1.1.

Objectives

Tricks in Set Induction aims to:

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

Arouse the pupils interest

Make the lesson more lively
Stimulate pupils curiosity
Provide pupils with opportunities to develop
science process skills and thinking skills
Provide pupils with basic science
knowledge and concepts
Appreciate the contributions of science and
technology towards the well being of
mankind.

Tricks in Science stimulate and excites childrens curiosity about phenomena

and events in the world around them. It also satisfy their curiosity. Good
teaching in primary science involves understanding the childrens idea on the
topic and enable teachers to plan work that challenge and reconstruct the
childrens idea. Tricks in science allow pupils to think ahead and create the
excitement of learning a new lesson.
Teacher carries out set induction which attracts pupils attention / stimulates pupils mind /
is directed towards pupils mental readiness

1.2.

Method

Tricks in Set Induction can be carried out

as below:
i.
ii.
iii.

Demonstrations
Hands-on activities
Discussions

Teachers Demonstration
A demonstration may be used as part of a teachers exposition. This is often
easily controlled with the children sitting, listening, watching and participating.
Teachers demonstration to the whole class should be used where appropriate.
Teacher should consider the following when demonstrating the idea:
Ensure that all children can see what you are doing. Try to demonstrate
with large piece of equipment.
Make the demonstration short and snappy.
Involve the children with demonstration.
Reinforce the main points by asking following up questions.

1.3.

Activity
The Curious Comb

Topic Related:
Electricity
Objective:
To introduce
electricity

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Tear / cut a piece of paper into small

pieces.
2. Ask a pupil to rub a plastic comb briskly
on a woollen cloth and then hold it as
near as possible to the pieces of paper.

What can you

observe?
(The papers are
attracted by the

Note:

comb because

Electrostatic is a kind of electricity which is static

Materials
needed:

rubbing the comb

on a woollen cloth

(Doesnt flow)

charges it with static

Comb,
a piece of paper,
woollen cloth

electricity.)

Shadow O Shadow
3

Topic Related:
Light

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Select one pupil to shine a torch on the What can you see on
white wall / screen.

Objective:

the wall / screen?

2. Ask other pupils to move their hands up What is the

To demonstrate

and down in the light making the shadow colour of the

how a shadow is

on the wall / screen.

shadow?

formed and to
create some

3. Move the hands backward and forwards

to see the sizes of the shapes.

shadow picture
using this
information
Materials
needed:
Torch light or desk
lamp, a darkened
room, a white wall
or screen

The Falling Cup

Topic Related:

Steps:

Questions Asked:
4

Heat

1. Blow a balloon.

Objective:

Predict what will

2. Put polystyrene on the surface of the balloon. happen to the cup?

Understanding

3. Blow the balloon again until it covers the cup

the effects of

fully and traps the air inside.

heat on matter.

(The heat from the

candle flame
warms the cold air
in the cup causing
it to expand,
pushing the cup up
to fall down.)

Materials
needed:
balloon
rubber band
candle
polystyrene cup
lighter

Rolling Can
Topic Related:
Energy

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Make a hole at the top and bottom of a tin

can.

What can you

observe?

Objective:
To understand
that energy can
be transformed
from one form to
another.

2. Insert a rubber band through the hole.

3. At one end, put a paper clip to the rubber
band, while on the other end, insert an
ice-cream stick to it.

How to make the

can move faster or
slower?

(The length of the ice-cream stick is

longer than the diameter of the tin.)
4. Twist the stick 10 15 times.
5. Let go the tin on the floor.
6. Observe.

Materials
needed:
Empty tin can,
Rubber band,
Paper clip,
Ice cream sticks.

Notes:
The energy produce
by twisting the ice
cream stick and the
rubber band is
potential energy. It
changes to kinetic
energy when the
can moves.

Ice Cube Necklace

Topic Related:
States of Matter

Steps:

Informations:

Ice Cube Necklace

What's going on?

This trick will keep you amused. All you need is a piece of
string, some ice cubes in water and a sprinkle of salt.

Objective:

Pure water freezes at 0C.

Adding salt or any other soluble
material (like sugar) reduces the
freezing temperature of water.

1. Float a few ice cubes in a

glass of water.

Understand water
in the form of
solid, liquid and
gas

2. Wet a piece of cotton string

with water. Lay the string on top
of the ice cubes.

Materials
needed:
Ice cubes

3. Sprinkle salt all over the string

and wait for about 5 or 10
seconds.

