Tutor Niedino: Pri Science Questions and Concepts

[CoffeeCat]

As an adult i sometimes feel that pri science is over-simplifying things and doing psle science is like a following-the-syllabus thing.

For example following the syllabus a fertilised egg is a living thing but if i am not wrong this is actually a very grey issue in the real medical world.

There is this question that is bugging me. From my memory and the books of my time, they seem to treat that acid rain is not an agent of water pollution. But i was thinking wouldn't acid rain contaminate ponds, lakes etc?

[Niedino]

Hi CoffeeCat,


I do agree that the Science syllabus is simplified. However, the questions I posed are questions at the Primary 3 level, usually taught in Semester 1, in the topic of Diversity. At this age, most kids are 8 approaching 9. Hence, we have to simplify the syllabus to reflect their ability to understand Science concepts at this age. I believe when we were schooling, these complex questions were'nt asked at this age, so actually, our kids are going through a more complex syllabus than we had during our time.

Acid rain is considered a form of pollution and when it falls into water bodies, it is considered water pollution.

Hope it helps

[CoffeeCat]

Yea what you are doing is great because they are thought provoking. Just that when they grew up hopefully they understand how oversimplified those are (it’s an implicit understanding).

[Niedino]

Hi all,


Just to share 2 misconceptions about Plants.. Try asking your children the following questions.

1. Can plants move?
2. Can plants respond?

If your child answers \"no\" to both questions, then your child has a misconception about plants. Most children think about plants as living things that cannot \"move\" and \"respond\". While it is true that plants cannot \"move around freely\" like animals, some of them do move and respond, a good example being the mimosa plant.

Plants also do respond to the changes in their environment, such as growing towards sunlight.

When you go out to a field or a park in future, show your child a mimosa plant, how it responds to touch and share these concepts with them.

Hope it helps

[MoonFlower]

Hi Niedino,


I just came across yr thread, thanks for sharing. I will share with my ds. Appreciate yr time to post.

[James Ang]

Niedino:

Hi all,


Just to share 2 misconceptions about Plants.. Try asking your children the following questions.

1. Can plants move?
2. Can plants respond?

If your child answers \"no\" to both questions, then your child has a misconception about plants. Most children think about plants as living things that cannot \"move\" and \"respond\". While it is true that plants cannot \"move around freely\" like animals, some of them do move and respond, a good example being the mimosa plant.

Plants also do respond to the changes in their environment, such as growing towards sunlight.

When you go out to a field or a park in future, show your child a mimosa plant, how it responds to touch and share these concepts with them.

Hope it helps

I remember that animals can move about from place to place on its own while plants are not able to do so although plants can move by themselves because they are living things. Is \"move around freely\" acceptable since plants can \"move freely\" (subjective) by themselves too I suppose but not from place to place? I prefer to stick to \"animals being able to move about from place to place on their own\" while plants are unable to do so.

[Vanilla Cake]

Hi Niedino,

Please assist to solve the following P6 Science questions:

Q1
A farmer found out that this fruit trees were infested by aphids. He wanted to use natural predator to remove the the aphids. He did a test by putting 20 predators & 100 aphids into a cage on day 1. After 5 days, he observed that the no. of predators became 15 & aphids became 98. Why did the predator decrease after 5 days?

Q2
Kelly put a leaf from a plant into a container of water. She told her friends that air bubbles would emerge from the leaf. However, when she tried, there were no bubbles coming out from the leaf. Give 2 reasons for the negative observation.

Q3
Billy carried out an experiment with 20 mealworms. The mealworms were placed in the middle of a tray. 4 types of food are placed at the corners of the tray. Billy observed that the mealworms moved towards the food. After 2 hours, he observed the following :

Fish -> 9 mealsworms
Dragonfruit -> 4 mealworms
Bread crumbs -> 2 mealworms
Tomato -> 5 mealworms

What was the aim of Billy's experiment?
Why did Billy place the mealworms in the middle of the tray at the start of the experiment?

Q4
Tim cut a leaf stalk of a water hyacinth plant in a basin of water.
a) What will he observe in the basin of water after cutting the leaf stalk of the water hyacinth?
b) Explain how the answer mentioned in part (a) helps the water hyacinth to adapt to its environment?

Q5
Peter was looking at some tadpoles in a jar.He observed that tadpoles do not look like frogs and concluded tadpoles do not inherit any characteristics from their parents.
(a)Was Peter's conclusion correct?
(b)Explain your answer in (a).

Q6
All living organisms use oxygen and give out carbon dioxide during life processes. Give a reason why there is still enough oxygen for all life on the Earth.

Thanks in advance

[starlight1968sg]

Insecticides are sprayed onto the plant. They entered the soil and get absorbed by the plant. The insecticides are found in the xylem-water carrying tubes.


Insects eat the sugar (food) made by the leaves of the plant. This sugar is found in the phloem.

How do the insecticides kill the insects?

Thanks.

[atutor2001]

Vanilla Cake:

Hi Niedino,

Please assist to solve the following P6 Science questions:
.....

Hi Vanilla Cake

Sorry I could not resist giving my opinion for some of your questions because they are very interesting. My views are :

1. The predators died of because of old age (natural cause as they are too old) :oops:

2. The water is very cold causing the air in the leaf to contract.
Kelly has plucked the leaf from a cactus :lol:
The leaf is covered with oil.

Don't take my answers too seriously please.

[Vanilla Cake]

atutor2001:

Vanilla Cake:

Hi Niedino,

Please assist to solve the following P6 Science questions:
.....

Hi Vanilla Cake

Sorry I could not resist giving my opinion for some of your questions because they are very interesting. My views are :

1. The predators died of because of old age (natural cause as they are too old) :oops:

2. The water is very cold causing the air in the leaf to contract.
Kelly has plucked the leaf from a cactus :lol:
The leaf is covered with oil.

Don't take my answers too seriously please.

Hi atutor2001,
Thks for your helpful replies. This year's PSLE 2010 Science will be an interesting one to watch:

(1) 20% contention reduction.
(2) OE questions reduced from 16 to 14.
(3) Process skills are made explicit:
(a) Inferring (Generating - draw inferences)
(b) Predicting (Generating - making predictions)
(c) Generating possibilities (Generating - suggest ideas)
(d) Formualting hypothesis (Generating - construct a hypothesis)

and my younger sister will be the 2nd batch of PSLE students to take this revised PSLE Science in 2011.