FIELD TRIP : DEVELOPMENT OF WORK SHEETS
CREATIVITY AND SCIENCE EDUCATION - is the theme on which our orientation programme for the science teachers is based. As a teacher, one expects that competancy and creative faculty of his/her students should reach the highest level through a systematic process of education.
NSC is a right place where the teachers and the students can pay a visit for the manifestation of our objective. In fact, NSC -A Dream Castle for One and All', itself is a wonderful creation. One may refer to the leaflets published by NSC for different informations.
1. Each exhibit, with a scientific principle of concept behind its background, is designed with perfection and novelty.
2. Our field trip to NSC is quite different from the usual visit to a museum; sometimes these visits turn into excursions or picnics.
We need not rush through each and every exhibit at different floor in order to mark our attendance there. Rather, we will confine ourselves only to a few selected exhibits.
We will work in groups of two participants each. Let one group be attached -to a particular exhibit or model. They will stand before the exhibit, observe it, study it thoroughly and understand it.
If I show five (say) such exhibits to a student, quite possible he/she may come out to design and prepare the sixth one with his own ideas and presentation; and Aha ! that is the achievement.
During the critical study of the exhibit, each group will note and record whatever is felt relevant and important. They may consult the leaflet of the gallery, if available. Finally each group will develop a Worksheet for atleast one model. They may discuss and interact with others if they feel so. The Work Sheet thus prepared will be helpful for our students for a right approach.
3. Regarding who will be your partner and which one will be your exhibit, the choices are yours. However, you need not waste much time in selecting the exhibit. It may be any one which you come across and like. The Resource Persons or the friends of NSC may come to your help to get the right exhibit.
The following is a list of suggested allocations of exhibits
NUMBER OF TOTAL REMARKS,
FLOOR GALLERY GRPS. OF 2 TEACHERS TEACHERS
1St Information revolution 2 4
2nd Fun - Science 10 20
3rd Heritage 2 4
Raman Centenary 2 4
Prakash Exhibition 2 4
4th Structures 2 4
There are other galleries e.g. Earth from Space, Taramandal, Energy Ball etc.
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4. We have to develop an appropriate Work Sheet for the particular exhibits. A suggestive format for the Work Sheet is given below. However, you have full freedom to modify it according to requirements depending on the exhibit. To explain it further, you will agree that the Work Sheet developed for NSC will be quite different from what we need for field trips to zoo, river bank or the Aravalli ridge.
One may require to note the following :
1. Name of the Gallery / Broad Topic.
2. Exhibit No. / Specific name of the Exhibit or Topic.
3. Objective of the exhibit - What for the exhibit is meant/What is the ultimate outcome expected.
4. Principle involved / Methodology.
5. How to do / What to do for the activity - What do you observe.
6. Explanation of what we observe.
7. Can you design a prototype (or a copy) of the same.
8. Can you suggest some improvement for betterment.
9. Make a Questionnaire for the exhibit which should include 5 to 10 relevant important questions.
10. Can you think of some similar model based on similar way of working.
11. Can you propose of your own, with some new idea another exhibit on the same topic.
12. Any other points / Remarks,
Based on the above stated guidelines and preliminary discussions, the participants, in groups of two, developed Work Sheets for some of the exhibits of their choice. Each sub-group worked in their own way and presented their work to the whole group for discussion before finalisation. These are given in the following pages.
Other suggestive exercises are : To develop Work Sheet for the following Field Trips :
a. Visit to a zoo to study behaviour of any three animals.
b. Visit to the birds section in a zoo to study the physical characteristics of five different birds.
C. Visit to Yamuna river banks to study .........
d. Take a round of your school for a stock taking of different trees or different flower plants.
e. Do the same thing for the local neighbourhood park and make a comparative study with school garden.