Thread
Glass

Seawater contains roughly 35

grams of salt per litre (that's
about two teaspoons per cup)
and freezes at -1.8C. But keep
adding salt and the freezing
temperature of water can drop
as low as -21C!
Salt and other solutes
(substances that dissolve)
reduce the freezing point
because they disrupt the crystal
structure of ice and reduce the
concentration of pure water. At
0C, the molecules in pure
water form very strong bonds
with each other which "locks"
them into position to form the
solid we call ice. If foreign
molecules such as sodium and
chlorine (the ingredients in
common table salt) squeeze
between water molecules, these
bonds can't form.
Any reduction in the
concentration of pure water
depresses the freezing point. So
the higher the salt
concentration, the lower the
freezing point.

A bottle of salt

4. Now lift the string and the ice

cubes will be stuck to it. Makes a
pretty cool necklace eh? Cool?
Boom-boom!

When you sprinkle salt onto an

ice cube, the local salt
concentration skyrockets and
the freezing point comes
tumbling down. But the melting
water flows off the cube and
flushes some of the salt away
which reduces the local
concentration on top. The lower
salt concentration raises the
freezing point again so the
water refreezes. As it does, it
traps the string and you've
caught yourself an ice cube!

Blooming Balloons
Topic Related:
States of Matter

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Ask a pupil to inflate a balloon, tell him / 1.What did you

observe?
her not to blow too hard.
Pupils will observe

Objective:

the pin will go

2. Stick a piece of adhesive tape on the through the tape and
the balloon, without
balloon.
bursting it.
3. Take a skewer ( long iron rod with sharp

To show that it is

end ) and very carefully push it into the

possible to stick a

balloon through the tape. ( You may also

pin in balloon

used other suitable object to replace

without bursting it

skewer such as long wire or satay stick ).

The length of the skewer must be longer
than the size of the inflated balloon.

Materials

4. Observe what happen to the balloon.

needed:
balloon, adhesive
tape,skewer / long
wire / satay stick
and scissors

Reference:

Balloon Shish Kebab

This is a classic trick everyone should know. All you need is a shish kebab skewer and a
balloon, and a bit of confidence that it will work!
(Note: this trick always works with high quality balloons but beware cheap ones!)
1. Inflate a balloon so that it is no longer than your shish kebab
skewer.

2. Carefully poke the pointy end of the skewer into the centre of
the dark spot on top of the balloon.
Do this carefully you need to overcome your fear of the balloon
popping and press fairly hard.

3. Once you've got the skewer in the balloon, you need to

carefully slide it so the pointy end comes out right next to the
knot.
Hold your balloon up to a light so you can see where the skewer is
inside.
4. Voila a balloon shish kebab!
The balloon didnt pop and you can even carefully take the skewer
out again. Amazing.

What's going on?

When you inflate a balloon, nearly all the rubber stretches... a lot! As the rubber stretches, it
gets a lot thinner too. But the dark spot at the top, and the area around the knot are not
stretched much, if at all. The spots are dark because they're thicker then the rest of the
inflated balloon.
The tension in the rubber of an inflated balloon causes even the tiniest tear to grow very fast.
As soon as a tear appears, the tear races around the balloon and it pops with a loud bang.
But in the dark spots at the top and bottom of a balloon there is no tension, so a tiny tear
won't grow here and the balloon won't pop.
Balloons are made by dipping metal moulds into liquid latex. The dark spot at the top is a
result of this process. There's a great photo of a balloon production line at the website below.
Photo of balloon production line
http://merlin.alfred.edu/muller/FormerPhysWorld/PhysWorld/
Project5/how_are_balloons_made.htm
High speed photo of a water balloon popping
http://courses.ncssm.edu/hsi/pacsci/student_photos.html

Rain Drops
10

Topic Related:

Steps:

States of Matter
Objective:

Questions Asked:

1. Place an aluminium tray in the freezer

until it is cold. Remove it and place ice
cubes in it.
2. Fill a jar with hot water and place the tray
with ice cubes over the jars mouth.
Leave it there for several minutes.

Understanding
that matter can
change from one
state to another.

What do you
observe?
( The pupils see the
condensation build
on the bottom of the
tray.)

3. When the water vapour from the jar rose

to the top it will heat the cold tray. The
water vapour will turn into water and
drops as rain.

Materials
needed:
ice cubes
jar
hot water
tray

Wonder of Purple Cabbage

11

Topic Related:
Acid and Alkali
Objective:
Understanding the
properties of
acidic, alkaline
and neutral

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Blend some red cabbage with some What is the change

water and put into a bowl. (If you grate in the colour of the
the cabbage, put aside for 45 minutes).
mixture?
2. Pour an equal amount (about half a cup)
of cabbage into a beaker.

( The baking soda

3. Add 1 teaspoon of baking soda to all the will turn the red
beakers except for one beaker that is cabbage juice to blue
used as control.
because this is an
alkaline.)
4. Observe the colour changes.

substances

Materials
needed:
of red cabbage
2 beakers
Baking soda
Blender / grater

The Moonlighting
Topic Related:

Steps:

Questions Asked:

12

The Earth, The

Moon and The
Sun
Objective:
Understanding the
phases of the
Moon.

