Managing fire

Managing fire

Online interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about measuring time to make observations and using the data collected for evidence for making decisions.
Watch the video.
It shows two sofas burning. One is treated to be resistant to fire and one isn’t.
Video of two sofas burning 
 
Record three important events in the table below.
Watch the video again as many times as you like.
HINT: It might be easier to record times and observations on a piece of paper before entering into the table, and/or work with a partner.

Question 2Change answer

Time Treated sofa Untreated sofa

Question 2Change answer

Use the data in your table to write a sentence describing the pattern of the burning of the treated sofa.

Question 2Change answer

Use the data in your table to write a sentence describing the pattern of the burning of the untreated sofa.

Question

Does the treatment to slow down burning really work?

    • Yes

    • No

    • I'm not sure

Use evidence from your table to support your answer.

Question

How sure are you that what you saw in the video is what will always happen?

    • Very sure

    • Quite sure

    • Not at all sure

What could you do to be more sure?
Task administration: 
  • In the pilot students worked in pairs. They had no trouble manipulating the timer on the video or stopping the video as required.
  • If you don't want students having to go to another site to watch the video, consider downloading it separately.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
Science, Understanding about science, Material World
Keywords: 
change, chemical change, combustion, fire, observation, evidence
Description of task: 
Task: Watch a video of two sofas burning, record the results, and use the evidence to make inferences about fire retardants. Assessment focus: using observations to provide evidence.
Curriculum Links: 
Science capabilities
The capabilities focus is brought about by the conversations you have and the questions you ask.
 
Capability: Gather and interpret data
This resource provides opportunities to discuss describing being about what you see, and explaining being about what your observations make you think.
 
Capabilitiy: Use evidence
This resource provides opportunities to discuss using evidence to support your explanation.
Science capabilities: 
Critique evidence, Gather and interpret data, Use evidence
Answers/responses: 
Question What to look for
Record three important events.
Any 3 events are acceptable.
  • Do students record time accurately?
  • Are the times recorded in sequence?
  • Are their observations for both sofas complete and accurate?
  • Do they have the vocabulary to give a detailed description?
  • Do they focus on relevant details such as flames, smoke, charring, smouldering, ignition points?
  • Do they notice the difference between the initial fire and the actual sofa burning?
Use the data to write a sentence describing the pattern of the sofa with fire retardant.
Any description that:
  • references a longer period of time to burn
Example:
The fire resistant sofa burns very very slowly.
 
OR
  • references the amount/type of burning that took place.
Example:
The treated sofa didn't burn that much.
 
Have they identified a pattern rather than isolated or unconnected events?
Use the data to write a sentence describing the pattern of the sofa with no fire retardant.
Any description that: 
  • references burning quickly.
Example:
The untreated sofa was burning much more quickly than the treated sofa.
 
OR
  • references the amount/type of burning that took place.
Examples:
The sofa starts off just like the treated one but the fire keeps getting bigger.
 
Have they identified a pattern rather than isolated or unconnected events?
Does the fire retardant really work?
Use evidence from your table to support your answer.
Any answer. 
Evidence supports student's answer.
  • Do students support their answer with relevant evidence from the table/video?
  • Is the evidence they select an accurate observation?
  • Do they use language that compares the two sofas?
How sure are you that what you saw in the video is what will always happen?
What could you do to be more sure?
Not at all sure
Any answer that discusses repeating the investigation.
Examples:
If they did more tests
Test it on a few sofas.
Diagnostic and formative information: 
Data was gathered from 16 student responses collected in October and November 2015.
 
Accuracy of observations
All trial students who completed this part of the task recorded three observations for both sofas.
The most common difficulty was recording times systematically, e.g in chronological order.
A small number described three observations for one time. These students were more likely to include irrelevant information, such as the colour of the sofas.
There was wide variation in the precision of language used.
Next Steps
Nature of Science: Communication in science ( Science Capability: Gather and interpret data)
  • Discuss with students: Organising data logically helps the reader to read it more easily. If the reorded events are not in order how does this affect the reading of the data?
  • Support students to be precise with their observations. Use examples from the table below to discuss what  the second observation tells you that the first doesn't.
Example 1 Example 2
Small fire Less than half of the sofa is on fire and the fire is starting to go out.
The treated sofa is more tame than the untreated sofa. The flames were very small and were getting smaller.
 
Identifying patterns
About half the trial students identified a pattern for the burning of each sofa. 
          The flames continued to grow and grow and the sofa became even more engulfed in flames.
           Even though there were still flames it was only on a small section of the sofa. They did not spread.
Some students described single or unconnected events rather than a pattern.
It had big flames.
One student made a prediction rather than describing a pattern.
If it didn't have any treatment it would've burnt so fast like the untreated one.
 
Using evidence
Almost all  the trial students thought that the fire retardent worked.
About half were able to provide evidence to support their opinion. About one third did not attempt this question.
Next Steps
Nature of Science: Investigating in science (Science Capability: Use evidence)
Ask students to identify the evidence that supports their opinions. They could also look for evidence that disconfirms statements.
 
Critique evidence
Nature of Science: Investigating in science (Science Capability: Critique evidence)
Most of the trial students said that they very sure or quite sure that what they saw in the video would always happen. However, the majority showed awareness of the importance of verifying by retesting.
Two students suggested watching the video again, indicating an awareness that careful observation is important.
Two others referred to the actual results, perhaps indicating that they see the purpose of retardant as preventing rather than slowing down burning.
If the couch didn't burn at all I would be sure.
This resource was developed as one of three resources about fire. The other two are:
The science of burning assesses students' knowledge about what is required for burning to take place.
Fire: Keeping safe is about applying this knowledge in the home, and recognising risk factors.
 
The three resources were designed to complement the context Fire on the Science Learning Hub. There is a lot of support material about fires available on this site.
 
Other Level 4  ARB resources about burning:
Candle in a jar is about the role of oxygen in burning.
 
Science Capability 1: Gather and interpret data
A level 4 resource that specifically looks at evidence and inference is Moa - evidence or inference?