Scientific Literacy Resource: Erin Brockovich

Transcription

1 Scientific Literacy Resource: Our resources are designed to be used with selected film titles, which are available free for clubs at See, think, make. Imagine intofilm.org Into Film is a trading name of Film Nation UK. Registered Charity number

2 Introduction Copyright Property of Universal (2000). All rights reserved mins Cert: 14+ About this film is a sassy single mother desperately looking for work. She eventually lands a job as a legal assistant at a law firm - but soon finds that none of her new colleagues take her seriously. However, when Erin begins working on a case involving a shady land deal carried out by a utilities company, she uncovers the fact that the company s pollution is leaving residents desperately ill. With her help, the townspeople fight for the justice they deserve. The entertaining is based on a true story. This film was chosen because it acts as a very interesting stimulus to open debate about pollution and our planet and links to the scientific competencies in the PISA framework How to use this resource This resource comprises three main sections: Pupil-facing question sheets (pages 3-5) that advise on scoring criteria (pages 6-13) Accompanying Scientific Literacy PowerPoint that contains the relevant film clips, available to download from About this resource Using film as the stimulus and set in modern-day scientific contexts, this series of resources can be used in the classroom to help develop students scientific literacy. They help students to apply their scientific knowledge and skills to issues in the modern world. The question sets focus on the knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for scientific literacy as set out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. They use a similar style and format to the questions in the OECD PISA tests for scientific literacy, and each question has been linked to the OECD PISA Scientific Literacy Framework to indicate the knowledge and competencies each question focuses on. You will not only find these question sets useful to help prepare your students for the OECD PISA tests, but also to help them develop their scientific literacy skills for the new GCSE examinations and prepare them to take an active part in our increasingly scientific and technological world. Into Film would like to thank Rebecca Owen, science-subject specialist at the Welsh Government and the Central South Consortium for her help in creating this resource. For more information on the range of resources created by her team, visit DVD availability You can order on DVD for free through your Into Film club account via Not yet Into Film? Joining Into Film is easy and free go to to find out more and register, or support@intofilm.org. Filmmaking support As well as viewing the film, this resource offers opportunities for filmmaking. For further information on filmmaking in the classroom, see Into Film s Primary and Secondary Filmmaking guides available at intofilm.org 2

3 Scientific literacy questions Scientific literacy questions Clip 1 QUESTION 1 The woman tells that PG & E paid for her family s health checks because of the chromium. Which pair of answers correctly describes the chemical element chromium? Correct description of the element chromium Chemical symbol Metal or non metal A Ch metal B Ch non metal C Cr metal D Cr non metal QUESTION 2 learns that there are a number of different types of chromium. Different forms of the same element are known as: A isomers B polymers C alleles D isotopes QUESTION 3 In clip 1, the woman tells that she and her husband have been sick. Which of these explanations does think is the most likely reason for their illness? A Chromium from the water cooling towers has leaked into the ground and contaminated their drinking water B They have breathed in chromium pollution from the air C The food that they eat contains high levels of chromium D does not believe chromium has made them ill intofilm.org 3

4 Scientific literacy questions QUESTION 4 The scientist tells that toxic levels of hexavalent chromium can cause a number of conditions. What does the scientist mean by toxic levels? QUESTION 5 Toxic chemicals may harm us in different ways depending on how they enter our body. There are three of the conditions that the scientist talks about listed in the table below. Circle Yes or No to say if each method of the chromium entering the body is likely to lead to that condition. The condition is most likely caused by taking the chemical into our body in this way. Breathing in Particles of chromium 6 Drinking water containing chromium 6 Nosebleeds Yes / No Yes / No Respiratory diseases Yes / No Yes / No Cancers Yes / No Yes / No Clip 2 QUESTION 6 Hexavalent chromium is used by PG & E in their cooling towers. What is the advantage of adding hexavalent chromium to the water in the cooling towers? QUESTION 7 A scientist makes the hypothesis that hexavalent chromium in drinking water causes cancer. She gives a large dose of hexavalent chromium to 20 laboratory rats. Which of these variables should she control to ensure that her test is fair? Circle yes or no for each variable: The size of the rats Yes / No The amount of water that is given to each rat Yes / No The concentration of hexavalent chromium in the water Yes / No The temperature of the cages the rats are kept in Yes / No intofilm.org 4

