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P5 Science Workshop for
Parents
Hougang Primary School
Facilitator: Mdm Pauline Goh Mr Mohan
Objectives of Workshop • To gain insights into crafting acceptable
answers for open-ended questions.
• To equip parents with the skills and confidence to coach their children in the learning of Science.
Overview MOE Science Framework
Themes covered in P5
Sharing of science answering strategies
For Application Questions
For Process skill Questions
- Basic process skill
- Higher Order process skill
Conduct an experiment
Q&A
2008 Syllabus
MOE Science Framework –
Science as an Inquiry
,
Through nurturing pupils as an inquirer, they: • are curious in exploring
their natural and physical world
• develop a rich understanding of concepts, principles, models, and theories.
• acquire skills and methodologies to solve problems
P5 Topics • Cycles in plants and
animals (Reproduction)
• Cycles in matter and
water
• Cell System
• Human System (Human
respiratory & circulatory
systems)
• Plant transport system
• Electrical system
• Energy forms and Uses
(Photosynthesis) - P6
ANSWERING SKILLS
6
Tackling “application-type” questions
Consider this example: Question: Why the handle of cooking pan is made of rubber? Pupil's answer: The rubber handles were easier to grip and they were less slippery.
Remember that in any Science examination, answers should be grounded in scientific concepts and ideas, even if other seemingly ‘logical’ answers come to mind.
While this may be true to some extent……
A scientific answer should explain that rubber is a poor conductor of heat. Heat transfer from the cooking pan to the handle will be slow.
The marker is constantly looking out for
TWO essentials in any answer for open-
ended questions. They are:
2. Key word (s) / Key phrases
1. Key scientific concept(s)/ idea(s)
Key Concept
Key concept/ idea is the explanation of the
scientific concept that has been applied in the
answer.
• scientific concept
• More importantly, the student needs to
know the scientific concept before being
able to apply.
Key concept/ idea in the answer reflects that
the student has clear understanding of the…
If key words/ phrases are missing in the
answer, the marker will have to interpret for
the student through his answer if he has the
Science content.
Key Word(s)/ Key Phrase Key word/ phrase forms the main answer.
These words/ phrases inform the marker if
students are clear about the Science content.
Ron put some ice into a glass of water. After a while,
he noticed that water droplets started to appear on the
outside of the glass.
What caused the droplets of water to form? (2 marks)
Sample Question 1:
Topic: Cycles in matter and water
When the water vapour in the air
comes in contact with the cooler
surface of the glass, water vapour
loses heat and condenses into water
droplets on the outside of the glass.
=============================
The above answer is sufficient to
score the 2 full marks.
Sample Answer 1a
In the sample answer above, the key words are in red, while the key concept is in blue.
Without these words, it makes it very difficult
for the examiner to give the pupil any mark,
let alone full marks.
Why key words/phrases are important? The key words are “lose heat” and
“condense”.
The word condensation tells the examiner
that the pupil knows how water droplets are
formed. The word explains the key concept.
The key concept tells the examiner that the
pupil understands that condensation is a
change of state of matter.
Why key concepts are important?
From gaseous state - water vapour in air
To liquid state - water droplets on the outer
surface of cup
The condition: The surface of the glass has to
be much colder than the surrounding air.
Why key concepts are important?
More importantly, key concept in the answer
tells the examiner that the student knows
under what conditions condensation takes
place.
Water vapour condenses into water
droplets on the outside of the glass.
=============================
Sample Answer 1b
In the sample answer above, the key word is in red – condenses. However, key concept is missing. The student did not explain the condition for water vapour to change into water droplet.
The condition: The surface of the glass has to
be much colder than the surrounding air.
Describe what Sally should do to determine if the metal rod
is made of a non-magnetic material.
Sally was given a metal rod and Magnet A.
Sample Answer 2
Key Word: The key word “attract” is missing in the answer.
Key Concepts: The student shows understanding of 2 key concepts. • he knows that not all metals are magnetic
material. • he also demonstrates the understanding that
magnet can only attract magnetic material.
Sample Answer : If the metal rod is not
attracted to magnet A, then metal rod is
made of a non-magnetic material.
