topic 4 integrated science process skills i

8/13/2019 Topic 4 Integrated Science Process Skills I

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INTRODUCTION

Teacher Amalina isteaching a Year 6class. She is doing ademonstration usinga toy car.

LEARNING OUTCOMESBy the end of this topic, you should be able to:

1. State the meaning of integrated science process skills;

2. List the integrated science process skills;

3. Describe the skill of space-time relationship;

4. Describe the skill of interpreting data; and

5. Describe the skill of defining operationally.

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44 Integrated

Science Process

Skills I


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TOPIC 4 INTEGRATED SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS I66

Figure 4.1:Pictures of the same girl over the years as she growsHow do these pictures differ? What aspects can you use to describe the changesthat have occurred over the years as the girl grows? Size, height and mass are justsome of the things or parameter that you can use to describe the changes thatoccurred over the years. Can you arrange the pictures chronologically so thatthey show how she grows? What we just discussed are also examples of the skillof space-time relationship.

Study the following example and answer the questions that follow.

Amin placed some ice cubes in a beaker of water. He measured the temperatureof the water every 5 minutes. He also observed the state of the ice cubesthroughout the activity. His observations are recorded in Table 4.1.


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TOPIC 4 INTEGRATED SCIENCE PROCESS SKILLS I 67

Table 4.1: States of Ice Cubes and TemperatureTime min) Observation Temperature oC)0 Solid (ice cubes) 05 Solid (ice cubes) 0

10 Solid (ice cubes) 0

15 Liquid (water) 1

20 Liquid( water) 4

25 Liquid (water) 8

(a) Describe the relationship between temperature and time.

(b) Describe the state of ice cubes from beginning to the end of the activity.

(c) What is your conclusion?

Can you see that the ice cubes changed from solid to liquid and it took 25minutes for the ice cubes to melt completely to liquid. At the same time, thetemperature also changed over time. It increased as time increased.

INTERPRETING DATA

In this section, we will learn about interpreting data.

4.3.1 What is Interpreting Data?

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Interpreting data is essential in science and also of vital importance in otherdisciplines.

ACTIVITY 4.1

Describe the shape of the moon throughout the month as seen from Earth.


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We are constantly interpreting data when we watch the news on television, whenwe read maps, and when we look at photographs in newspapers or magazines.

When do you interpret data?

When you do an experiment to test your hypothesis, you collect data. Aftercollecting the relevant data you analyse and interpret the data and determinewhether your data supports your hypothesis. If the data supports yourhypothesis then you can accept your hypothesis.

What do you do when you are interpreting data?

To interpret means you are making sense of the information. You look for

patterns or trends in the data and you try to find a relationship between thevariables.

The data in this table shows the velocity of a car travelling over a period of time.

Time min) 0 10 20Velocity km/h) 0 45 105

Can you see that the velocity increases? The two variables involved here are timeand velocity. The relationship between them is as time increases the velocity alsoincreases.

A pupil made an observation of a particular tree in the garden. The followingtable shows her observations.

Day Number of Leaves1 16

3 12

6 6

9 2

What happened to the number of leaves on this tree? It is decreasing, right? Whydo you think this is happening to the tree?


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So you are interpreting when you are able to:

(a) Identify trends and relationships in recorded observations andmeasurements by suggesting links between these

(b) Make relevant inferences to get the conclusion

(c) Evaluate your investigation

(d) Answer questions related to the observations collected

(e) Establish scientific theory to draw and justify conclusions

4.3.2 What Do We Interpret?

(a) Data tableA data table is one way to record your experimental result or observations.It is basically a visual representation of related facts arranged in rows andcolumns. Its purpose is to help sort, analyse and compare data gatheredfrom a science experiment or research project.

In most cases, the manipulated variable is in the left column, theresponding variable with the different trials is in the next column, and thederived or calculated column (often average) is on the far right.

Study the example of a data table as shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2:The Effect of Amount of Salt on Solubility RateAmount ofSalt g) Time Taken to Dissolve min) AverageLength min)Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

5 3.1 2.9 3.2 3

10 5.0 5.1 5.0 5

15 9.1 8.9 9.2 9

20 12.0 12.1 12.0 1225 15.1 15.2 14.9 15

So what can you see from the table? Can you see that the reading for eachtrial differs? Why do they differ?

Can you see that as the amount of salt increases, the time taken to dissolvethem also increases?


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(b) Pie ChartsA pie chart is a circular chart in which thecircle is divided intosectors. Eachsector visually represents an item in a data set to match the amount of the item

as apercentage orfraction of the total data set. Thus, pie chartsare usefulwhen you want to compare different parts of a whole amount.

Study the pie chart shown in Figure 4.2 which shows which televisionchannels people watch. What can you interpret from this pie chart?

