Lesson video

Hi, everybody, it's Miss Simkin back for your next science lesson.

I hope that you have had a good day so far and that you are well.

Today we are going to be learning about chemistry, and chemistry is a type of science.

Chemistry is the type of science that looks at materials.

So that is going to be the theme of our lesson today.

Our lesson question today is how has human use of materials changed over time? And this is the lesson agenda that we're going to be following today.

It's quite short, but the materials timeline section is going to be quite a big chunk of the lesson.

So we're going to start with our star words, then we're going to look at the materials timeline, then we're going to have a debate and then you'll have a chance to do your end of lesson quiz and see how much you have remembered from today's lesson.

For this lesson, you will need a piece of paper, a pencil, a coloured pencil to mark your work in a different colour and a ruler.

If you don't have those things could you pause the video and go and get them now please.

Great, let's take a look at our star words for today.

I'm going to say them and then you're going to see them.

Material, natural, synthetic, nanomaterial.

Great lets say that one again, nanomaterial and debate.

Brilliant, so a material is a substance that an object is made out of.

Natural and synthetic are types of material we'll talk about those in a moment.

And nanomaterial is a material that's just made and used at a very, very, very small scale.

So nano means small.

That's what that prefix nano means, okay.

So can you say the word nanomaterial in a voice that will help you remember what it means that is really small.

My time, nanomaterial, your time.

Great.

Okay, so you can just think of it as a really small material.

And to debate is what we're going to do today it's a formal discussion on a particular matter where there are two sites.

So for example, you might have a debate on whether you should wear school uniform at school.

And one side would be, yes, you should wear school uniform at school.

And the other side would be no, you shouldn't wear school uniform at school.

Okay, so it's a formal discussion with our two star words.

Let's take a look at our materials timeline.

So a natural material is a material that comes from a plant, animal, or the ground and examples are cotton, wool, or coal.

So a natural material is not made by humans.

Can you repeat back the definition for natural material for me, it's on the screen you can read it.

Great a material that comes from a plant, animal or the ground, brilliant.

A synthetic material is a material that's made by humans, sometimes these are called manmade.

Can you tell your screen what a synthetic material is.

Great, some examples of synthetic materials are plastic glass, and ceramic.

So like pottery things like mugs or mug that you might drink your hot chocolate or your tea it is ceramic.

Okay, now I'm going to show you six materials and I want to see if you can put them in the correct order in chronological order.

We learned that word last lesson, chronological means in the correct order, the order in which things happened in.

So which of these materials do you think was used first by humans and which was used last? So think back to our caveman ancestors in the Stone Age, which of these materials would they have used? I want you to take these six materials and put them into the correct order, starting with the one that was used fast and then the one that was used last.

Just have a go don't worry, if you get the answer wrong I haven't taught it to you yet I just want you to try and then I'll go through the answers.

Pause the video and do that for me now please.

Lets see if you were correct with your guesses.

The very first material that was used was word, and then it was bronze, and then it was glass, and then it was paper, and then plastic.

And then nanomaterials these really tiny materials, okay.

Don't worry if you put those in the wrong order that's okay we're going to go through each one now, but could you give yourself a tick and make any corrections that you need to while it's on the screen, pause the video and do that now.

Great, okay let's in a little bit more detail about each of these materials and how humans use them.

So what was first used in the Stone Age? So ancient cultures began their existence making use of natural materials around them, so wood, and stone, soil, and plants.

But then in the Bronze Age, around 3000 BCE a technique of producing metal for mineral rich oils was developed.

And the Bronze Age started, the Bronze Age is called the Bronze Age because that's when people started using bronze.

And cultures learned to produce copper, and alloys such as bronze so bronze is a mixture of copper and tin by smelting.

And this technique uses heat and chemical reactions to produce this metal.

These metals are useful because of their strength and their ability to be shaped.

So they replaced things like stone when people were making jewellery and their tools And then in 2,500 BCE, that's when glass was first used by humans.

Now glass is actually made from liquid sand, you make glass by heating sand until it melts and turns into a liquid and this needs to be a very high temperature.

And it's actually thought that glass was potentially first made by accident.

So somebody heated sand or left it in an oven and were surprised when they found that it had turned into glass, that may or may not be true but that's what some people think.

And this was first developed around 2,500 BCE.

Okay, can you please answer these questions? What is the difference in material use between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age? So what did we use in the Stone Age and then what do we start using in the Bronze Age and how is glass made? Pause the video and answer those questions for me now please.

Great, let's check your answers.

In the Stone Age humans first use stone and word, but the Bronze Age was when they learned how to make bronze.

Give yourself a tick if you got that correct, if not that's okay you can use the answer from the screen to correct your answer.

And the glass is made by heating or melted sand again, give yourself a tick if you're correct if you need to.

Brilliant, let's look at the next three materials in our timeline.

So paper was first invented in China in 200 CE, and paper is of course made from wood from trees, but there's a process that's needed to make it.

So it needs to be chopped up into really small bits it needs to be soaked in water and chemicals and bleach to turn it up that white colour.

So it's a process from wood to make paper.

Then, long time later in the 1900s, that's when plastic was made.

And the development of synthetic plastics is a really big one because we use so much plastic in our daily lives.

We use plastics for our food packaging, for the packaging that our drinks come in for toys for lots of the objects that you will find around your house.

