Menstruation

Crystal was introducing to students the topic of the menstrual cycle, as part of the larger theme of sexual reproduction in humans.

She decided to pose to them an overarching question on KF (Fig. 1): "Instead of menstruating every month, why is the uterine lining (endometrium) not sustained continuously throughout the life of a woman from puberty to menopause?" She provided students with readings as well as some guiding questions to stimulate their thinking, e.g., Why is there a need for the menstrual cycle? What is the uterine lining used for?

Fig. 1. KF view 'Menstruation'

Consequently, due to time constraints, Crystal explained to students the four theories put forth by the readings she provided to them. She instructed them to choose and explain which theory out of the four, in their opinion, best answers the overarching inquiry question, and to explain the reason(s) behind their choice.

Nutrition in Man

A teacher Jessie approached the topic of Nutrition in Man by first instructing her students to think about, and question, the necessity of food/nutrition in the human body. 

As she wanted students to think about the purpose of the digestive system and the absorption of nutrients, she posed this broad inquiry question to them: "Is faeces a type of excretion?"

From here, students were prompted to think about excretion, which led to vibrant class discussions on KF (Fig. 1 & 2) concerning issues such as what food sources could provide nutrition, what leads to the formation of urine and faeces, etc. They also came up with an array of questions, e.g., "Is faeces edible and is urine drinkable?" Students subsequently went on to do their own research to find out about the components of urine and faeces, and whether they contained any nutrients that could be utilised by the human body. 

Fig. 1. KF view 'Nutrition in Man' part 1

Fig. 2. KF view 'Nutrition in Man' part 2

Enzymes

Jessie was teaching her students about properties of enzymes and enzyme activities. She started off by conducting - and demonstrating to students - an experiment involving yeast & hydrogen peroxide.

Students were not told what the contents were. In the experiment, the enzyme catalase in yeast cells catalysed the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas (which was given off as effervescence bubbles). 

Students were asked to provide a hypothesis of what they thought the contents were. They were allowed to hold the test-tube and smell the mixture inside, and were encouraged to ask questions about the experiment. Their ideas and questions were posted on KF (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. KF view for the topic on Enzymes.

In following lessons, students were instructed to comment and build on each other's responses. Some students googled for information on yeast and enzymes as well. This sequence of lessons led students to think about where enzymes are found, e.g., human body, which eventually led on to next chapter of Nutrition in Man.

Model of Cells

Engel was teaching the topic of Cells to her students. Previous lessons had already equipped the students with background knowledge of plant and animal cells, but Engel decided to further elicit students' thinking.

She found a diagram of a Euglena cell, which contains features present in both plant and animal cells, but is neither of them; it is a micro-organism (protista) which the students do not learn about. She presented the diagram to students, curious to find out how they would classify it and the reasons behind their choice.

Students first penned down their thoughts and questions about the Euglena cell on paper, which were then transferred online to KF (Fig. 1). Engel classified students notes into four groups: those who thought it was an animal cell, plant cell, both an animal and plant cell, and neither an animal nor plant cell. Consequent lessons consisted of discussions about students' ideas and questions on KF. 

Fig. 1. KF view 'Euglena'

At one point, Engel selected a promising question posted by a student “Is it possible for a plant cell not having cell wall?” for her students to build on in a new KF view (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. KF view 'Is it possible for plant cell not to have cell wall?'

Cells and DNA

Two teachers, Mrs Raj and Mr Mong, aroused their students' interest in the topic of cells and DNA by having them conduct an experiment about extracting DNA from crushed strawberries.

Briefly, the experiment involved smashing strawberries, adding extraction liquid (made of detergent, salt, and water), filtering the mixture, and adding rubbing alcohol to the filtered strawberry liquid. The resulting white precipitate/residue (strawberry DNA) that appeared on top of the strawberry mixture (Fig. 1) triggered student's curiosity as to what it was.

Fig. 1. Result of the strawberry DNA experiment.

The following lesson, the teachers initiated and facilitated discussions on KF with their respective classes (Figs. 2 & 3). There were plenty of initial questions regarding the experiment, which were built on and improved, such that students' discussions on KF in consequent lessons revolved around the main concept of cells and its functions.

