness of all the instruments in the music area. • Which instrument makes the loudest sound? I’m going to ask my sister. She plays in a band and knows loads about instruments. We are not sure. We are going to ask all the children in our class. The one that most of them choose will be the loudest.