So this was a really big moment in our materials timeline.

And then in 1985, the first nanomaterial was invented.

So nanomaterials are chemical substances and materials that are manufactured at a very, very, very small scale.

And the fast synthetic nanomaterial was called carbon filtering and it was made in 1985.

Now, as these new materials have developed these nanomaterials, they've made new products and technology such as computers and spacecraft and robotics possible.

So the development of these nanomaterials has been really important.

Computers, spacecraft, and robotics those are three of the things they've made possible, can you repeat them back to me? Great, computers, spacecraft, and robotics.

Can you answer these questions.

What is a nanomaterial? Remember the voice that helps us remember what it means and why are paper and plastic described as synthetic materials? So think back to that definition at the beginning of the lesson.

Pause the video and answer these questions for me now please.

Great, let's check your answers.

So a nanomaterial is a material that is made and used at a very small scale at a very small scale that's the key part of your answer can you check you've got that and tick it if you do.

And paper and plastic, are described as synthetic materials because they have been made by humans.

Okay, that's the key part of that answer.

If you need some time to correct or mark your answers can you please pause the video to do that now.

Great, okay so here's our timeline again.

Now I'd like you to think about what you've learned about where each of these materials comes from and can you sort them into natural ones.

So ones that come from plants, animals, or the ground and ones that are made by humans so synthetic materials.

So you could make yourself a table with two columns or you could write natural and then the materials next to it and synthetic and the materials next to it.

Pause the video and do that for me now please.

Great, so you might not have laid your answer out like this, but this is the answer.

Wood is the only natural material on our timeline and then all of the others are synthetic because they were made by humans, well done if you've got that correct.

See things I find really interesting, in our timeline we started off with natural materials where they're not changed by humans, they're not made by humans, and then we started to make our own materials.

And you could also see within that timeline that the materials get more and more complicated over time.

Making glass is much simpler than making nanomaterials.

With making glass you just need to heat up sand.

But you can see that over time those materials get more and more complicated because our scientific ideas have built up over time.

Okay, just like when we learned about electricity last lesson, you can see that the materials and the inventions get more and more complicated over time.

So we're going to have a bit of a debate now.

And I want us please to think about this question.

Have humans changed materials or have materials changed humans? Can you just say that question back to me.

So let's think about that.

Have humans change materials? Well, if we look at this timeline we can see that yes, humans have changed materials haven't they? Because we've got all those synthetic materials that have been made or changed by materials.

But have materials change humans, well, let's think about that.

Has the fact that we can now make or use plastic changed the way that we live and the things that we do? Has the fact that we can now make and use nanomaterials changed anything that we do? It has to remember we learned about three things that we can now do because of nanomaterials.

We can now make computers, spacecrafts, and robots.

So materials have changed humans as well.

I would like you please to make some notes to support both sides of the argument here.

So can you draw a table and can you write humans have changed materials and materials have changed humans, and write down some ideas for me.

So we've spoken about a few of them.

Humans have changed materials, you could have a bullet point of notes for each of those materials we've learned about are synthetic.

So bronze, glass, paper, nanomaterials, plastic, and any other materials that you can think of that are synthetic.

So pause the video, draw this table and start with those things Starts with humans have changed materials, pause the video and do that for me now.

Great, okay, so you should not have your table drawn and your notes for humans have changed materials.

And within that box, you can have lots of different things so you could have written that humans have changed materials and you could write about bronze, glass, paper, plastic nanomaterials those are all examples that support that side of the argument that humans have changed materials.

Now let's think about the other side, materials have changed humans.

Let's think about each of those materials again, and think about how they have changed humans and the things that humans can do.

What did humans use bronze for? They use it for making tools and they use it for making better tools.

Okay, so that's an example of materials changing humans.

The material bronze allowed humans to make better tools.

Nanomaterials changed humans because it allowed them then to make computers and robots and spacecraft.

So again for each of those materials, you could write an idea or an argument for why materials have changed humans, pause the video and do that for me now please.

Great, good job, okay.

This is our last task of the lesson, I'd like you to use those notes to help you answer this question Have humans change materials or have materials changed humans? Now, normally we would have a debate verbally we'd say out loud with the other side but because we're doing our learning through a screen, you're going to write down your answer to both parts of the debate.

So you can use the sentence stem to answer this question.

So you could write over the course of history it could be argued that, and then you choose one of the sides, it could be argued that humans change materials because, and then you'd explain using some of the ideas that you have written down.

So for example, because bronze was made by humans using metal ores from the ground, then you'd argue the other side.

However, I think that the stronger argument is that materials have changed humans, this is because, and then you'd use your ideas from that side of the argument.

So this is because without nanomaterials we wouldn't have been able to invent robots, spacecraft, and computers.

It's your choice which way around you do that and which you think the stronger argument is.

So take a moment and think which do I think is the stronger argument that humans changed materials or materials change humans.

take a moment to think.

Okay great, now can you use your notes to write your answer pause the video and do that for me now.

Great, good job.

You have worked really hard today and you've thought about some really tricky questions I'm really, really impressed.

Don't forget to do your end of lesson quiz just before you go, so you can see how much you have left.

Thank you for working so hard today, I will see you back here for another science lesson soon.

Have a fantastic rest of your day everybody, bye.