=================================
Describe what Sally should do to determine if the metal rod
is made of a non-magnetic material.
Sally was given a metal rod and Magnet A.
In the sample answer above, the key word is in red, while the key concept is in blue. The above answer is sufficient to score full marks.
In which kettle, A or B,
would water boil first?
Explain your answer.
Sam placed 2 kettles of same materials, with different
base, on 2 identical hot plate. The kettles contained the
same amount of water at room temperature.
The hot plates gave out the same amount of heat.
Sample Answer 3
Key Words: The key word is more. However, pupil did not identify the key concept of heat
flow.
Key Concept: The student did not demonstrates key concept.
• Heat transfers from the base of the kettle to the water in the kettle will be faster if there is more contact surface with the heat source.
• Heat travels/transfers from hotter region to colder region.
Sample Answer : Kettle A. The hot plate has more
contact with kettle A. Thus, water in kettle A gains
heat faster from the hot plate .
=======================================
In which kettle, A or B,
would water boil first?
Explain your answer.
The key concept is in blue explains clearly heat travels/transfers from hotter region to colder region.
In the sample answer above, the key word is in red shows comparison. Water in both kettles will boil but water in kettle A will boil first.
Sample Answer : Kettle A. The hot plate has more
contact with kettle A. Thus, water in kettle A gains
heat faster from the hot plate .
=======================================
Why the key concept – contact is
important?
• Although, boiling involves both conduction and convection.
• In the syllabus, we only cover conduction. • Conduction is the transfer of heat through a solid,
liquid or gas by direct contact. In this way, heat energy from the hot plate is transferred to the kettle.
• Thus, more contact points means heat transfer by is faster.
John poured 20cm3 of water into container filled with
sand. He expected the water to overflow. However, it
did not. Explain why.
Sample Answer 4
Container filled with sands
Student B:
There are some air spaces between the sand
particles. When water is poured in, it fills up the air
spaces.
.
Student A:
When the sand is inside the container, there is gap
beside the sand. So when the water is also poured
into the container, it goes in until the bottom. It does
not go outside the container as there is enough space
inside the container for the water.
Comparing the answers
Which answer deserves full mark?
Student B
The answer is better as it takes the form of short
sentences with good use key words – “air
spaces” to explain key concept – “ water takes up
space”
Comments on the answers
Student A
The answer shows an understanding of the
concept of some ‘air space’ beside the sand. The
sentence is long and convoluted as he did not
use key words to explain
Which answer deserves full mark? Both deserve full mark.
What to do after reading question in
section B…
• Identify the key concepts tested in the question.
• If there are two or more set-ups, consider using comparative adjectives to explain your answer clearly.
• Keep in mind the key words needed to assist in your explanation.
Applying Strategies (1) Su Ling packed some clothes into a bag. The mass of the bag with clothes was 4 kg. She then used a special device to suck out the air from the bag and then sealed it, thus creating a vacuum bag. This is shown in the diagram below. Su Ling weighed the bag of clothes after sealing them in the vacuum bag. How do you think the mass of the bag with clothes would change after it had been sealed? Explain your answer. (2)
Key concept : Air has mass.
Key words: air spaces , decreases
The mass of the bag with clothes decreased. There are air spaces between the clothes. Since air has mass removing these pockets of air would decrease the mass of the clothes
Key words: air spaces , decreases
Beaker Y Beaker X
Lillian poured 250ml of water into each of Beaker X and Y. Both beakers have an equal volume of ice but the ice in Beaker X is in smaller cubes than those in Beaker Y.
Which beaker of water would cool faster? Explain why.
Key concept : Heat transfers from water to ice cube. i.e. water loses heat to ice cube. i.e. ice cube gains heat from water
Key words: Lose heat
Applying Strategies (2)
Comparative Adjectives: - smaller - greater area in contact - faster
Beaker Y Beaker X
Which beaker of water would cool faster? Explain why
Water in X would cool faster . Ice cubes in Beaker X were smaller and so they had a greater area in contact with the water. Thus, the water lost heat to the ice cubes faster.