1. Prepare 2 identical round shaped mounting

boards.
(with black and white colours)
2. Paste an ice cream stick on each mounting
boards.
3. Make two rails on the polystyrene.

What did you

observe?
Did you see the
changes of the
shape?

4. Place both mounting board on

the centre of the railing.
5. Slides both rounded shape in
opposite direction.
6. Ask pupils to observe the
shape formed.

Materials
needed:
2 rounded shape
with equal size
(black and white),
Railing made of
polystyrene

Standing Toothpicks
Topic Related:

Steps:

Questions Asked:

13

Strength and
Stability
Objective:
Understanding the

1. Ask pupils to build a model of

any animal using materials
given.
2.Put the models on the table.
3.Shake the table.

Can your model

stand ?
What can you
observe?
Which model fall
first?

stability of a

4.Observe what happen.

structure.

5. Identify which model falls first, second

and third.
6.The winner will be the model
which is the last to fall.

Materials
needed:

7.After that, relate the result with

the topic of the lesson.

Toothpicks

Toothpick

Cork
Cork

Starry starry Night

Topic Related:

Steps:

Questions Asked:

Constellations

1. Prepare a piece of polystyrene

with pins on it (as shown in the
example).

14

What can you see?

How many pins are

Objective:

there within the

shape?

constellation.

( The number of pins

representing a group
of stars that form a
constellation )

2. Ask the pupils to form a

certain shape using a rubber
Understanding the
band.
3. Pupils explain the shape that they made.
Pins with colour
Materials
needed:
Polystyrene
Pins
Rubber bands /
strings
polystyrene

Enchanted Egg
Topic Related:
This activity is

Steps:

Questions Asked:

recommended to

1. Peeled a hard boiled egg. Put the egg

onto the mouth of a conical flask.

be carried out as

2. Ask a pupil to push it into the conical flask

15

Can the egg get into

an activity during
Science Week or
Science Fair.

without smashing it. Push carefully. ( The

egg will not get into the conical flask )
3. Remove the egg and drop a burning
paper into the conical flask. Quickly put
the egg again onto the mouth of the
conical flask.

the bottle?
( No )
Now, can the egg get
into the bottle?
( Yes )
Inference :

Materials

4. Observe what happen to the egg. ( The

egg will get into the conical flask by itself )

needed:
conical flask,
boiled egg,

(When the burning

paper uses up the
oxygen and goes out,
the air pressure
decrease, sucking
the egg into the flask)

match,
a piece of paper

The Magic Lime

Topic Related:
This activity is
recommended to
be carried out as

Steps:

Questions Asked:

1. Prepare an electric circuit as shown

below. (battery, wire, bulb)
Can you think of
something that use
2. Fill two beakers, one with lime juice and electricity?
the other one with tap water.

16

an activity during

What are the things

in the classroom
which produce
electricity?

Science Week or
Science Fair.

What will happen to

the bulb?
What will happen if
there is no
electricity?
3. Dip in the iron rod into the limejuice.
Materials
needed:
Wires, bulb, iron
rod,
Beakers, lime
juice and tap
water

4. Repeat step 3 by using tap water.

5. Show to the class the result and ask the
pupils to observe.
6. Ask questions.
7. Discuss in small groups.

Note:
Add some vinegar if the lime is not acidic
enough.

4.

Related Websites / Resources

1.4.1. Books/ References

250 Everyday Science Activities

Collected from Teaching K-8 Magazine (Written by Dennis Mckee)

17

Teaching Children About Physical Science

( by Elaine Levenson)

Top Secret Science

Massachusetts Science Center (Program Usahasama Pusat Sains
Negara dengan Meridian Achiever Sdn. Bhd.))

Science Fun (Bright Ideas)

Pubished by Scholastic Publications Ltd. (Written by Tony Griffith)

Primary Science
Teaching Theory and Practice (John Sharp, Graham Peacock, Rob
Johnsey, Shirley Simon, Robin Smith)

Websites
http://jc-schools.net/ppt.html
http://www.doscience.com/
http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/tricks.htm
http://www.boyslife.org/hobbies-projects/funstuff/1374/amazing-sciencetricks/

COMMON QUESTIONS ASKED

PLANNING INVESTIGATIONS
What are we trying to find out?

18

What do we want to change?

What do we want to keep the same?
What do we think will happen?
What do we want to measure?
How do we record our measurements?
What equipment do we need to do this experiment?

Materials from the Internet

Amazing Science Tricks

By Michio Goto
Illustrations by Fred Schrier
From the April 2004 Boys' Life magazine
Using common objects around the house, you can demonstrate cool scientific laws. Heres
how:
Editors Note: Make sure an adult helps you with these experiments.

