Champagne - how much can you afford?
This task needs calculation on the capacity of a champagne-glass to calculate the price and on the risk to go over the limit of the alcohol-content in the blood.
On first sight a glass which is half full should cost only the half of a full one. But if you calculate the capacity of a cone, the complete filled glass containes 8 times more.
It is possible to addto the task is a calculation, how much half full champagne glases you can drink before you overgo the alcohol-limit of traffic drivers. Advice: if you want to calculate while you are drinking, you should prefer cylindrical glasses.
The high-voltage bird
This task is embedded in the curriculum of electric current. Usually, students are trained to calculate and not to argue about physical facts. In this example they have to show their understanding (and misconceptions) about the basic facts of the theme and use arguments for their assumptions.
Can I trust my Eyes? - How scientists observe
Can I trust my Eyes? - How scientists observeThe material describes the basic approach to scientific phenomena, questions and problems in the early stage of scientific (physics) education. The description provides a set of methods of scientific work with which students can explore the world of physics, discovering new facts and arranging them.
The first part of the material illustrates the didactical background for educating scientific methods. It deals with the problems concerning experimenting and modelling in everyday class and discusses a conception for learning scientific methods. The second and more comprehensive part shows the practical implementation of this conception. It contains texts for pupils, a choice of lessons and worksheets for an easy realisation.
No smoke without a fire - (Un)Desirable Combustion
When something is burned, it is gone - this is an easy way to deal with the question of combustion. But what does really happen when something is combusted? What does a chemical expert say about burning - and to which change of matter is this comparable? And how does burning affect our climate?
Lara is pregnant
Lara is 16 years old and unintentionally in the 9th week of pregnancy. She does not know if she should have the child or not. She is not quite sure about the consequences according to each decision. Therefore she is addressing herself to the editorial stuff of the BRAVO magazine…..
This series of lesson a semi-real dilemma is used to stimulate moral-cognitive processes in the students. Therefore we use KMDD (“Konstanzer Moral Dilemma Discussion” by Georg Lind) as a theoretical frame. This method has given merits for effective moral and democratic learning.
Chitosan - Fat Magnet?!
A grade 12-13 chemistry/ biology module on Poly-saccharides and nutrition
There is much advertising on chitosan as a fat magnet. What is chitosan? Does it really work? Should we use it to avoid gaining weight? Students look for answers to these questions by researching the internet, and other sources, and doing own experiments. They learn how to produce chitosan, about its properties and several kinds of its application. The newly gained knowledge and competences form the base for the final discussion and decision making.
SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME SCIENCE AND SOCIETY PRIORITY Science education and careers 2005 COORDINATION ACTION Contract no 042922