Applying Strategies (2)
Some Examples of Comparative Adjectives to Use
Variable Adjective
(words to describe
results/data collected)
Common mistakes in
describing the variable
Time shorter (shortest) time,
longer (longest) time
faster (fastest) time,
slower (slowest) time
Height higher (highest),
lower (lowest)
Longer (longest),
shorter (shortest)
Depth deeper (deepest),
less deep (least deep),
shallower (shallowest)
Lower (lowest),
higher (highest)
Some Examples of Comparative Adjectives to Use
Variable Adjective
(words to describe results/
data collected)
Common mistakes in
describing the variable
Amount of light more (most),
lesser (least)
bigger (biggest) amount,
smaller (smallest) amount
Amount of heat more (most), lesser (least) hotter (hottest), colder (coldest)
Type of surface rougher (roughest),
smoother (smoothest)
more friction,
less friction
Volume larger (largest),
smaller (smallest)
heavier, lighter
• One strategy to slow down your reading and cut down careless mistake is to ANNOTATE.
• It means to add notes (an-NOTE-tate) to text/question that you are reading.( It is not highlighting!)
• An annotated text/question offer explanation, comments or opinions and even questions.
• Annotating is all about YOUR own words.
• During the process of annotation, the student is personally interact with the text/ question.
Annotation
Annotation of Questions
The student is making her thinking visible to herself. She states the Key Science concept - air has no definite volume – links to – air can be compressed – finally arrives at the ans that vol. of air decreases. Her thought processes are very clear.
Annotation of Questions
The student shows her thinking process. An annotated question has more questions, thoughts and Science concepts/Science misconception. She states the Science (mis)concept – light is not needed for germination and the conditions for germination. She applied her Science concept of germination to the data in the table.
Annotation of Questions The student scans the diagram and notices the obvious clues. • Both life-cycles are
4-stages. ( Thus, option C is correct.)
• The habitat of the insects are not stated. ( So, option B is eliminated)
Next, he notices that there are some missing information – the no. of days between adult stage and egg stage. ( He eliminates option A.) .
ANSWERING SKILLS
38
For Process Skill Questions
Climbing Water Experiment
Explanation
Which type of paper could transfer water the
fastest?
Type of paper used: o Toilet paper o Napkins o Tissues
Other Materials needed: • Coloured Water • 3 types of papers • 6 cups • 3 measuring cylinders • Scissors .
A hypothesis is a scientific statement for a set of observations. It
should be testable.
I think tissue paper will absorb the most amount of water as it very thin.
Instructions:
• Pour the same amount of coloured water into 3 cups.
( Fill up to the top line of the cup )
• Add a piece of paper to empty cup.
( Repeat the step for the 3 papers.)
• Put the other end of the paper into the cup with coloured
water. (Do this step at the same time for the 3 papers.)
• The end of the paper must be submerged the water)
• Stop the experiment after a certain time.
• Pour out the water from the cup into a measuring
• cylinder.
• Record your result on the chart.
Changed Variable The independent, or manipulated variable, is a
factor that’s intentionally changed in the
experiment
The variable changed in the experiment is
the type of paper.
Result Variable It is the factor that may change as a result of
changes made in the experiment. Commonly, known as the results of the
experiment.
The result variable that we measured is
the amount of water collected.
Annotation of Questions He identifies the changed variable. – type of room / amount of water. He connects related changed variable by drawing arrows from one variable to another in another part of the question. He underlines fertiliser and annotates the underlined words with a phrase about how they are connected.
Jasmine set up an experiment using 4 similar pots of plants in conditions stated in the table below. At the end of the experiment, it was observed that not all the plants grew healthy.
Set-up W and X : find out if light is needed for plants to grow healthy.
Set-up X and Z : find out if water is needed for plants to grow healthy.
Mastery of Basic Process Skill Questions
P5 pupils are required to master basic process skill questions.
Elyn used five set-ups for her investigation with beans. In each set-up, she placed some black beans on a moist cotton wool as shown in the diagram below.
a) What was likely the aim of her experiment?