19

Keeping Water Separate

Fill two identical glasses with water. Add two tablespoons of salt to the water in one glass and
stir well. Add a few drops of food coloring to the water in the other glass.
Cover the glass containing the colored water with a sheet of paper, turn it upside down and
place it on top of the glass containing salt water. (Be sure to do this trick over a saucer or
bowl.)
Gently pull the paper out from between the glasses. The colored water and the salt water will
remain separate.
How Does It Work?
Salt water is heavier than colored water, so the two stay separate as long as the boundary
between them isnt disturbed. Try turning the two glasses over, though. The heavier salt water
will now be on top, so it will flow down and mix with the colored water.

20

A Can That Can Walk

Place an empty aluminum can on its side on the floor. Blow up a balloon and tie a knot in the
end. Rub a tissue back and forth on the balloon.
When you put the balloon near the can, the can will start rolling toward the balloon.
How Does It Work?
When you rub the balloon with a tissue, the balloon gets a negative electric charge of several
thousand volts. When you put the balloon near the can, electrostatic induction affects the
molecules in the metal. The outside of the can gets a positive charge, so it is drawn toward
the balloon and starts rolling in that direction.

A Candle That Sucks Water

Place a candle upright in the middle of a saucer. Fill the saucer with water. Light the candle.
Place a glass over the candle. When the flame goes out, the water in the saucer will get
sucked into the glass.
How Does It Work?
When the candle is burning inside the glass, the heat makes the air expand, so some of the
air escapes outside the glass. The candle goes out after it uses up all the oxygen, so the air
inside the glass cools. As it cools, the pressure inside the glass drops. Some of the carbon
dioxide formed by the flame dissolves in the water as well, decreasing the pressure even
more. The water outside the glass on the saucer is forced into the glass by the higher aire
pressure outside.

21

A Flying Trash Bag

Hold the mouth of a black trash bag in one hand. Use a hair dryer to blow hot air into the bag.
Seal the mouth of the bag with tape. Tie a long piece of string around the tape so you can
hold it. Take the bag out into the sun. The bag will rise slowly into the air. (Its best to do this
trick in an open area on a windless day.)
How Does It Work?
Since the bag is black, it absorbs heat from the sun. That heat makes the air inside the bag
expand and become lighter. When the bag and the air inside are lighter than the surrounding
air, the bag starts to rise.

Bending Light Through Water

Punch a hole in a clear plastic bottle two inches from the bottom. Put your finger over the
hole, fill the bottle with water and cap it to keep it from draining out.
Darken the room and cover part of a flashlight with your fingers to make the beam narrower.
When you take the cap off the bottle, the water will flow out in an arc. Shine the flashlight at
22

the stream from the side of the bottle opposite the hole. The light will bend with the arc and
create a bright glow where the water hits the sink.
How Does It Work?
When the light in the stream strikes the boundary between the water and air, much of the light
is reflected back into the stream. The light continues this internal reflection all along the arc
formed by the falling water. The same principle is used to transmit light signals through
flexible optical fibers.

Reading Through an Envelope

With a black felt-tip pen, write a three-letter word in large letters on a white piece of paper.
Place the paper in a brown envelope, and insert that envelope into a white envelope. The
writing on the paper should now be impossible to read.
Get a piece of dark construction paper or tear out a page from a magazine that is printed on
both sides. Roll up the paper into a four-inch-long tube. When you hold the tube against the
23

envelope, youll be able to read the writing inside.

How Does It Work?
Usually you cant read the writing inside an envelope because of the light reflected off the
envelopes white surface. But the tube blocks that reflected light, so you see only the light
coming through the envelope.

Egg Into Bottle

Find a glass bottle that has a mouth slightly smaller in diameter than an egg. Pour some hot
water into the bottle (be careful!), shake it vigorously and empty the water.
Peel a soft-boiled egg and place it on the mouth of the bottle. Leave it there for a while and it
will get sucked inside.
How Does It Work?
The vapor from the hot water drives the air out of the bottle. Once the egg seals the top of the
bottle, the air cant get back in. As the water vapor cools, it turns back into water, causing the
pressure inside the bottle to drop. The higher pressure of the outside air pushes the egg into
the bottle.

Toothpick Torpedo

24

Dab a little shampoo on the blunt end of a wooden toothpick.

Drop the toothpick in a pan of water. The toothpick will start moving in the direction of the
sharp end.
How Does It Work?
Shampoo contains agents that reduce the surface tension of liquids. As the shampoo on the
end of the toothpick dissolves, it reduces the waters surface tension around it, thus releasing
the waters hold on that end of the toothpick. The water around the other end of the toothpick
still has surface tension, so it pulls the toothpick in that direction.
To learn more amazing science tricks, check out the book Amazing Science Tricks by
Michio Goto

25