Introduction
WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS?
Read the following sentences and decide which is the best answer: A, B or C.
1. Consumers are the people who .... a) consume drugs. b) buy products or pay for a service. c) watch commercials on TV. 2. We live in a consumer society. This means that ... a) we need to buy products all the time. b) this society consumes us. c) everybody sells things. 3. A consumer organization is an association of people who ... a) compare products and services and informs consumers about them. b) criticize the companies that make products. c) sell products or have a shop. 4. A consumer organization is formed by a team of ... a) expert scientists, technicians, lawyers, etc. b) consumers. c) advertisers. 5. Consumer organizations are ... a) part of a country’s government. b) independent. They do not work for any particular company, political party, or advertising agency. c) part of a company that makes a product. 6. The first consumer organizations in Spain were formed in the ... a) 1960s. b) 1970s. c) 1980s 7. A consumer organization defends ... a) the manufacturers’ rights. b) the advertisers’ rights. c) the consumers’ rights. 8. If you want to buy a product, ... will give you the most honest information. a) an advertisement on TV b) a consumer organization c) a salesman/woman
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Unit 1: Stains
3. A MEMO FOR YOU FROM CLEVER CONSUMERS Your RESEARCH TEAM receives this memo from your consumer organization, “Clever Consumer”. Read it carefully, and underline the question you have to investigate.
CLEVER CONSUMERS MEMORANDUM
TO: All members of “Clever Consumers”
FROM: the secretary
DATE: 4th October 1998
SUBJECT: There is a meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4.00 p.m. to plan an investigation. The students from Escola Mestral want to know if biological detergents eliminate coffee stains, oil stains and orange juice stains as well as non-biological detergents do. We must plan an investigation to answer the students’ question. Come to the meeting with ideas about the investigation. Make a list or draw the things you would do to solve this problem. Remember, the students from Escola Mestral are waiting for our answer.
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Unit 1: Stains
1.3. These pictures represent the actions you have to do. Put them in chronological order.
Put the two detergents into water
Observe changes
Stir the detergent in water
Cut a cloth into pieces
Remove the cloths from water
Take note of the results
Stain the pieces of cloth
Put the stained cloths into water
Let the cloths dry
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
2. IDENTIFY THE VARIABLES TO BE CONTROLLED 2.1. Compare these two experiments and answer the questions below.
To answer the question "Which detergent removes stains of coffee, orange juice or oil better, a biological or a non-biological detergent?" you have to compare the cleaning powers of two different detergents, detergent A is biological and detergent B is non-biological. EXPERIMENT 1
EXPERIMENT 2
DETERGENT A
DETERGENT B
a) What is different in the two experiments?
b) What factors will you keep the same in the two experiments?
c) What property of the detergent will you measure at the end?
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Unit 1: Stains
2.2. Read and think.
1. a) If you wash "cloth A" with a coffee stain with 1 g of "detergent A" and "cloth B" with the same stain with 5 g of "detergent B", will the result of your experiment be exactly the same?
b) Why?
c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................
2. a) If you wash "cloth A" with a coffee stain in 1 l of water and "cloth B" with the same stain in 100 ml of water, will the result of your experiment be exactly the same?
b) Why?
c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................
3. a) If you stain "cloth A" with 1 drop of coffee and "cloth B" with 3 drops of coffee, will the result of your experiment be exactly the same?
b) Why?
c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
4. DECIDE HOW TO CONTROL THE VARIABLES Fill in this grid. CONTROLLED VARIABLES
HOW MUCH? HOW LONG? WHAT TEMPERATURE?
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT FOR MEASURING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Congratulations! Now you have defined all the aspects of your investigation. Stop here and compare your data with the other students in class.
5. DEFINE ALL THE INVESTIGATION IN DETAIL What will you do in the laboratory? Write all the things to do on the next page. You have to mention every single action with all the details and draw a picture of each step. If you have vocabulary problems with the instructions, look for the words you need in the previous exercises. (Optional: Lab Skills File 4)
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
D/ OBSERVE AND RECORD THE RESULTS
1. After the experiments, let the cloths dry.Then, look at the stains washed in each experiment. Examine the quality of each stain and circle the sentence which best describes it. STAINS coffee
orange juice oil
BIOLOGICAL the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense. the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense. the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense.
NON-BIOLOGICAL the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense. the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense. the stain is not there. the stain is very light. the stain is quite intense.
Do you have any other observations?
2. Mark with a cross "X" the detergent which eliminated these stains better. KIND OF DETERGENT
COFFEE
ORANGE JUICE
BIOLOGICAL .............................
NONBIOLOGICAL .............................
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OIL
Unit 1: Stains
SELF-ASSESSMENT ON SCIENCE SKILLS
Give yourself a mark on each step of your investigation.
DESIGNING YOUR EXPERIMENTS 1. We chose appropriate laboratory equipment. 2. We chose an appropiate amount of detergent. 3. We chose an appropriate amount of water. 4. I wrote all the steps of the experiments in detail
012 012 012 01234
PERFORMING YOUR EXPERIMENTS 1. To measure the amount of water I used : a) a beaker b) a measuring cylinder c) a measuring cylinder and a dropping pipette 2. To measure the amount of detergent I used: a) the electronic balance b) the electronic balance and a ....................... ............................................................... 3. To measure the water temperature, I put a thermometer into the water for 5 minutes. 4. I followed all the steps in the correct order and at the same time. 5. I worked with the other members of my group and helped them. 6. I observed carefully and took notes during the experiments
0 1 2 0 1 2 012 012 012 012
1. Do you think that the results of your experiments are reliable? 100% reliable 50% reliable 25% reliable 0% reliable 2. Why(not)?