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SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 1
GALLERY : PRAKASH EXHIBITION
NAME OF THE EXHIBIT : MISSING COLOURS
TOPIC (main) : OPTICS
SUB TOPIC : COLOUR OF OPAQUE OBJECTS
THE MODEL :
EXPERIMENT AND OBSERVATION :
CONCEPTS : i) White light (sunlight) is composed of seven colours (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). These colours form the spectrum of white light.
ii) We are unable to see the spectrum band of seven colours as the eye cannot split up white light. However, light can be split up into its component colours by water droplets or bits of glass or prism. The splitting of white light into its components is called dispersion.
iii) Red, green and blue are one set of primary colours as they reflect their own colours, whereas others reflect their own colours with one or two others.
iv) The primary colours when mixed in right proportions give white colour.
v) When two of the three primary colours are mixed, a different colour is produced :-
(a) Red + Blue - Magenta (pinkish, purple)
(b) Blue + Green - Cyan (greenish-blue)
(c) Red + Green - Yellow.
vi) Any two colours that produce white light when they are mixed are said to be complementary. Yellow light (a mixture of red and green) is the complementary colour to blue light. Together they give white light. Magenta is complementary to green and cyan complementary to red.
vii) When yellow, magenta and cyan are mixed they produce white light. These colours may be considered as primary colours.
viii) Colour of objects depend on the colour of light they reflect (in case of opaque objects) and colour of light they transmit (in case of transparent objects). Other coloured objects will reflect ortransmit other colours alongwith their respective colours (e.g. a yellow light absorbs only blue part of white light and reflects both red and green which appear as yellow).
xi) Black object looks dark because it absorbs all the light falling on it and reflects no colour. White objects absorb no colour and reflect every colour failing on them.
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x) Mixing coloured lights (additive) gives results which are quite different from those obtained by mixing paints, dyes etc. (subtractive). The primary colours in case of paints, dyes etc. red, blue and yellow. The coloured light is pure light coming from a luminous body, whereas light from pigments of paints etc. is impure in that it is what is left of white light when the pigment has absorbed the colours it can absorb. What it reflects is therefore not a pure colour but a mixture of two or more colours.
MAJOR OBJECTIVES : i) To acquaint the students with the above concepts.
ii) To enable the students to understand why different opaque objects have different colours when viewed under different coloured lights i.e. the colour of opaque objects depends on colour of light incident upon it.
iii) The students must understand and explain the observations made for the exhibit, e.g. why red flowers appear red in sunlight, red light and yellow light whereas black in green light etc,
iv) To enable the students to explain some observations like :-
a. Why a leaf or grass is green.
b. Black board is black, while writings on it with a white chalk is white.
C. Why coal appears black.
v) To enable the students to understand the principle of colour films, colour vision and colour television,
vi) To acquaint the pupil with colour filters which are used to modify the colour of sight before it falls on the film.
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS THROUGH ACTIVITIES : (i) To study the colour of objects as seen by light from the various parts of spectrum of white light and record the observation as follows :
COLOUR IN COLOUR OF RIBBON IN DAY LIGHT
SPECTRUM RED YELLOW GREEN BLUE
RED
ORANGE
YELLOW
GREEN
BLUE
INDIGO
VIOLET
ii) To mix lights of different colours and paints of different colours, note the observations separately and compare.
(The different colours of light can be obtained by using torch lights covered with cellophane papers of different colours.)
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SKILLS : i) Construction of a similar model.
ii) Modify the exhibit.
iii) Extend the exhibit to new situations.
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE EXHIBIT : i) To explain the observations made and the principle involved.
ii) What would be the observations if artificial flowers and leaves were replaced by natural ones?
iii) Explain why a red flower which must appear black in green light appears grey.
iv) What would be the observations if instead of red light, a combination of red and blue lights are used?
v) For each observation find out the missing colours.
ASSIGNMENT : i) Explain why a piece of cloth seen under artificial light look different when seen in day light?
ii) Why should an applicant for a car driver's licence be required to pass a test of colour blindness.
iii) Why is the image of an object seen through a lens coloured.
iv) You are given three books A,B,C in a dark room. When seen through yellow light A appears black, B appears yellow and C appears yellow. When seen through red light A appears red, B appears black and C appears red. What colours are A,B and C when seen in day light.
v) Explain special effects produced by use of coloured lights in stages where plays are performed?
