Transcript
JANET SUMNER
Hello, and welcome to science experiments. I'm Janet Sumner, and I'll be your guide over the next four weeks. In this course, you're going to be doing some science experiments in your own kitchen and learning some exciting physics, biology, and chemistry on the way.
But this course is not just about doing experiments. It's about developing some of the key skills that it takes to be a successful scientist. These include careful observation, systematic note taking, looking at and discussing your data, and great experimental design. These skills may not sound important or complicated, but fundamentally, they are the root of all the scientific advances we have ever made.
Each week, there'll be an experiment for you to follow. They're all relatively straightforward, but they teach us some key science and reveal some surprises about things that you know, but maybe have never really thought about. Because there are lots of areas of discussion, we hope you'll join us in the course forums to talk about your experiments and to compare results.
One of the key features of a science experiment is the way we make and record our scientific observations. So beginning this week, you'll be starting your own science journal. And to help you with that, we have a PDF template which you can download.
So Week 1. For our first experiment, you're going to work out how much water an everyday food item contains. Now, food stuffs such as potatoes and apples contain water, but have you ever wondered how much? The answer may surprise you, and it has huge significance in how we think about the problems cause, for example, by regional droughts.
Our second experiment involves dropping some cucumber into salty water. By recording what happens over time, you'll learn about an important process called osmosis, which may lead to an alternative green energy source in the future. Good luck with your first experiments. And remember to enjoy the discussion and interpretation of your results in the forums. And I look forward to seeing you again next week.