3. Give yourself a mark on Science Skills
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
SELF-ASSESSMENT ON LANGUAGE SKILLS
USE OF ENGLISH
LISTENING 1. I could understand the teachers' oral COMPREHENSION instructions and explanations.
012
READING 2. I could understand all the written instructions COMPREHENSION to the exercises.
012
VOCABULARY
WRITING
SPEAKING
SPEAKING .
3. I tried to use English to name the laboratory equipment.
012
4. I could write the diary comments and the instructions of the experiments in English.
012
5. I tried to use English to give all the oral instructions of the experiment when I was the instructor.
012
6. I tried to use English to ask questions to the teachers, ask for things to my classmates and discuss problems in my group.
012
Give yourself a mark on your use of English:
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
LET’S FIND OUT
A/ IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM 1. This time your RESEARCH TEAM has to answer Marc Rovira’s question. Look at the telephone message and at the memo again. What does Marc want to know? Copy the question here.
You have to find out "...................................................................................... .....................................................................................................................?"
B/ LOOK FOR INFORMATION Here is some information from our laboratory chemists. Read it carefully.
FACT FILE 1: What does cleaning mean? Cleaning is a process which involves three stages:
1. make the water penetrate the fibres of the cloth.
2. mix grease and dust with water in order to separate the grease and dust from the fibres of the cloth.
3. suspend the dirt in the water so that the dirt can be washed away.
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
2. IDENTIFY THE VARIABLES TO BE CONTROLLED 2.1. Compare these two experiments and discuss the questions below in your teams.
To answer the question “Is it true that you have to use more detergent to wash the same dirty clothes in hard water than in soft water?” you have to compare the cleaning power of the same detergent in two different kinds of water. In experiment 1 the water is soft and in experiment 2 the water is very hard.
EXPERIMENT 1
EXPERIMENT 2
SOFT WATER
VERY HARD WATER
a) What is different in the two experiments?
b) What factors will you keep the same in the two experiments?
c) What will you measure at the end?
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LAB SKILLS FILE 6: How to use an electronic balance
Instructions: a) Don't touch the table. The electronic balance is very sensitive. b) Check and make sure the electronic balance is at 0 g. c) Don't put the detergent directly on the electronic balance. Use a paper filter, an evaporating dish or a very small beaker, for example.
Steps:
1. Weigh the empty evaporating dish, and write down the weight (A). 2. Pick up some detergent with a spatula, and put it into the evaporating dish very slowly. Stop when you have the amount of detergent you need (B). 3. The mass of the detergent © is the weight of the empty evaporating dish (A) from the total weight of the evaporating dish with the detergent (B).
1.
(A)
....... g weight of the evaporating dish
2.
(B)
....... g total weight (weight of the evaporating dish + weight of the detergent)
3.
(B - A = C)
....... g - ....... g = ....... g total weight weight of the evaporating dish = weight of the detergent
Exercise 1 Measure the amount of detergent you chose for your experiments, and write the corresponding grams in the blanks of pictures 1, 2 and 3.
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Appendix 1: Laboratory Skills
LAB SKILLS 7: How to use a measuring cylinder
Instructions: a) There are different sizes of measuring cylinders. Choose the measuring cylinder which is more appropriate for the amount of water that you need. b) Fill the measuring cylinder with water, but to be exact, drop the necessary water drops with a dropping pipette.
Steps:
To read the amount of water in a measuring cylinder: 1. Put the measuring cylinder on a table. 2. Your eyes must be level with the water mark. 3. The water surface forms a meniscus. The correct measurement corresponds to the lower part of the meniscus.
RIGHT
WRONG
2.
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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents
RIGHT
WRONG
3.
Exercise 1 Measure the amount of water that you chose for your experiments. Use the measuring cylinder and a dropping pipette. Finally, put the water in a beaker. Exercise 2 Put the detergent into the water. Stir the water with a stirring rod to dissolve the detergent. Do you think you chose an approppriate amount of water? Do you think you chose an approppriate amount of detergent?
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Appendix 1: Laboratory Skills
LAB SKILLS FILE 8: Laboratory dos and don’ts
There are certain rules that we must observe in the laboratory if we want to work correctly and scientifically. 1. Look at the pictures which illustrate “Laboratory Dos and Dont’s”. Put the correct description under the picture.
DON’T LEAVE THE LABORATORY IN A MESS!
ONLY USE THE AMOUNT OF PAPER THAT YOU NEED
DON’T PUSH AND CROWD AROUND THE ELECTRONIC BALANCE
DON’T PUT YOUR PERSONAL OBJECTS ON THE LABORATORY TABLE
WAIT FOR YOUR TURN TO USE THE ELECTRONIC BALANCE
PUT ONLY THE MATERIALS YOU NEED ON THE LABORATORY TABLE
LEAVE THE LABORATORY CLEAN AND TIDY
WAIT FOR YOUR TURN AT THE TAP
DON’T PUSH OTHER STUDENTS AT THE TAP
DON’T WASTE PAPER
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