Figure 4.2: Television channels people watchMost people prefer to watch channel 1 compared to other channels. Doyou agree with this conclusion? Why?

(c) Bar ChartsBar charts show percentages in various categories and allow comparison

between categories. The vertical scale is frequencies, relative frequencies orpercentages and the horizontal scale shows categories.


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Figure 4.3: Television channels people watchWhat conclusion can you make from this bar chart? Do you realise that thedata is the same as in Figure 4.2?

ACTIVITY 4.2

Do the following activities.

Your monthly expenditure is shown below.

Expenses RMRent 550

Food 700

Fuel 150

Leisure 100

Utilities 350

(a) Use the data in the table to draw a pie chart to display the information.

(b) Construct a bar chart to display the same information.


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(d) HistogramsHistograms show the frequency distributions of continuous variables. Theyare similar to bar charts, but they are drawn without gaps between the bars

because the x-axis is used to represent the class intervals. They also havethe following characteristics:

The data is divided into non-overlapping intervals (usually from 5 to 15).Intervals generally have the same length.

The number of values in each interval is counted (the class frequency).

Sometimes relative frequencies or percentages are used. (Divide the celltotal by the grand total).

Rectangles are drawn over each interval. (The area of rectangle = relativefrequency of the interval. If intervals are not all of the same length then theheights have to be scaled so that each area is proportional to the frequencyfor that interval).

Figure 4.4: Histogram showing heights for 30 peopleSource:www.analyzemath.com


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(e) Line GraphLook at Figure 4.5(a) and 4.5(b). Both are examples of line graphs. Butwhich graph do you commonly use in science? Yes, we usually use thegraph in Figure 4.5(b).

Figure 4.5 a):Line graph Figure 4.5 b):Line graphIn experiments we are investigating the effect of one variable upon anothervariable. The data collected during the experiment can then be drawn usingthe line graph to visually represent the relationship between the two variables.Thus to represent the type of relationship between the two variables we do notconnect all the points on the graph but draw the best-fit line. This "smoothed"line does not have to touch all the data points, but they should at least be closeto most of them.

ACTIVITY 4.3

Study the histogram in Figure 4.4. What information can you get from thehistogram?

SELF-CHECK 4.3

1. What kind of data do we use to draw a histogram or a bar chart?

2. What are continuous variables?


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Why are not some of the points on the line drawn? These data representerror measurements that exist when we do the experiment. The error could

be due to human or instrument error.

Two examples of best-fit graph lines are shown in Figure 4.6. One is drawncorrectly, the other is not. Study both and decide which one is correctlydrawn.

Figure 4.6:Two examples of best-fit line graphsSource: http://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/bgraph2.htm

Suppose someone gave you a graph which showed the height of a plant atvarious times after planting (see Figure 4.7). How would you describe theshape of the curve in the graph? You might say: The growth curve showsthat the plant sprouted on about the fifth day and grew in increasingamounts each week thereafter for six weeks. At that time, the plant wasabout 44 centimetres tall.


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Figure 4.7: Graph of plant growth for a period of six weeks(f) Interpreting Pictorial Data

In Figure 4.7, you might have inferred that the increase in the plants heightwas due to the fact that the plant began to photosynthesise after growingfor seven days. Suppose the pictorial data shown in Figure 4.8 had beenrecorded at the time the plants were growing.

Does this information support your inference? Yes, it does. You can see thatthe plant has come out of the soils surface and leaves have formed a weekafter being planted.

Interpreting data requires you to distinguish between observations, and theinferences you make about the observations. Erroneous notions may arisewhen inferences are accepted as certainty if they are not clearly labelled asinferences.


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DEFINING OPERATIONALLY

You make measurements during an experiment. However, before making themeasurements, you must decide how to measure each variable. So, when youspecify a procedure for measuring a variable, you are making an operationaldefinition. To operationally define a variable means to decide how they will beused in the experiment. Thus, an operational definition tells you what isobserved and how it is measured.

Different investigators may use different operational definitions for the samevariable. For example, suppose an investigation was conducted to test the effectsof Vitamin E on the endurance of a person. The variable endurance of a personcould be defined in different ways, such as:

(a) The number of hours a person could stay awake

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2.

(a) How many sets of data are represented?

(b) On approximately what calendar date does the graph begin?

(c) In what month does the graph reach its highest point?

3.

(a) How much rain fell in March of 1989?

(b) How much more rain fell in February of 1990 than in February of1989?

(c) Which year had the most rainfall?


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(b) The distance a person could run without stopping

(c) The number of jumping jacks a person could do

Each of the above statements is an operational definition of the same variable.Which one do you think is the best?

Why is it important to define the variable operationally before doing anexperiment? It is important because then you will know exactly what and how toobserve and measure the variable. In doing so, you will be collecting the relevantdata needed to answer your questions.

