Q&A - P3 Science

[jesschan]

Is it possible to find directions in a jungle if you only have an unlabelled magnet and a string?

[Tang]

jesschan:

Is it possible to find directions in a jungle if you only have an unlabelled magnet and a string?

I think so. Look at the direction of the shadow and the magnet.

[elkniwt]

Tang:

Wood is not waterproof. (There are water carrying tubes in it.)

Metal is waterproof.

Thank you, Tang!! :lol: So, the answer key is wrong.

[tianzhu]

Hi


There is an advertisement on cookware by Robinsons in ST today. I’ve a stainless steel pan similar to the one in this link.
http://www.wmf.com/pans/stainless-steel-pans_82511326.html?sid=7DC33254-E9A5-4B18-ADEC-733CE7E1DF51

The handle is also made of stainless steel. In primary science, students are usually taught that the handles are made of plastic, wood or rubber so that it’ll not be too hot to hold.

My boy asked me why and we had quite a few interesting moments then.

Best wishes

[Sun_2010]

tianzhu:

Hi


There is an advertisement on cookware by Robinsons in ST today. I’ve a stainless steel pan similar to the one in this link.
http://www.wmf.com/pans/stainless-steel-pans_82511326.html?sid=7DC33254-E9A5-4B18-ADEC-733CE7E1DF51

The handle is also made of stainless steel. In primary science, students are usually taught that the handles are made of plastic, wood or rubber so that it’ll not be too hot to hold.

My boy asked me why and we had quite a few interesting moments then.

Best wishes

Good point.
The thing is man made stuff can customised as per need. Dotty wanted to know how come the glass on full length windows is not fragile?
Similarly rubber- can be tuned as per requirement.
So generalizing the properties to applictions can be a bit confusing, At P3/P4, they are OK, but later when they star assocaiting to many of the real life products , it does get a bit confusing...
They have to think what is expected of them, what they have been taught per syllabus , why the exceptions/specialised cannot be taken in before answering.

Like in the example , if there was a question about which material would be suitable for making a handle of a cooking pan, steel would be marked incorrect. For that matter any metal.



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[usaik]

tianzhu:

Hi


There is an advertisement on cookware by Robinsons in ST today. I’ve a stainless steel pan similar to the one in this link.
http://www.wmf.com/pans/stainless-steel-pans_82511326.html?sid=7DC33254-E9A5-4B18-ADEC-733CE7E1DF51

The handle is also made of stainless steel. In primary science, students are usually taught that the handles are made of plastic, wood or rubber so that it’ll not be too hot to hold.

My boy asked me why and we had quite a few interesting moments then.

Best wishes

For cooking over traditional stoves, the handles must be made of plastic. wood or rubber so that the heat will be insulated at the handles.

However, these days, we use induction cooker/stove where high-frequency electromagnetic field is being engaged such that content in a cookware is being heated without heating the outside of the cookware. WMF is one of such cookware extremely good to be used over induction cooker/stove. The handles will not be hot even if the content inside is boilling hot.

The primary school science needs to catch up with time!

[tianzhu]

Sun_2010:

Like in the example , if there was a question about which material would be suitable for making a handle of a cooking pan, steel would be marked incorrect. For that matter any metal.

Hi

The concern here is students who are capable of observing real life examples may end up giving alternatives which are different from those in the answer keys. If the marking schemes are strictly followed, then students may ended giving correct answers to questions, but are marked wrongly according to the question setter’s answer schemes.Students may ended up confused.

Best wishes

[mama_mia]

tianzhu:

Sun_2010:

Like in the example , if there was a question about which material would be suitable for making a handle of a cooking pan, steel would be marked incorrect. For that matter any metal.

Hi

The concern here is students who are capable of observing real life examples may end up giving alternatives which are different from those in the answer keys. If the marking schemes are strictly followed, then students may ended giving correct answers to questions, but are marked wrongly according to the question setter’s answer schemes.Students may ended up confused.

Best wishes

Hi

I agree with you, it is true, the school marking scheme always look for scientific answers. Just the other day, my girlfriend ask me a question, why do ppl like to use disposable plates for picinic? My friend reply it is convenience. It is true and logical but answer is wrong, the answer is styrofoam is light. I also learnt the lesson myself this year, 'cos my DD is P3 this year, it is an eye opener to me, i had to keep reminding her to give 'scientific' answer.

[buds]

Same here with me, mama_mia. :hi5:


I oso must think scientific now when answering her. :politebleah:

The brain now gotta programme to properties mode & characteristics
mode. That said, the SA1 was a good guide for me to help DD1 to
improve on her Science. I hope i can.

[Niedino]

Hi buds and mama-mia,


although it's true that for the answering of Science questions should be scientific in nature, what's more important is that we should teach them to identify the concepts behind the questions. I find that many pupils nowadays tend to answer questions without correctly identifying the concepts behind the questions. For e.g. I saw a styrofoam cutlery question earlier in the thread. Although it is not wrong to say that it is convenient, a pupil has to examine why it is convenient. Is it convenient because it is waterproof, flexible or light? These are properties of materials that they have learnt in Primary 3 and hence they have to show that they know this knowledge and apply them to their answers. So when we guide our pupils, perhaps we can explore the concepts behind the questions to help them understand better.