Lesson resources
In the Question investigation, we hand over the science to budding scientists, by asking pupils to create their own scientific questions, and to develop their own investigations. Question’s other important element is sharing! We have partnered with the University of Manchester and they have produced a handy guide on how to run a great science share
This page contains all of the essential documents you will need to conduct the Question investigation. Scroll down for the intro film, lesson plan, lesson resources, and information on sharing your science.
We have also prepared some resources around choosing a suitable question to help you to deliver the investigation. Links to these can be found in the 'Where next?' section below.
One page lesson plan
This is a quick-start one page lesson plan with an overview of activities, resources and timings. See the teacher resource for additional detail.
Teacher resource
This is the full teacher resource with detailed information on how to complete the investigation, including background information, starter activity and investigation instructions.
Introduction film part 1
In our intro film below, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Hacker T Dog take a look back at some of our previous investigations, and explain how your pupils can go about creating their own investigation and sharing their results.
The film has been split in to two parts to give you time to discuss what you have watched with your class. In part one, Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Hacker T Dog visit a school to see how pupils come up with new questions, and help them develop and design their own new investigation.
Introduction film part 2
After watching part one, work with your class as they come up with the questions they’d like to explore, and start to plan their investigations before they watch part two.
Part two focuses on collecting data and what to do next. Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Hacker T Dog help as the pupils run their investigation and discuss their findings. They also show the pupils how to best to share their results with everyone!
Hacker:
In part one of our final Terrific Scientific film, we looked at how you can come up with a brand new investigation all of your very own.
Doctor Margaret:
In our case we decided to follow up on the taste investigation and our big question is?
Female 1:
Can…
Male 1:
Super…
Male 2:
Tasters…
Female 2:
Identify…
Female 3:
Flavours…
Male 3:
Better…
Female 4:
Than…
Male 4:
People…
Female 5:
With…
Male 5:
Fewer…
Female 6:
Taste…
Hacker:
Buds?
Doctor Margaret:
We've got a method to make it a fairer test.
Male 3:
We're gonna make all the ice-creams white and in between each flavour we're gonna have a sip of water so the flavours don't get mixed up.
Hacker:
And we've got an ice-cream van.
Hacker:
Roll up, cockers, get your ice-cream fresh, fresh as the day is long.
Hacker:
Now all we need to do is serve 40 children five different flavours of ice-cream. That's forty times five. Um, uh, short multiplication. That's five plus, carry the one–
Doctor Margaret:
Two hundred.
Hacker:
Carry, carry the one. Two, two hundred ice-creams. My calculations exactly, Doctor Margaret. Science and maths. [LAUGHS] My head hurts.
Doctor Margaret:
Ice-cream number one. There are no visual clues. The ice-cream like all the others that will be served in the test is white. It's identified only by a number. How many of our test subjects will be able to tell the Science Team the correct flavour…
Hacker:
Orange!
Doctor Margaret:
…from taste alone? And will the super-tasters do better?
Female, black coat:
Apple?
Male, blue coat:
This one's orange.
Doctor Margaret:
Onto the second flavour, which looks exactly like the first.
Hacker:
But tastes very different. Will any of our test subject be able to identify meat paste flavoured ice-cream.
Doctor Margaret:
What do you think it is?
Male, brown coat:
Uh, I think it is like beef.
Male, fur hooded coat:
Meat.
Doctor Margaret:
In total, a sample of forty children each taste five different flavours of ice-cream. Drinking water between different flavours cleanses the palate and is an important part of the investigation. While Hacker readies the next batch of mystery ice-cream I had a quick chat with our Science Team.
Doctor Margaret:
So what have you got so far? Are there any sort of trends or can you see any similarities?
Female 3:
Most people for the second round picked a roast dinner.
Doctor Margaret:
A roast dinner, okay. So we've got a few more to go.
Doctor Margaret:
So what flavour do you think number three is?
Male, black coat:
Uh, I think it's cucumber.
Male, navy blue coat:
I think it's honey.
Male, light blue coat:
I think it tastes like banana.
Doctor Margaret:
Is, is it nice?
Female, black coat, fur hood:
Mm, kind of.
Doctor Margaret:
[LAUGHS]
Female 3:
Go on.
Male, black coat:
A bit like cheese flavour.
Female 3:
[LAUGHS]
Female, black coat:
I thought lemon.
Male, green camo coat:
I think it's mango, yeah mango.
Doctor Margaret:
Mango?
Male, brown coat:
It tastes like tomato or something.
Doctor Margaret:
They seem to know it's a fruit but they're not too sure which one. Okay.
Boy, red coat:
Yeah.
Hacker:
Here we go, this is the last ice-cream. That's your lot, cocker. We're shutting up shot. Have a little lick of that in the name of science. I am out of stock. Good night.
Doctor Margaret:
Our terrific scientists have gathered their data in the field. Now they have to check their figures carefully to see if the data supports their theory or not.
Doctor Margaret:
Hacker, what was number one? Ice-cream number one?
Hacker:
Ice-cream number one was orange flavour.
Doctor Margaret:
Orange, okay. So see if you've got orange and put a tick and if not, put a cross. How well did people do? Um, did anyone get orange on yours?
Male 1:
No.
Hacker:
Aw.
Doctor Margaret:
What did they put instead?
Male 1:
Some people put caramel, coconuts and honeycombs.
Male 3:
Passion fruit and banana.
Hacker:
It's a game of curves, isn't it?