Fig. 2. Class 1A KF view 'Cells and DNA'.

Fig. 3. Class 1B KF view 'Cells and DNA'

Acids and Alkalis

The teacher Kelvin was to teach two classes (2A & 2B) about Acids and Alkalis.

He first piqued his students' interest by asking them beforehand to go home and think about what substances in their daily lives are acidic or alkaline, and to bring a small sample of a substance that they thought was acidic or alkaline to the next lesson.

That following lesson, Kelvin had students conduct a trigger experiment on using dragonfruit juice as an indicator to test the pH of certain liquids. He first demonstrated how to extract the dragonfruit juice (this involved mashing and filtering the pulpy residue) and how to test the dragonfruit juice indicator in solutions of different pH (i.e., using droppers, observing colour changes). Students proceeded to conduct the experiment in pairs.

In subsequent lessons, Kelvin facilitated students' insightful discussion on KF (Figs. 1 & 2) regarding the experiment, indicators, pH, acidity and alkalinity. 

Fig 1. Class 2A KF view 'Acids and Alkalis'.

Fig. 2. Class 2B KF view 'Acids and Alkalis'.

Environment

The teacher Juliana introduced the topic of Environment to her students by showing them four pictures and having students write their thoughts on each picture on post-it notes (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Students write their thoughts regarding the 4 trigger pictures on post-it notes.

The next lesson, she kick-started the inquiry process by throwing out this statement to students: "In the past 50 years, humans have consumed more resources than in all previous history", and asked students to explain to her what resources were. This led to a discussion on the topic of coal, oil, deforestation, etc. At this point, Juliana showed her students a video on Man's impact on the environment. She then split the class into groups of 4 to reflect on the video and answer 3 inquiry questions: name 3 negative impacts on the environment; name 2 differences between the environment in the past and present; name 1 thing to change to make the world a better place to live in. Students did this task on mahjong paper (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Students work in groups to answer Juliana's 3 inquiry questions on mahjong paper.

In subsequent lessons, students' work on the mahjong papers were transferred to KF, as Juliana encouraged her students to refine and improve on their original answers and ideas. She also identified promising ideas to let her students build on, and selected important topics for them to work on (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Students work on topics selected by Juliana.

Food Matters

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.

Adaptations

Sally approached her lesson on Adaptations by first showing her students a trigger video on the different kinds of wildlife in Singapore. She then asked them to think about the features of the animals shown to them that would help them adapt to their environment for survival. 

The next lesson, after a recap of the video, Sally asked students to think about the features of other animals that help them to adapt to their surroundings. At this point, students went online to KF, where Sally began the discussion for her class by asking the inquiry questions: “Singapore got wildlife meh?” and "Where does animal wildlife come from?" Students were tasked with posting their ideas about strange animals and wildlife that they were curious about. Her question was followed up with many responses from students (Figure 1)

Eventually, for subsequent lessons, Sally decided to have students come up with their individual KF views of adaptation (e.g. KF views on specific animals, such as skunks and honey badgers; see Figures 2 & 3, respectively) so that their classmates could go in to critique and build on their ideas.

FIg 1. FIrst KF view 'Adaptations'

Fig. 2. KF view 'Skunks'

Fig. 3. KF view 'Honey badgers'

Matter - Liquids

A teacher, Reena, started off her lessons on matter - specifically liquid - to her class by conducting two trigger experiments. 

In the first experiment, she placed an empty bowl on one side of the weighing balance and then another bowl filled with water on the other side of the balance. The experiment was to highlight the idea of the mass of liquid. Students proceeded to write their thoughts on the experiment on KF.

The second experiment Reena conducted was concerning the compressibility of liquids. She filled a syringe with water, then asked a few students to try to push in the plunger while she held her thumb against the mouth of the syringe. Students were again instructed to post their thoughts on KF.

Figures 1 and 2 below show examples of students' notes on KF regarding the first and second experiment, respectively.

Fig 1. Example of student's note on KF for first experiment teacher conducted.

Fig 2. Example of student's note on KF for second experiment teacher conducted.

Magnets

A teacher, Eunice, was covering the topic of magnets with her students. Her trigger activity was to have students conduct an experiment involving a freely hanging magnet and another magnet on hand.