5 Scientific literacy questions QUESTION 8 Which of the following methods should the scientist also follow to obtain the most reliable evidence to support the hypothesis that hexavalent chromium causes cancer? A Repeat the experiment, giving hexavalent chromium to another 20 rats B Study another 20 rats which have not been given hexavalent chromium to see if they also get cancer C Repeat the experiment, giving a higher dose of hexavalent chromium to all the rats in the original study D Continue to give hexavalent chromium to the rats in the original study that did not develop cancer QUESTION 9 Which piece of evidence from the investigation would best support a hypothesis that hexavalent chromium in drinking water causes cancer? A All of the rats that were given hexavalent chromium developed cancer B Many more rats that were given hexavalent chromium developed cancer than rats that were not given hexavalent chromium C The rats who were not given hexavalent chromium, did not develop cancer D Two of the rats that were given hexavalent chromium died during the study QUESTION 10 Who would be the best person to carry out an investigation to prove whether the chromium had caused cancer in the people of Hinkley, California? Explain your choice. A A scientist who was employed by the people who were ill B A scientist who was employed by PG & E C A scientist working for the state of California D A scientist employed by the lawyer that works for Explanation of your choice QUESTION 11 Which of the measures mentioned in the film would have been most effective in preventing people from becoming ill from chromium poisoning in Hinkley? A People living in Hinkley having health checks B Keeping records of the water quality in Hinkley C Lining the ponds that contained the waste water to prevent leakage D PG & E buying the homes of people who were sick intofilm.org 5

6 QUESTION 1 C chemical symbol Cr, metal Students should use their knowledge of the periodic table to identify chromium correctly as a metal with the chemical symbol Cr. Low QUESTION 2 D isotopes Isotopes are different forms of the same element which have the same atomic number but different numbers of neutrons. Hexavalent chromium is an isotope of chromium. Isomers are molecules which have the same number of atoms but different chemical structures and therefore different properties, e.g. diamond and graphite. Polymers are large molecules which are made from a number of smaller molecules joined together, e.g. plastics. Alleles are the alternative forms of a gene. intofilm.org 6

7 Low QUESTION 3 A Chromium from the water-cooling towers has leaked into the ground and contaminated their drinking water discusses the leakage of water from the collecting ponds because they had not been lined as they should have been. She also talks about how this can contaminate the groundwater. There is no mention in the film clips shown that the air around the factory has been polluted with chromium dust, as it has only been used in the watercooling towers, or that there are high levels of chromium in their food. It is possible that crops grown in this area, and eaten by the people of Hinkley, may have absorbed chromium from the contaminated groundwater, but this is not specifically mentioned in the film. Medium intofilm.org 7

8 QUESTION 4 Scoring : Toxic levels are levels of/the quantity of a chemical that would be expected to produce a toxic or harmful effect/would be poisonous to the body. Partial credit: Too much of a chemical substance in your body without saying that this would be harmful. Do not accept high levels of a chemical in your body as you can have a high level of certain chemicals in your body without causing harm. High levels is also too vague a response, as a high level of one chemical may be considered a low level of another, depending on the toxicity. The students need to specify that toxicity is related to harm in their body and that toxic levels refer to having enough of that chemical in their body that it will cause harm. Environmental quality national/global Medium QUESTION 5 Yes, no Yes, no Yes, yes intofilm.org 8

9 Nosebleeds and disorders/diseases of the respiratory system are more likely to be caused by inhaling particles of a substance rather than a substance entering the body via drinking water. Cancers may be triggered by a number of things and there are many different types of cancer, so cancers could be triggered by both methods by which the chromium could enter the body. The type of cancer may be linked to the way the chromium entered the body, e.g. lung cancer may be more likely as a result of inhalation, but the question does not specify the type of cancer, therefore the answer is yes for both methods. Environmental quality national/global Medium QUESTION 6 Prevents corrosion of the pipes/rust prevention Partial credit Prevents damage to the pipes but does not specify corrosion/rust Hexavalent chromium helps to prevent corrosion of the pipes which carry water in the cooling towers, so that they do not degrade and leak. The term rust or rusting is acceptable because although this term is usually attributed to the corrosion of iron, it is used to explain why the hexavalent chromium is added in the film. Environmental quality national/global Low/medium intofilm.org 9

