Going through Worksheets

Today was a midly interesting lesson, even though the teacher was only going through our worksheet corrections. However, the teacher went through some interesting concepts, and in all, it was a very enriching lesson.

For example, the teacher asked us if we noticed that for every question we had in our Primary School Science that there was a context. For example, in the concept "Photosynthesis", there were many factors affecting Photosynthesis, for example light, carbon dioxide, water. He also told us that in our previous studies, T=ONF.

Besides, the teacher also revised on the laboratory worksheet. Now, I know a lot more things about the Science Laboratory now! Did you know that a pipette can measure up to 1 decimal point and a burette and measure up to 2 decimal points?

Besides that, our teacher also taught us the method of heating alcohol. We could use the water-bath method! Firstly, add alcohol into the test tube. Boil a beaker of water of water with the Bunsen Burner flame. Then switch the flame off and place the test tube which contains the alcohol into the beaker of hot water. That is how to heat a small amount of alcohol safely, as alcohol is a flammable liquid!

Today was a very interesting lesson,but I do look forward to the Science Laboratory lesson where we will be using our test tubes!

Worksheet Lesson...

Sigh...

Today's Science laboratory got replaced by a "Do Worksheet" lesson. Since my Science Teacher was away on a workshop, thus there was a relief teacher called Mr Kiu. However, once we reached the Laboratory, he instructed us to do worksheets 6 and 7, which was like a review of what we had learned. However, the whole class did not have an inkling about the all kinds of funky weird numbers that we were supposed to calculate, as after all, we had not learned about it yet!

However, the teacher was quite friendly and once he realized that we could not answer some questions, he went through the worksheet. Even though the lesson was not that interesting, but we still had some fun as the teacher was very friendly and very interactive with the class.

!Science Laboratory!

Finally! On 15 January, it was my first Science Laboratory lesson and I was very excited and looking forward to it! Mr Tan brought us to the Science Lab and  proceeded to tell us the rules and regulations there. He introduced the various types of Laboratory apparatus to us and taught us how to operate the Bunsen Burner.

Mr Tan tested the whole class individually to make sure that every single one of us knew how to operate the Bunsen Burner. It was quite cool to operate the burner myself, even though I was afraid that I might get burnt by the flame. However, I got bolder after a while and dared myself to open the air-hole of the Bunsen Burner, to allow air to enter the burner.

That day, I learnt about the two types of flames that the Bunsen Burner produces, the non-luminous flame and the luminous flame. I am now able to identify each of the different flames. The luminous flame is unsteadier and more visible compared to the non-luminous flame, which is more often used for heating stuff. In addition, I also learned  about the names of the weird Laboratory apparatus that I would be working with in future.

However, since we were running out of time, we did not get to burn some wooden ice-cream sticks. Although we did not complete the whole activity, I still have a wonderful learning experiences at the Science Laboratory!

Nature of Science (Pink Monster)

14 January was my second Science lesson. My teacher conducted a hands-on activity in the class and asked us a question, "What do you observe inside the Pink Monster?"

Well, the Pink Monster was a pink piece of rectangular paper with four strings as limbs. My group observed and experimented with the Pink Monster, pulling each of the limbs and observing which limbs moved too. After a few minutes, my group concluded that there was a knot in the middle of the Pink Monster as all the other limbs moved as well when one was pulled.

After the activity, the teacher taught us that the Nature of Science was distinguishing between observation and inference. It is also about distinguishing between scientific theories and laws and it also needs human imagination and creativity.

The Scientific Method

On my first Science lesson, I also learnt about the Scientific Method, which is shown in the diagram below.

First Lower Secondary Science Lesson

Time passes so fast! So, it was the start of the new year 2014 and it was my first lower secondary Science lesson on 8 January. My science teacher, Mr Tan, asked the class some questions about Science and Technology. So, our class came up with multiple answers such as "Science is a constantly changing body of knowledge" and some other answers.

Mr Tan also highlighted to us the relationship between Science, Machines and Technology. He proceeded to show this hilarious video which is about a college freshman explaining what is a machine.

Though hilarious yet enriching, the video explains some concepts of Science, such as the need to be clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C86pLho1hlE