Prior to this lesson, students had observed a freely hanging magnet and the direction in which the magnet came to rest in. They were instructed to predict the results of the experiment, which they wrote on a worksheet. 

Students consequently conducted the experiment, with Eunice prompting them to feel how the magnets react when put together (Fig. 1). Afterwards, the class had a verbal discussion of the experiment before students went online to KF to post their observations, thoughts, and ideas (Fig. 2).

Fig 1. Students conducting the experiment.

Fig 2. KF view 'Characteristics of magnets' for Eunice's class.

Heat Energy

A teacher, Jocelyn, introduced the topic of heat energy to her class by letting them watch three different videos.

The first was of hot lava being poured on ice, the second was of lava entering the Pacific Ocean, and the third was a video of a melting ice cube. She then posed four to five guiding inquiry questions on KF for each of the three videos, for students to think about and research on (Fig. 1). For instance, Figure 2 shows the four questions she posed regarding the video of lava entering the Pacific Ocean.

All the inquiry questions were in fact intended to be a lead in to the concept of heat energy. By introducing unknown phenomena to her students as a trigger activity, Jocelyn encouraged them to explore, inquire, and come up with reasons to explain what they saw in the videos. 

Fig 1. KF view 'Heat Energy' of Jocelyn's class.

Fig 2. Example of the guiding questions Jocelyn posed for one of the videos.

Scientific Inquiry

Students were interested in the inquiry question: Do gummy bears float in water?

Joyce first allowed students to make their conjectures and support it with reasons. Subsequently, some gummy bears were observed to float while others sank, leading to students’ ideas coming thick and fast about the structure, components and weight of the gummy bear as reasons to justify their observations.

Menstruation

 

Instead of menstruating every month, why is the uterine lining (endometrium) not sustained continuously throughout the life of a woman from puberty to menopause?

The theory formulated by Crystal, the teacher, is that it would require a lot of energy to sustain the endometrium continuously, and from an evolutionary point of view, this is not very efficient for the body.

In order to guide students towards an explanation for this question, Crystal provided guiding questions: Why do women undergo menstruation? What is the uterine lining used for? What causes the uterine lining to grow and thicken? Why can the uterus be a good environment for bacteria to grow? How can it affect the woman when microbes grow in the uterus?

Here is the KF view generated:

Nutrition in Humans

Is faeces a type of excretion?

The question led students to think about what excretion is. They came up with many other questions such as "Is faeces edible and is urine drinkable?" Students went on to find out the components of urine and faeces and whether they contained any useful nutrients that could be utilised by the human body. 

Enzymes

Students started off the topic on enzymes with an experiment of yeast and hydrogen peroxide, but without knowing the contents of the experiment.

The enzyme catalayse in yeast cells catalysed the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen gas, resulting in bubbles formed. Students were allowed to smell and hold the test-tube, and using their observations, they were asked to provide a hypothesis of the contents in the test-tube.

Transport in Humans

Students watched a video of snake venom being extracted from a snake.

A drop of the venom was injected into a sample of human blood and the blood sample very quickly solidified into a jelly-like form. The students' curiosity was piqued as they discussed what happened to the blood sample on the KF.

Adaptations

Hazel showed her class a video clip on flying fish in the wild, and how they escaped from their predators.

After the video clip, she started the discussion in KF with the following question: Putting our knowledge together - What did you learn from the video?

Another teacher, Irene, showed a video clip on different kinds of wildlife in Singapore. She then proceeded to ask them to think about the features of the animals shown to them that would help them adapt to their environment for survival.

Matter

Gerlynn got students to classify items into three categories: matter, non-matter and not sure. She then asked them why they categorised some items as matter and not others.

Their initial theories of matter were:

• “matter is anything that has mass and occupies space” (definition from the textbook)
• “matter is something that you can touch and see”
• “matter has weight”
• “you can see the three types of matter, solid, liquid and gas”

Materials

Elizabeth and Fadil split the students into groups and gave them various objects to classify. The students were encouraged to come to a consensus as a group, and if there were other individual alternative views, to put those on hold.

The classification was varied, with some classifying according to the materials used while others classified according to the function of the objects (e.g.: household item, cutlery)