ICT at key stages 1 and 2    (Year 5)

• Discuss ways in which measurements of environmental data are taken in a range of everyday situations, eg weather forecasting, central heating, thermostats.
• Discuss the difficulties experienced when manually recording data. Identify the need for a system to record data.
• Identify difficulties encountered when collecting data over very short or long periods of time and discuss different ways in which data can be recorded, eg tables and graphs.
• Compare methods of presenting data where a variable changes over time in different formats (numbers, graphs). How can we use the computer to do this?

• Show the children how to link a sound sensor to the computer. Record the various levels of sound with the whole class participating, eg silence, quiet talking, shouting and show the changes displayed on the computer screen. Discuss what happens to the graph as noise levels change.
• Demonstrate how to attach a sensor to a device connected to the computer and, if necessary, how to configure the software to show the data being collected. Give children the opportunity to 'have a go', without the activity being related to any precise scientific investigation, eg recording temperatures of cold water, from hands, under armpit to show how changes are logged and are then printed out as a graph. Ask the children to mark at each point on the graph what they thought was happening.

• Set a light sensor to monitor the classroom over 24 hours. Discuss the difficulties that such an investigation would face without the use of ICT. Ask the children to interpret the resulting graph.
• As part of an investigation into insulation, pour equal quantities of hot(ish) water into two beakers of different sizes and types of insulation to compare rates of cooling. Use temperature sensors to compare rates of cooling over a given period of time, eg 20 minutes. Print data and graphs. In both cases, children will need to change variables for the timings of the readings and discuss how often readings need to be taken in each case.

• Encourage the children to come up with their own questions and hypotheses. Suggestions could include, What happens to the temperature of a glass of water after ice cube(s) are dropped in over a period of x minutes? Which will cool quickest, a large or small bowl of hot water? Which coat/jumper is the warmest? What is the darkest/brightest time over a 24-hour period?