Right Under Your Nose: YEAR 2 - Science- Explain
When the power goes off, Big Cuz, Nanna, Little J and Old Dog go to the beach. They use bread to catch hermit crabs, which in turn are used to catch a ‘bluebone’ fish. Big Cuz learns how to fish, Nanna makes a fire to cook the fish, and Little J finds a large clam shell to take to school the next day.
Explain - Use a range of methods to sort information, including drawings and provided tables and through discussion, compare observations with predictions
Theme - ENERGY
Revisit Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 4 ‘Right Under Your Nose’, and ask students to recall how Nanna cooked the fish for dinner. Remind students that, without the electricity, Nanna used fire to provide heat for cooking, and also for light.
Sustainability scenario:
Ask students to imagine that they live on a distant planet with very fast growing trees. As the villagers, they use wood from the trees to make fire for heating and cooking. Write the number 100 on the IWB/board representing 100 trees in the local forest. Tell students that each tree bears one seed per year which drops to the ground prior to the parent tree being cut down. This seed propagates one new tree each year.
Advise students that the villagers need 50 logs for cooking and heating each year. Ask students to calculate how many trees will be left in the forest if the villagers chop down 50 trees. Write the equation and answer on the board. Explain that the 50 trees left in the forest will seed so that in the following year there will be 100 trees again.
Have students calculate how many trees there will be if the number of villagers increased and they needed to chop down 80 trees instead of 50 trees per year. Write the equation on the board with the result of 20 trees being left in the forest. Have students calculate how many trees there will be when those 20 trees drop their seeds and grew another tree the next year (40). Ask students to consider the effects on the village if what the number of trees they needed was more than 50 trees each year, and the supply of trees becomes less and less.
**Teacher note: this scenario provides an example of dwindling resources due to increased population and a diminishing supply of energy. Please explain to students that ‘real’ trees take much longer than one year to grow.
Write the word ‘Sustainability’ on the board and have students pose and respond to questions in order to explain their understanding of the word- The ability to be renew and replace resources at the same rate as use.
Discuss the ability of the Aboriginal peoples and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to use sustainable practices. Have students consider if the natural energy resources in Australia are sustainably managed. Prompt responses that the Australian government is working to find better ways to support our energy use with new forms of energy so as a nation we are not as reliant on diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, such as, oil, coal, gas, etc.
Set up three energy experiments (water, static electricity, kinetic energy) in the classroom and divide students into three groups and rotate them through the experiments.
Water power experiment
Static electricity experiment
Kinetic energy experiment
Have students illustrate the process of each experiment and write up the results on a separate experiment template into their Science Journal. The experiment template should include information, such as
- What is an inquiry question that guides the experiment
- The materials, tools and equipment used
- The method or process followed
- The outcome or result of the experiment
- What the students have learned from the experiment
A Science Journal is a record of a students’ observations, experiences and reflections. Each entry is dated and annotated by the student. Annotations may include written labels, drawings, diagrams, charts, small specimens, photographs, and graphs. Student engagement and learning is evident in the science journal.