Introduction

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS?

Read the following sentences and decide which is the best answer: A, B or C.

1. Consumers are the people who ....

a) consume drugs.
b) buy products or pay for a service.
c) watch commercials on TV.

2. We live in a consumer society. This means that ...

a) we need to buy products all the time.
b) this society consumes us.
c) everybody sells things.

3. A consumer organization is an association of people who ...

a) compare products and services and informs consumers about them.
b) criticize the companies that make products.
c) sell products or have a shop.

4. A consumer organization is formed by a team of ...

a) expert scientists, technicians, lawyers, etc.
b) consumers.
c) advertisers.

5. Consumer organizations are ...

a) part of a country’s government.
b) independent. They do not work for any particular company, political party,
or advertising agency.
c) part of a company that makes a product.

6. The first consumer organizations in Spain were formed in the ...

a) 1960s.
b) 1970s.
c) 1980s

7. A consumer organization defends ...

a) the manufacturers’ rights.
b) the advertisers’ rights.
c) the consumers’ rights.

8. If you want to buy a product, ... will give you the most honest information.
a) an advertisement on TV
b) a consumer organization
c) a salesman/woman

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 Unit 1: Stains

3. A MEMO FOR YOU FROM CLEVER CONSUMERS

Your RESEARCH TEAM receives this memo from your consumer organization,
“Clever Consumer”. Read it carefully, and underline the question you have to
investigate.

CLEVER CONSUMERS
MEMORANDUM

TO: All members of “Clever Consumers”

FROM: the secretary

DATE: 4th October 1998

SUBJECT:

There is a meeting tomorrow afternoon at 4.00 p.m. to plan an investigation.

The students from Escola Mestral want to know if biological detergents eliminate
coffee stains, oil stains and orange juice stains as well as non-biological
detergents do. We must plan an investigation to answer the students’ question.
Come to the meeting with ideas about the investigation. Make a list or draw the
things you would do to solve this problem.

Remember, the students from Escola Mestral are waiting for our answer.

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1.3. These pictures represent the actions you have to do. Put them in
chronological order.

Put the two detergents into water Observe changes

Stir the detergent in water Cut a cloth into pieces

Remove the cloths from water Take note of the results

Stain the pieces of cloth Put the stained cloths into water

Let the cloths dry

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2. IDENTIFY THE VARIABLES TO BE CONTROLLED

2.1. Compare these two experiments and answer the questions below.

To answer the question "Which detergent removes stains of coffee,

orange juice or oil better, a biological or a non-biological detergent?"
you have to compare the cleaning powers of two different detergents,
detergent A is biological and detergent B is non-biological.

EXPERIMENT 1 EXPERIMENT 2

DETERGENT A DETERGENT B

a) What is different in the two experiments?

b) What factors will you keep the same in the two experiments?

c) What property of the detergent will you measure at the end?

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2.2. Read and think.

1. a) If you wash "cloth A" with a coffee stain with 1 g of "detergent A" and
"cloth B" with the same stain with 5 g of "detergent B", will the result of
your experiment be exactly the same?

b) Why?

c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your
experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................

2. a) If you wash "cloth A" with a coffee stain in 1 l of water and "cloth B" with
the same stain in 100 ml of water, will the result of your experiment be
exactly the same?

b) Why?

c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your
experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................

3. a) If you stain "cloth A" with 1 drop of coffee and "cloth B" with 3 drops of
coffee, will the result of your experiment be exactly the same?

b) Why?

c) Consequently, one factor you have to control so that the results of your
experiment are reliable* is the .................... of .....................

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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents

4. DECIDE HOW TO CONTROL THE VARIABLES

Fill in this grid.

CONTROLLED HOW MUCH? HOW LABORATORY

VARIABLES LONG? WHAT EQUIPMENT
TEMPERATURE? FOR MEASURING
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Congratulations! Now you have defined all the aspects of your investigation. Stop
here and compare your data with the other students in class.

5. DEFINE ALL THE INVESTIGATION IN DETAIL

What will you do in the laboratory? Write all the things to do on the next page. You
have to mention every single action with all the details and draw a picture of each
step.

If you have vocabulary problems with the instructions, look for the words you need
in the previous exercises.

(Optional: Lab Skills File 4)

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D/ OBSERVE AND RECORD THE RESULTS

1. After the experiments, let the cloths dry.Then, look at the stains washed in each
experiment. Examine the quality of each stain and circle the sentence which best
describes it.

STAINS BIOLOGICAL NON-BIOLOGICAL

coffee the stain is not there.
the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.
orange the stain is not there.
juice the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.
oil the stain is not there.
the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.
the stain is not there.
the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.
the stain is not there.
the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.
the stain is not there.
the stain is very light.
the stain is quite intense.

Do you have any other observations?

2. Mark with a cross "X" the detergent which eliminated these stains better.

KIND OF COFFEE ORANGE OIL

DETERGENT JUICE

BIOLOGICAL

.............................

NON-
BIOLOGICAL

.............................

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 Unit 1: Stains

SELF-ASSESSMENT ON SCIENCE SKILLS

Give yourself a mark on each step of your investigation.

