Bulb Danger

This Science upd8 activity draws on a recent Government warning about poisonous mercury from low energy light bulbs being a risk to users.

But is this risk worth the benefits of using low energy light bulbs? In this activity students rank risks and benefits to help them decide.

URL: http://stem.org.uk/rxb5

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Files

Review

Using bulb danger for groupwork with younger students

Posted by Sharon Smith on 12th April 2011

Activity time: 15 minutes
Level / prior knowledge: KS3
Subject / curriculum links / skills:…

Activity time: 15 minutes
Level / prior knowledge: KS3
Subject / curriculum links / skills: Science/energy resources/ ideas about science/ groupwork.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Extra resources: Printed sets of cards from the resources.
Commentary:
I used this activity with my year 7 class who were studying energy resources. The aim was to encourage discussion in small mixed groups. The pdf files in the resource are bold which engages students who are always thrilled by scientific claims no matter how far-fetched they might be. The students were able to sort the cards into good and bad but struggled when it came to ranking them and found it difficult to nominate any “killer” statements. The actual activity seems an anticlimax after such a dramatic introduction and many students missed the point by simply voting that the energy saving bulbs were bad. This would be good activity to use as a starter in a lesson, where other contentious decisions would be considered, in order to illustrate there are many situations where a clear cut yes or no is not easy to agree upon.