10 QUESTION 7 Yes, yes, yes, no in that order The size of the rats should be controlled as toxic levels may be different depending on how large the creature is. The amount of a substance needed to cause an effect may need to be higher if the animal is larger. This is why doctors often find out a person s weight before they work out a dose of medicine. The amount of water needs to be kept the same, because if they drank more water they would take in more chromium. Each rat needs to receive the same amount of chromium in the test. The concentration of chromium in the water also needs to be kept the same so that each rat receives the same amount of chromium. The temperature of the cages will not affect the result so this does not need to be controlled. Procedural knowledge Evaluate and design scientific enquiry Medium QUESTION 8 B Study another 20 rats which have not been given hexavalent chromium to see if they get cancer Other responses and missing. Students should recognise the importance of using a control group to compare their results against. In order to prove the hypothesis that the hexavalent chromium causes cancer, they must compare the numbers of rats given the chromium that developed cancer against the number of rats that developed cancer but which were not given the chromium. This will allow them to show that the chromium causes the tumours. The other methods may show that lots of mice that are given chromium develop tumours but we also need to know how many mice would normally have developed tumours without the chromium. intofilm.org 10

11 Procedural/epistemic knowledge Evaluate and design scientific enquiry Medium QUESTION 9 B many more rats that were given hexavalent chromium developed cancer than rats that were not given hexavalent chromium. Other responses and missing. In order to prove the hypothesis, the investigators must show that many more rats developed cancer after being given chromium than rats would in the normal population. A high incidence of cancer in rats that were given chromium would suggest the chromium was responsible, but we would need to compare this incidence with a population of rats that were not given chromium in order to prove the hypothesis. Epistemic knowledge Interpret data and evidence scientifically Medium/high intofilm.org 11

12 QUESTION 10 C A scientist working for the state of California Explanation this scientist would be independent/this scientist would not be biased/the other scientists might be biased/the other scientists might not be independent. Partial credit: C A scientist working for the state of California Explanation the other scientists might not tell the truth/might make the results look worse or better than they were. Other responses and missing. The best person to carry out the investigation must be a scientist who is independent. In this case, this would be a scientist from the state of California. A scientist working for the people who are ill might have an interest to try and make it appear that something, i.e. the chromium, is causing their illness. (A situation like this arose with Dr Andrew Wakefield and the MMR vaccination. Dr Wakefield carried out investigations on behalf of a number of families whose children had autism and published findings that the MMR vaccination caused autism. This scared a lot of families into opting not to have the MMR jab. It was found later that he had not carried out his investigations properly.) A scientist working for may be biased for the same reason they would have an interest in proving that chromium caused cancer so that their clients could claim compensation. A scientist working for PG & E would have in an interest in disproving the link because they would not want to have to pay compensation to the people who were sick. A scientist from the state of California is less likely to have any particular interest in proving the link or not and, therefore, is more likely to be impartial. Epistemic knowledge Evaluate and design scientific enquiry Medium/high intofilm.org 12

13 QUESTION 11 C Lining the ponds that contained the waste water to prevent leakage. believes the drinking water in the town of Hinkley has been contaminated by waste water from the cooling towers (which contains chromium) leaking into to the groundwater from the collecting ponds. She says the ponds should have been lined so the waste water was not able to seep into the groundwater, but that this was not done. Health checks could help to detect any problems and allow people to be treated more quickly, but would not prevent people from getting ill in the first place. Water-quality records may help scientists to make a link between the illness and the chromium in the water, and knowing that the water contained chromium may help the authorities to take action to prevent any further damage but would not prevent the harm that had already been done. Buying the homes of people who were sick would help them to move away from the area where the contamination had happened and prevent further illness but, again, would not have prevented them from becoming ill in the first place. Medium intofilm.org 13