Doctor Margaret:
Basically I thought orange might be an easy one to go for. But everybody seemed to find it quite hard, didn't they? Okay, Hacker, what was ice-cream number two?
Hacker:
Ice-cream number two was my favourite one, it's meat paste flavoured. [LAUGHS] Imagine that.
Male 1:
Does roast count, as in like roast and chicken?
Doctor Margaret:
Mm, cause it's still meat isn't it?
Male 1:
Someone guessed sausages as well.
Hacker:
Are they made of meat though?
Doctor Margaret:
Yeah.
Hacker:
They're made of meat, they're meaty, meaty, meaty, meaty.
Male 1:
[LAUGHS]
Doctor Margaret:
Okay, Hacker, what was ice-cream number three?
Hacker:
Margaret, ice-cream number three was cucumber.
Doctor Margaret:
Ah, cucumber. Now you see I thought cucumber might be a bit subtle. But how did people do?
Female 3:
Four people got it as cucumber.
Doctor Margaret:
We've been through the five flavours, now we're ready to tot up each individuals total score out of five.
Male 3:
Lara got one, Rose got one, Summer got none.
Female 2:
Jason W got two. Dylan got two.
Male 1:
Lindsey got two.
Doctor Margaret:
In any investigation like this we expect a few of the test subjects to be very good at a task and a few to be not so good. Everyone else will be bunched somewhere in between. This is what we call a pattern seeking investigation.
Hacker:
The scientific results are in by jingo.
Male 1:
The whole class, on average, got one or two correct.
Doctor Margaret:
So how about the super-tasters?
Female 1:
Well the super-tasters also got one or two correct.
Doctor Margaret:
Well from that I don't think we can conclude anything because there was no difference between the super-tasters and the normal tasters.
Hacker:
So it's been a total waste of time. See you everyone.
Doctor Margaret:
Not at all, Hacker.
Hacker:
Huh?
Doctor Margaret:
I think the only thing to do is to do some more experiments and eat some more ice-cream.
Hacker:
Living the dream, cocker! [LAUGHS]
All:
[LAUGHS]
Doctor Margaret:
So our results might be inconclusive but data from a properly conducted investigation is never wasted.
Hacker:
Especially when it involves eating ice-cream. [LAUGHS]
Doctor Margaret:
So how do we let other scientists hear about our findings?
Hacker:
That's easy, Margaret. I'll probably just tweet our results. I'll tell my mate, blabby Dave, oh, he's got a right big mouth. He'll tell everyone.
Doctor Margaret:
That's not quite the scientific way. What we usually do is publish our results in scientific journals. That way people can hear about our findings, they can actually build on the work and also check that they're right or if you want to get our findings out quickly to lots of people, we make a poster.
Hacker:
Oh, like this one? Wigan Dog of the Year 2017. I ripped it off my bedroom wall this morning. La, la, la, la poster.
Doctor Margaret:
No, no Hacker. More like this one.
Doctor Margaret:
Posters are often displayed at science fairs so lots of people can get an idea of the findings very quickly. So our Terrific Scientists are making a scientific poster.
Hacker:
Write how you did the experiment and don't forget those all important results.
Doctor Margaret:
Often the best way to get this across is with graphs or pictures. After a lot of hard work, data collection, number crunching…
Hacker:
And ice-cream.
Doctor Margaret:
…our brand new scientific findings are published. Terrific"
All:
Yes!
Hacker:
Hey, hey you've missed out the most important bit of information here, a lovely picture of me with Susan Barker. Lovely handsome, Sue. Hey, hey. Aw!
Doctor Margaret:
This is not scientific.
Hacker:
Aw.
Doctor Margaret:
If you want to get involved in the last investigation you don't Hacker. In fact you might be better off without him.
Hacker:
You're probably right.
Doctor Margaret:
Show your final poster to the rest of your class or possibly a school assembly. Or even better other Terrific Scientific schools in your area.
Hacker:
Or simply turn your poster into a giant billboard and paste it up in the middle of a roundabout. That's what I'd do.
Doctor Margaret:
Think of your own follow-up questions from any of the Terrific Scientific investigations. If you've discovered new trees in your area and you'd like to find out more invent a new investigation around that. Or maybe the exercise investigation threw up more questions than answers. Have a go at answering one of those.
Hacker:
Any of the Terrific Scientific investigations in the past year is fair game. Take any ideas you like, cockers, and run with it. But don't bother with ice-cream though we've already done that.
Hacker:
Amazing! But do you know what, Margaret? I still think the giant billboard poster as a good idea.
Doctor Margaret:
Really?
Hacker:
Yeah. So I took the liberty of turning us into one, look! Look, we're a giant billboard. Hello down there.
Doctor Margaret:
Help! Help! I'm stuck in a giant poster with Hacker!
Hacker:
You did.
Doctor Margaret:
Let me out!
Hacker:
Some people pay good money for that.
How to run a Great Science Share for Schools
The resource contains information on how to organise and what makes a Great Science Share for Schools. A science share can be anything from simply standing up in class to telling each other what they’ve done, to sharing in the wider local area or even presenting their scientific findings at a national event.
Watch our webinar
What’s the best way to support your class in developing their own questions and investigations?
For investigation Question Terrific Scientific are asking primary school children across the UK to come up with their own science questions and design an investigation to explore them. To help you prepare, we’ve assembled a crack team of primary science experts from the Primary Science Teaching Trust, hosted by Louise Stubberfield from The Wellcome Trust.