Basic Process skill Question ( 1)
She wanted to find out how temperature affects germination of beans.
Elyn used five set-ups for her investigation with beans. In each set-up, she placed some black beans on a moist cotton wool as shown in the diagram below.
b) In order to ensure a fair test, name two conditions that must be kept unchanged during
the experiment.
- Number of black beans on the cotton wool - Amount of water sprinkled onto the cotton wool - Type/Size of container - Type of seeds
Rina wanted to find out if
bees are attracted to the
colour of flowers. Which of
the following flowers should
she use?
Basic Process skill Question ( 2)
Variable changed: Colour of flowers
Variable to be kept the same Type of flower Presence of Nectar
Answer: 1
Pot No of seedlings
Place Water
A 3 Garden 15ml B 15 Garden 15ml C 9 Garden 10ml D 6 Garden 10ml
Patrick wanted to find out if overcrowding affects the growth of seedlings.
He prepared 4 similar pots of green bean seedlings and placed them in the
garden. The table below summarises the information for his experiment.
a) Patrick did not conduct a fair test. Why?
Pot A, B, C and D did not have the same amount of water.
Basic Process skill Question ( 3 )
b) Although Patrick did not conduct a fair test, name 2 set-ups he can still compare to reach his conclusion.
A and B or C and D
To determine which variable to change in the experiment, pupils must know the concept of overcrowding.
Alex conducted an experiment with 4 pieces of materials and a dish filled with red colouring as shown below.
Basic Process skill Question ( 4 )
The diagram shows the amount of water absorbed by each strip of material after one minute.
a) Besides the length of the material strips, list 2 other variables that must be kept constant to ensure a fair test.
b) Which material is most suitable to make a kitchen towel? Explain your answer.
Size of material strips Width of material Duration of experiment Thickness of material strips
Material A. It is the most absorbent / absorbs the most amount of red colouring. Question b requires pupils to interpret
the data from the experiment.
Introduction of Higher Order Process Skill
Questions P5 pupils will be taught higher order process skill questions
Conditions Tank S Tank T
Number of
swordtails
25 male
25 female
25 male
25 female
Number of water
plants 5 5
Amount of
sunlight moderate moderate
Amount of food
and feeding times 100g, once daily 100g, once daily
Liquid V present absent
Arvin wanted to find out if liquid V could prevent swordtail from reproducing. He conducted an experiment using 100 swordtails which were subjected to different conditions as shown in the table below.
A month later, Arvin noticed fries (baby swordtails) among the water plants in tank T but none was observed in tank S. (a) What was the purpose of setting up tank T?
H-O Process skill Question ( 1 )
It is a control set-up to confirm that the swordtail’s ability to reproduce is affected by the presence of liquid V.
This increases the reliability of the results, often through a comparison between data collected from control set-up and experimental set-up.
A control set-up is to eliminate all the possible variables except the one being tested.
Control Set-up
With the control set-up, it is possible to conclude that the experiment is working as intended and that the results of the experiment are due to the effect of the variable being tested.
Wei Jie collected some soil samples from the garden, beach and swamp. He conducted an investigation to find out which type of soil allows the most amount of water to pass through. He put garden soil in the funnel and poured 250 ml of water into it. He measured the volume of water collected in the measuring cylinder after 5 minutes. He then repeated the experiment with soil samples from the beach and swamp.
water
collected
funnel
measuring
cylinder 300
250
200
150
100
50
a) He ensured that all the set-ups used the same amount of soil. How does keeping this variable constant ensure that the test is fair?
H-O Process skill Question ( 2 )
Pupils must explain fair test which is
to ensure that the amount of water collected (data ) in the cylinder is not affected by the amount of sand or other variables . Thus, the results of experiment is determined only by the variable changed which is the type of soil used.
He wanted to ensure that the amount of water collected in the cylinder is only due to the type of soil / soil samples.
Back home…. Draw up a schedule with your child to revise
the content areas (especially P3 and P4
topics) – Start NOW.
Encourage your child to annotate questions
when he/she is doing practice paper or
worksheet.
Help your child to identify key words/
phrases and key Science concept in
answering questions.
55
