For this Sec 3 (NT) science broad theme of Food Matters (which covers three topics on Sources of Food, Food Chemistry, and Food Health & Safety), the teacher Hisham started off with a verbal discussion with his class on the concept of Food in general.
Students came up with a vast range of broad inquiry questions, which were noted down by Hisham.
In the second lesson, he introduced trigger experiments on food testing. He led the class in a couple of food experiments in which the students got to test for starch, sugar, etc. in foods. The class became interested in the growth of plants as part of how food is made/created, and class discussion ensued. Students wrote down notes in their journals.
The third lesson, Hisham brought in another trigger experiment on soil acidity, where students experimented with the acidity/alkalinity of three different types of soil. This was again followed by class discussions, and students subsequently went online to KF to post their notes and ideas. In a KF view 'Sources of Food' (Fig. 1 below), students brought up ideas on agriculture and mass production.
Fig. 1. KF view 'Sources of Food'
In following lessons, Hisham selected a few students' notes regarding fertilizers ("I wonder how fertilizer help plants grow faster?") and food production ("How to improve food production?") to expound on. He used these questions to show students two videos; one on fertilizers (Fig. 2) and one on the slash and burn method, a cheap means of clearing land and making soil fertile (Fig. 3). Consequently, students went online to KF to post their thoughts and ideas on the KF view 'Soil Fertility' (Fig. 4).
Fig. 2. Video "What are fertilizers?"
Fig. 3. Video "Slash and Burn method"
Fig 4. KF view 'Soil Fertility'
In this manner, the experiments and videos were in fact a means of shaping students' ideas on the theme of Food Matters.