LAMP Topic Brief 4:Materials

This unit was developed from work carried out with boys in the age range 14-16 years as part of the Lamp Project in 1977. The average reading age of the students involved was 11 years.

Initially the unit was developed for pupils who were not taking an examination in a science subject. The aim was to provide an interesting science course which provided a sense of achievement. Furthermore, it was hoped to provide material which could be seen by the students to be relevant to their everyday life.

Learning objectives included:

• Be able to identify a limited range of materials by recognising characteristic properties.
• Be able to represent results graphically
• Be able to give the origin and explain the extraction of copper
• Know that chemicals can be used as a source of electrical energy.
• Be able to name the materials found in a dry cell.
• Know that electricity can be used to bring about chemical ohange.
• Be aware of the origin of oil.
• Know about some of the processes by which chemicals are obtained from oil.
• Be able to carry out simple tests to compare the merits of different fuels. '
• Be able to distinguish between a limited range of plastics by using simple tests.
• Know that the properties of a plastic decide its particular use.
• Be able to carry out simple tests to compare the strength of different plastics.
• Have some awareness of some methods used to form plastics.