Let us look at an example.

How are you going to measure the rate of solubility of the salt in thisexperiment? You could measure the time taken by the salt to dissolve in thesolution at various temperatures. Thus, the time taken by the salt to dissolve isthe operational definition of the rate of solubility.

Why is it important to define the variable operationally before doing an

experiment? It is important because then you will know exactly what and how toobserve and measure the variable. And in doing so, you will be collecting therelevant data needed to answer your questions.

Do you only make an operational definition when you want to experiment?

Let us say we are talking about an acid. If you look up for the definition of acid inyour science book, it says, It is a chemical that can produce hydrogen ions whendissolved in water. Can you see this process with your own eyes? No. However,if you define acid as a chemical that turns blue litmus paper to red, you can see

this happening! So when you define acid as the chemical that turns blue litmuspaper to red, you are making an operational definition of the acid.

In conclusion we define operationally a variable if you want to clearly specifyhow to observe or measure it. But in the context of an experiment, you define thevariable before starting to collect the data. You could also define a conceptoperationally when you want to communicate to others, so that they canvisualise the concept correctly by describing the physical characteristics.

You are experimenting the effect of temperature on the rate of solubilityof a salt.


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Can the following statements be the operational definition for the

growth of a plant ?

(a) Height of plant from the ground to the top of the highest shoot

(b) Number of leaves produced

(c) Diameter of plant stem

(d) Mass of plant

SELF-CHECK 4.4

ACTIVITY 4.5

You are to determine how each of the variables was operationallydefined in each of the investigations below. That is, you are to sayhow the manipulated and responding variables in the investigationswere measured.

Investigation 1A study was conducted to determine the effect that exercisehas on ones pulse rate. Some students took part in a

Jogathon and ran for different numbers of kilometres andthen their pulse rates were measured. One group ran 10km,a second group ran 20km, a third group ran 30km and afourth group ran 40km. Following the exercise, the pulserate was immediately measured.

How was each variable operationally defined in Investigation 1?

Manipulated Variable:

_______________________________________________________

Responding Variable:_______________________________________________________

Investigation 2Suppose an elementary school has a programme for increasingstudents enjoyment of reading. What are some of the different waysthat enjoyment of reading could be operationally defined?


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Handson Activity

(a) Study the following questions.

Which bottle design is the mostchildproof or tamperproof?

Do bigger parachutes work betterthan smaller parachutes?

Does changing temperature affect therate of chemical reaction when Alka-Seltzer tablets are put into water?

(a) Plan how to carry out a test to find the answer to each of the questions.

(b) Carry out the plan and record the results.

(c) Share the results with your friends.


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Integrated science process skills are the skills that will lead you toexperimenting.

Learning these skills empowers you to answer many of your own questions.

The integrated science process skills are using space-time relationship,

interpreting data, defining operationally, identifying and controllingvariables, formulating hypotheses, and experimenting.

Space-time relationship involves the ability to discern and describedirections, spatial arrangements, motion and speed, symmetry, and rate ofchange. It is a process to describe changes in parameter with time.

Interpreting data is a skill whereby you make sense of the information, lookfor patterns or trends in the data and try to find the relationship between thevariables.

Data tables, bar charts, histograms, graphs and pie charts are tools that youuse to present and interpret your data.

A data table is a graphic organiser where you record and organise your data.

Pictures can be a way to record your data.

An operational definition tells you what is observed and how it is measured.

Different investigators may use different operational definitions for the samevariable.

1. Identify and state the operational definitions of the variablesused in each of the experiments.

2. At what stage of the experiments are the following skillsinvolved?

(a) Defining Operationally

(b) Intepreting data

(c) Space-time relationship

SELF-CHECK 4.5


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Operational definitions are important because you will know exactly whatand how to observe and measure the variable. You will then be able to collectthe relevant data needed to answer your questions.

Bar chart

Data table

Graph

Histogram

Integrated Science process skills

Interpreting data

Operational definition

Pie chart

Space- time relationship

Bailer, J., Ramig, J.E, Ramsey, J.M (1995). Teaching process skills. USA: GoodApple.

Fiel, R.L, Funk, H.J, Rezba, R.L, Sparague, C. (1995). Learning and assessing

science process skills. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Skamp, K. (ed) (2004). Teaching primary science constructively. Melbourne:Thomson Learning.

Analysing and interpreting data. Retrieved Jun 6, 2012, fromhttps://oira.syr.edu/Assessment/AssessPP/Analyze.htm

Making Science Graphs and Interpreting Data. Retrieved Jun 6, 2012, fromhttp://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/bgraph2.htm

Describing and interpreting data. Retrieved Jun 6, 2012, fromwww.uh.edu/~tech132/sln12.doc

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