DESIGNING YOUR EXPERIMENTS

1. We chose appropriate laboratory equipment. 012

2. We chose an appropiate amount of detergent. 012
3. We chose an appropriate amount of water. 012
4. I wrote all the steps of the experiments in detail 01234

PERFORMING YOUR EXPERIMENTS

1. To measure the amount of water I used :

a) a beaker 0
b) a measuring cylinder 1
c) a measuring cylinder and a dropping pipette 2
2. To measure the amount of detergent I used:
a) the electronic balance 0
b) the electronic balance and a ....................... 1
............................................................... 2
3. To measure the water temperature, I put a
thermometer into the water for 5 minutes. 012
4. I followed all the steps in the correct order
and at the same time. 012
5. I worked with the other members of my group
and helped them. 012
6. I observed carefully and took notes during the
experiments 012

1. Do you think that the results of your experiments are reliable?

100% reliable
50% reliable
25% reliable
0% reliable

2. Why(not)?

3. Give yourself a mark on Science Skills

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SELF-ASSESSMENT ON LANGUAGE SKILLS

USE OF ENGLISH

LISTENING 1. I could understand the teachers' oral

COMPREHENSION instructions and explanations. 012

READING 2. I could understand all the written instructions

COMPREHENSION to the exercises. 012

VOCABULARY 3. I tried to use English to name the laboratory

equipment. 012

WRITING 4. I could write the diary comments and the

instructions of the experiments in English. 012

SPEAKING 5. I tried to use English to give all the oral

instructions of the experiment when I was the
instructor. 012

SPEAKING 6. I tried to use English to ask questions to the

teachers, ask for things to my classmates and
. discuss problems in my group. 012

Give yourself a mark on your use of English:

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Clever Consumers Investigate Detergents

LET’S FIND OUT

A/ IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

1. This time your RESEARCH TEAM has to answer Marc Rovira’s question. Look
at the telephone message and at the memo again. What does Marc want to
know? Copy the question here.

You have to find out "......................................................................................

.....................................................................................................................?"

B/ LOOK FOR INFORMATION

Here is some information from our laboratory chemists. Read it carefully.

FACT FILE 1: What does cleaning mean?

Cleaning is a process which involves three stages:

1. make the water penetrate the fibres of the cloth.

2. mix grease and dust with water in order to

separate the grease and dust from the fibres of
the cloth.

3. suspend the dirt in the water so that the dirt can

be washed away.

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2. IDENTIFY THE VARIABLES TO BE CONTROLLED

2.1. Compare these two experiments and discuss the questions below in your
teams.

To answer the question “Is it true that you have to use more detergent
to wash the same dirty clothes in hard water than in soft water?” you
have to compare the cleaning power of the same detergent in two different
kinds of water. In experiment 1 the water is soft and in experiment 2 the water
is very hard.

EXPERIMENT 1 EXPERIMENT 2

SOFT WATER VERY HARD WATER

a) What is different in the two experiments?

b) What factors will you keep the same in the two experiments?

c) What will you measure at the end?

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LAB SKILLS FILE 6: How to use an electronic balance

Instructions:

a) Don't touch the table. The electronic balance is very sensitive.

b) Check and make sure the electronic balance is at 0 g.

c) Don't put the detergent directly on the electronic balance. Use a paper
filter, an evaporating dish or a very small beaker, for example.

Steps:

1. Weigh the empty evaporating dish, and write down the weight (A).
2. Pick up some detergent with a spatula, and put it into the evaporating dish
very slowly. Stop when you have the amount of detergent you need (B).
3. The mass of the detergent © is the weight of the empty evaporating dish
(A) from the total weight of the evaporating dish with the detergent (B).

1. (A) 2. (B) 3. (B - A = C)

....... g ....... g ....... g - ....... g = ....... g

weight of the total weight total weight -

evaporating dish (weight of the weight of the
evaporating dish + evaporating dish =
weight of the detergent) weight of the detergent

Exercise 1

Measure the amount of detergent you chose for your experiments, and write the
corresponding grams in the blanks of pictures 1, 2 and 3.

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 Appendix 1: Laboratory Skills

LAB SKILLS 7: How to use a measuring cylinder

Instructions:

a) There are different sizes of measuring cylinders. Choose the measuring

cylinder which is more appropriate for the amount of water that you need.

b) Fill the measuring cylinder with water, but to be exact, drop the necessary
water drops with a dropping pipette.

Steps:

To read the amount of water in a measuring cylinder:

1. Put the measuring cylinder on a table.
2. Your eyes must be level with the water mark.
3. The water surface forms a meniscus. The correct measurement
corresponds to the lower part of the meniscus.

RIGHT WRONG
2.

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RIGHT WRONG
3.

Exercise 1

Measure the amount of water that you chose for your experiments. Use the
measuring cylinder and a dropping pipette. Finally, put the water in a beaker.

Exercise 2

Put the detergent into the water. Stir the water with a stirring rod to dissolve the
detergent.
Do you think you chose an approppriate amount of water?
Do you think you chose an approppriate amount of detergent?

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 Appendix 1: Laboratory Skills

LAB SKILLS FILE 8: Laboratory dos and don’ts

There are certain rules that we must observe in the laboratory if we want to work
correctly and scientifically.

1. Look at the pictures which illustrate “Laboratory Dos and Dont’s”. Put the
correct description under the picture.

DON’T LEAVE THE LABORATORY IN A MESS!

ONLY USE THE AMOUNT OF PAPER THAT YOU NEED

DON’T PUSH AND CROWD AROUND THE ELECTRONIC BALANCE

DON’T PUT YOUR PERSONAL OBJECTS ON THE LABORATORY TABLE

WAIT FOR YOUR TURN TO USE THE ELECTRONIC BALANCE

PUT ONLY THE MATERIALS YOU NEED ON THE LABORATORY TABLE

LEAVE THE LABORATORY CLEAN AND TIDY

WAIT FOR YOUR TURN AT THE TAP

DON’T PUSH OTHER STUDENTS AT THE TAP

DON’T WASTE PAPER

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