SUGGESTIONS : i) The exhibit could be extended to study the colour of transparent objects as seen by various coloured sources of light.
ii) The container is filled with water upto a certain level. Opaque and transparent objects of different colours which can float in water are kept inside the container. Different coloured lights can be focussed one after the other on the floating objects. It looks as if the objects are swimming in whirlpools.
SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 2
GALLERY : HERITAGE
EXHIBIT/TOPIC : KONARAK WHEEL
(The Sun Temple, Konaralk, 13th Century AD)
OBJECTIVES OF THE EXHIBIT : a. To appreciate the application of science in the construction of monuments in ancient India.
b. To appreciate the creativity of the worksmen/artisians through temple architecture.
C. To appreciate the architectural and sculptural values.
d. To appreciate the role of the wheel as "SUN DIAL".
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OBSERVATIONS EXPLANATIONS
a. The Konarak temple was The Sun was considered
devoted to God Sun (Surya) centre of all activities and energy.
b. It was conceived in the form of huge temple There are twelve months in a year.
chariot of stone with twenty four sculptured Considering that the sun moves from
wheels, each of diameter 3.05 metre east to west, it moves towards southern
(12 wheels on each side - northern and hemisphere in winter and towards northern
southern sides of the temple) hemisphere in summer.
C. The wheels act as 'Sun Dials'. The hub Arrangements or design similar to other
of the wheel casts shadow on the spokes. sun dials,
d. There are 8 thicker spokes in each wheel. 8 spokes covers 24 hours of a day in one
complete circle. So the duration between
any two consecutive spokes is 3 hours.
e. There are 8 thinner spokes, one each This makes the duration between a thick
between two thicker spokes. and thin spoke equal to one and ha our.
f. There are seven horses which drive the These seven horses symbolise seven days
chariot in the Sun temple. of a week.
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SUGGESTION : A miniature model of the wheel of the temple can be made of thermocole or clay by the students.
A source of light (say an electric lamp) can be so arranged to represent the Sun moving from east to west. The shadow of the hub failing on the rim along the spokes will denote the time.
QUESTIONS THOSE MAY COME UP : Q.1 Look at the Konarak wheel and answer
What is the number of larger spokes? Count.
Q.2 If the full circle of the wheel represent sun dial showing 24 hours, then what is the time duration between two consecutive similar spokes?.
Q.3 What is the time duration between any two nearest thick spoke and thin spoke?
Q.4 Count the number of thinner spokes and calculate the time duration between any two such spokes.
Q.5 Observe the larger spokes in the picture. Compare the left side of the wheel with the right side. Can you identify or generalise any similarity and dissimilarity.
Q.6 If the shadow is formed by the hub of the wheel between four spokes, what is the `time' or time- day relationship.
0.7 Develop the replica of the wheel so as to use it as a 'Sun Dial'.
SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 3
Name of the gallery RAMAN CENTENARY
Broad Topic SCATTERING OF LIGHT
Specific name of exhibit SCATTERING OF LIGHT BY MOLECULES/ATOMS
Objective of the exhibit To explain scattering of light by molecules present in water.
Principle involved LIGHT (Energy) Emission
Excitation of Atoms and Molecules
When excited by different energies like heat, electricity electromagnetic waves of high and low frequencies, the atoms and molecules in substance may emitradiation in number of ways depending on excitation energy and nature of substance.
Light production occurs when atoms lose energy. If the atoms take up energy then electrons in outermost orbit jump to higher energy level. It may fall off to lower orbit giving out energy in the form
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of visible light or invisible radiation. The visible radiation emitted has well defined colour characteristic of that atom, e.g. amorphous sulphur gives orange or yellow colour. Such emission of radiation is called scattering.
