Year 7 Science · Unit 4 · Lesson 1

What Is Science?

Foundation Worksheet

Name

Date

Class

Learning Goals

Name the four branches of science and what each one studies.
Tell a scientific claim apart from an opinion and from pseudoscience.
Use observation, experimentation and analysis to judge a claim from data.

Warm Up

Match each term to its meaning

Write the letter of the correct meaning next to each term. Each letter is used once.

Term	Letter	Meaning
Biology		A. The study of substances, what they are made of and how they react and change
Chemistry		B. The study of Earth itself: its rocks, minerals and volcanoes, and how it changes over time
Physics		C. Using several branches of science together to understand one problem
Geology		D. The study of living things, such as plants, animals, fungi and microbes
Interdisciplinary science		E. The study of energy, forces, motion, light and electricity

True or false? Fix the false ones

Circle T or F. If a statement is false, correct it on the line.

1. Science is a fixed set of facts that never change.

Correct it:

2. You can make an observation with your senses or with an instrument, such as a thermometer.

Correct it:

3. Analysis means running a fair test in which you change one thing.

Correct it:

4. A claim becomes scientific when lots of people believe it.

Correct it:

5. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren used evidence to change what doctors believed about stomach ulcers.

Correct it:

Your Turn

Sort it: claim, opinion or pseudoscience?

Ask: “Is there evidence, and could it be tested?” Then write each statement in the correct box. The boxes do not hold the same number of items.

Star signs decide exam marks. Ice melted faster on a metal tray than a plastic one (timed). Cricket is more fun than soccer. A lucky rock blocks colds with an energy no instrument can detect. Koala counts in a forest fell after a drought. Purple is the prettiest colour. A crystal cures any illness, but the seller allows no tests.

Scientific claim

Opinion

Pseudoscience

Go Deeper

Read the data: Jai’s lucky socks

Scenario

Jai says his lucky socks help him score in basketball. His coach suggests a test. On four days, Jai takes 20 shots from the same spot wearing his lucky socks, and 20 more shots wearing ordinary socks. He counts the goals and writes them in Table 1.

Table 1. Goals scored out of 20 shots

Day	Lucky socks	Ordinary socks
1	11	12
2	13	12
3	10	11
4	12	12
Total

Source: made-up results for this worksheet.

1. Add up the goals for each kind of sock. Write the two totals in the empty cells of Table 1.

Apply 2 marks

2. Jai used all three steps that science uses to build knowledge. Name the step (observation, experimentation or analysis) that each action shows.

Recall 3 marks

What Jai did	Step
(a) He compared the two totals to decide whether the socks helped.
(b) He took 20 shots in each kind of sock, from the same spot each time.
(c) He counted his goals and wrote them in the table.

3. Does the evidence in Table 1 support Jai’s claim about his lucky socks? Use the totals in your answer.

Analyse 2 marks

Show What You Know

4. Zara says: “Science is just a big book of facts. Once something is written in the book, it never changes.” Explain why Zara is wrong about what science is.

Analyse 5 marks

Answer Key (for teachers)

Match each term to its meaning

Biology → D; Chemistry → A; Physics → E; Geology → B; Interdisciplinary science → C.

True or false

1. False: science is open to change when new evidence appears. 2. True. 3. False: that is experimentation; analysis is working out what the results mean. 4. False: a scientific claim needs evidence and must be testable. 5. True.

Sort it: claim, opinion or pseudoscience?

Scientific claim: the timed ice on the two trays; the koala counts after the drought. Opinion: cricket is more fun than soccer; purple is the prettiest colour. Pseudoscience: star signs decide exam marks; the lucky rock; the crystal that cures any illness.

Question 1

Lucky socks: 11 + 13 + 10 + 12 = 46 goals (1). Ordinary socks: 12 + 12 + 11 + 12 = 47 goals (1). [2 marks]

Question 2

(a) analysis (1); (b) experimentation (1); (c) observation (1). [3 marks]

Question 3

No. The totals are almost the same, 46 with lucky socks and 47 with ordinary socks, so the socks made no real difference (1). The evidence does not support the claim, so Jai should drop it rather than keep believing it (1). [2 marks]

Question 4

Marking guide: 1 Zara is wrong: science is a way of finding out, not only a list of facts; 1 purpose: to build knowledge and understanding of the world; 1 observation, experimentation and analysis, each with its meaning (all three needed); 1 science is open to change when new evidence appears; 1 the ulcer example: stress and spicy food were blamed until evidence showed a bacterium. [5 marks]

Model answer: Zara is wrong. Science is a way of finding out, and its purpose is to build knowledge and understanding of the world through observation (noticing and recording), experimentation (a fair test that changes one thing) and analysis (working out what results mean). When new evidence appears, scientists update their ideas. Doctors once blamed stress and spicy food for ulcers, until Marshall and Warren’s evidence showed a bacterium was the cause.

Common error: mixing up experimentation (doing the test) with analysis (deciding what the results mean).