Scattering depends on dimension of particles causing it. The smallest molecules are molecules of gas. Light having short wavelength are scattered more extensively than that having longer wavelength.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXHIBIT : There is glass container filled with water in between the light source and screen. Sulphur particles are present in the water. When light source is switched on, light passes through the container and there is orangish yellow spot on the screen.
EXPLANATION : When light passes through water containing sulphur atoms, electrons in outermost orbit get energy. They get excited and jump to higher energy level. When an electron returns back, it comes to a level having less energy than the previous orbit. So energy is emitted in the form of light (visible radiation) of orangish-yellow colour.
SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT : In the same experiment we can put prism in between glass container and screen then instead of spot we can get spectrum of orange light.
QUESTIONNAIRE : 0.1 Which coloured light do we observe on screen?
Q.2 Why do we observe that light?
0.3 Why does scattering of light take place?
Q.4 What sort of light do we get if we take chromium salt solution?
Q.5 Can you give any example of this phenomenon?
0.6 What colour of sky do we observe normally at sunrise?
0.7 Explain your answers.
DESIGN OF PROTOTYPE : 1 Take a glass container filled with water.
2) Use torch as a light source.
3) Put screen on other side.
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4) Put amorphous sulphur in water.
5) As we pass light we will observe orangish yellow colour on screen.
SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 4
1. Name of the Gallery : FUN SCIENCE
2. Name of the Exhibit : ORGAN PIPES.
3.
a. Objective of the Exhibit :
b. Expected Learning Outcome : 4.
Principle Involved : Principle of sound resonance in air columns : When the frequency of the vibrating body is same as the natural frequency of the body on which vibration is forced, then the latter vibrates with maximum amplitude.
5.
a. Procedure :
b. Observation : 6.
Explanation: Pitch of sound depends on frequency. Higher the frequency, higher is the pitch. But wave length of sound is inversely proportional to the frequency i.e. more the, wave length - lesser the frequency.
In the pipe of longer length, the length of vibrating air column is more. Since both the ends are open, antinodes are formed at both the ends. The wave thus formed has longer wave length Hence its frequency is less and as a result the pitch is low. In the case of the pipe with smaller length, the wave length (delta) comes out to be smaller and hence its pitch is more.
7.
Prototype design : We can take seven soft-drink bottles and fill them with different levels of water. Strike the top of the bottles with a spoon or blow air into the bottles when each will give out sounds of different pitch.
8.
Improvement for betterment : We can use thicker pipes in line with this and demonstrate the 'Octaves' also. We can also use pipes made of different metals.
9.
Questionnaire : 1. Do you hear different sounds on striking different pipes? 2. Which pipe gives the note of higher pitch?.
3. Which pipe gives the note of lower pitch?.
4. Do the pitches of other notes have same relation with the length of the pipes?
5. Give reasons for your observations.
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6. have you come across a similar phenomenon in any of the toys you have come across?.
7. Express the relationship between frequency and wave length in the form of an equation.
8. What do you think will happen if the diameter of the pipes is increased?
9. Keeping the same length as in the exhibit, do you think that there will be a difference in the pitch of sound if different metals are used?
10. Have you seen this principle being used in any of the musical instrument? If yes, name the instrument.
10.
Models based on same principle : i) Jai Tarang ii) Xylophone. iii) Organ pipes in cathedral
11. Remarks : This is a very good exhibit which is sure to elicit the interest of the students in the topic on sound. It can be used for class IX as a teaching aid.
SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 5
Name of Gallery FUN SCIENCE
Name of the exhibit MOVIES
Objective of the exhibit -
Principle involved :-
Methodology :
Observation :
Explanation :
Design of prototype :
Improvement :
Questionnaire : (1) What is your observation?
(2) Why do you think the pictures seem to be moving?
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(3) On what principle the working is based?
(4) What is the time period of persistence of vision?
(5) Will you get clarity in the pictures with rotation of the drums at different speeds?
(6) Why do we take many plane mirrors joined together on the central pillar?
(7) Is there any relationship between the number of pictures and the number of plane mirror.
(8) Give some examples from your day-to-day experience on persistence of vision.
(9) Why are you unable to see different blades of an electric fan rotating at high speed?
(10) On which part of the eye the image is formed?
Suggested Models : (1) Take an umbrella and stick pictures on the top in sequence and rotate the umbrella from underneath. The sequence of pictures seems to be moving.
(2) Children can make pictures in sequence on the edges of their note book. If these edges are moved fast, they can see moving pictures.
(3) Take a toy windmill and draw/paste pictures on the blades in sequence. By rotation they can see the pictures move like motion picture
Remarks : It is a good exhibit for primary and middle school children.
SAMPLE WORK SHEET NO. 6
GALLERY STRUCTURES
BROAD TOPIC FOUNDATIONS.
SPECIFIC NAME OF THE EXHIBIT Shaking Minarets of Ahmedabad.
OBJECTIVE OF THE EXHIBIT To explain the shaking of the minarets with possible
reasons behind the mystery.
The ultimate outcome expected from the detailed study is to explain the shaking of minarets with scientific basis.
PRINCIPLE INVOLVED-
OBSERVATION : 76
The model of the shaking minarets shows two minerets which are connected by one arched rigid structure. The two minarets also have a common basement. To demonstrate the shaking practically, one of the minerets is struck with a hammer, we observe deflection on the meter dial attached to the second minaret.
EXPLANATION OF THE OBSERVATION-
EXPLANATORY MODEL -
QUESTIONNAIRE : i) What is the characteristic of shaking minarets?
ii) What is the threshold limit to observe the shaking in minarets?
iii) What is the limit that minarets can stand without breaking?
iv) What are the situations around us where we can feel the structures shaking /vibrating due to vibrations from another object :-
(a) When they are physically in contact? (b) When they are not physically connected?
v) Though vibrations can be felt in the modern buildings or structures, shaking cannot be observed. Why?
IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTED : The explanatory model is not satisfactory because as fig. 2 shows the basement as spring in the middle. This is confused with the rigid structure shown in fig. 1 This flexible spring should be shown at the base only and not in the middle.
ANY REMARKS : A model can be displayed on the 'it a-colomite' foundation and if possible a sample of such sandstone should be exhibited to give strength to the possible explanation and extra Knowledge of the children.
QUESTIONNAIRE :
Exhibit - i) What do you observe? Explain with a diagram.
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ii) What is the special feature you observe in the model while you correlate it with the actual photographs?
iii) Explain the working of the model displayed.
iv) Give reasons of the observations.
v) Study the explanatory model and try to suggest any other such model. vi) Answer the following questions :
a) What is a foundation?
b) What is an 'arch' in architecture?
c) What is the importance of foundation in architecture?
d) What possible explanation is given for the shaking minarets?
e) Why a rigid structure is made between the minarets?
f) Can you suggest any other possible reason for the phenomenon to occur?
vii) Suggest any other idea/improvement in the model and try to make/demonstrate it.
viii) Prepare a relevant model on the subject for our school science club 'and explain it alongwith relevant written information.
ASSIGNMENT ON : WORK SHEET DEVELOPMENT FOR VISIT TO A ZOO Two sub-groups have suggested the following two work sheets in connection with students, visit to zoological garden. Develop your own work sheet bringing in improvement in the proposed design.
WORK SHEET NO. A
Visit to a zoo to study behaviours of any three anirnalls :-
Specimen Number 1 2 3
Characteristics,
1 Name of the animal
2 Where found (habitat)
3 How many in one place (i.e. number)
4 Size and colour
5 Do they move about from place to place?
6 Do they have wings/legs/fins/tail/none/How many
7 Type of the skin : smooth/fur/feather hair/
scales/any other body covering (mention the colour)
8 Do they have teeth/beak/other mouth parts /if it has
beak mention the shape and structure
9 Do they make any sound?