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8TH AUG 2008
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 Sky Learning – The Big Experiment Series 6 Study Guide
Sky Learning has teamed up with Graham Warren, science teacher at Woodchurch High School Specialist Engineering College and author of woodchurchscience to create a GCSE Science study aid to accompany the Discovery Channels, “The Big Experiment” six part series which is about the explosive, mind blowing power of science and how it can change lives. The Big Experiment” series will air on Discovery Channel, Sky Channel 520 on Thursdays at 9pm. Each episode will also be repeated on Sundays at 6pm.
The series will consists of six one hour shows with three top scientists working with a GCSE class to help them pass their GCSE Science exams. Sky Learning has produced study guides for each episode highlighting key points from the show, providing hints and tips, as well as practice exam questions all of which will help you in your studies.
This week’s guide accompanies the sixth and final programme in the series, “Body of Evidence”. This programme introduces the students to the wonder of the Human Body. From hunting for the body’s hidden enemy, bacteria, in both the boys’ toilets and their own noses, to investigating the strength of skin with the help of extreme performance artists and following the digestive process as it happens, the week builds up to the most grisly Big Experiment yet – a full horse dissection
Episode 6 – Body of Evidence
In this episode the three scientists introduce the students to the importance of our skin and how we protect ourselves from bacteria. They get an inside look at the digestive system and carry out dissections on eyes and brains. They also meet Lord Robert Winston and then finish with an anatomy lesson they’ll never forget.
Watch the skin demonstration HERE
Skin
Covering our entire body our skin is our biggest organ. Students are visited by suspension artists who have trained themselves to hang by hooks from the tough parts of their skin. This extreme demonstration shows the incredible strength of skin and is equivalent to hanging 20 bags of sugar from each square centimetre by a metal hook. Skin is strong because of the presence of collagen and elastin protein fibres within the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layers.
 Exam Tip: There are three main things that the skin does for us. The first two are obvious; it stops you drying out and it stops germs getting in ensuring a constant internal environment. The third is that skin helps control temperature.
Exam Questions:
· Explain how the skin alters body temperature when
(a) you’re too cold
(b) when you’re too hot.
· Why do our ‘hairs standing on end’ make very little difference to our body warmth nowadays?
Watch the bacteria clip HERE
Bacteria.
To show just how important our skin is in keeping out bacteria, the students are asked to visit the boy’s toilets lit only by ultraviolet light. Under these conditions bacteria and other organic matter glow in the dark. These fluoresce under UV light, absorbing the normally invisible UV light re-emitting it as visible light that we can see. The students also take swabs from different areas of the toilets to find out which are most heavily populated and then they use a biotrace luminometer to analyse the results. The highest readings were found nearest to the sinks where the presence of warm water encourages bacterial growth.
Exam Tip: Break down your revision about microbes into several smaller chunks: bacteria and viruses, entering the body, the immune system and immunisation. There’s a lot to learn here so think about writing mini-essays to help you remember material. Use bullet points to order your thoughts.
Exam Questions:
· In hospitals, it is very important that nurses and doctors wash their hands thoroughly after examining each patient. Explain why.
· Describe how you could use Petri dishes filled with sterile nutrient agar to find out whether doctors and nurses wash their hands thoroughly enough in a hospital.
Watch the nose clip HERE
The Nose.
To help prevent bacteria entering our bodies, the nose has a lining consisting of small hairs called cilia designed to move mucus that is produced in goblet cells. The students are encouraged to find out what’s lurking up their noses by smearing some of their own mucus (from picking their noses!) on to some agar jelly in a petri dish. When these dishes are incubated, colonies of bacteria grow and multiply on the agar jelly. Later in the program they discover just what sorts of bacteria lurk up our noses!
Exam Tip: When learning complicated processes like breathing and digestion, don’t be worried about reproducing brilliant diagrams from memory. You may be expected to label a diagram so learn the names of the major parts. Sketch them out and practise labelling.
Remember that respiration is not just ‘breathing in and breathing out’. It takes place in every cell in our bodies and is more to do with releasing energy.
Exam Questions:
· Explain the differences between aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
· The respiratory system can be damaged by smoking tobacco. With particular reference to the cilia explain why smokers suffer more bronchial disease than people who do not smoke.
· Present arguments for and against the introduction of non-smoking pubs and restaurants.
Watch the digestive system clip HERE
Digestive System.
To show just what happens if bacteria make it past the skin and nose the students look at the digestive system, the path that food takes when we eat. One of the scientists is given a special camera to swallow. They are normally used in hospitals to investigate the causes of many gastro-intestinal problems. Because the scientist hadn’t eaten for 24 hours there is no food in his stomach but plenty of enzymes and digestive juices. And of course there is stomach acid, the same pH as car battery acid. It is this acid that is responsible for killing off unwanted pathogens in our food.
Exam Tip: Think about the journey of food through the digestive system as you would any other journey. There’s only one beginning and only one end, but other things get added along the way. Describe the movement of food and what happens to it at each stage. Challenge yourself to memorise the functions of all the major parts. Try to remember that there are only three main digestive enzymes: carbohydrase for carbohydrates, protease for proteins and lipase for fats.
Exam Questions:
· Describe how surface area of the small intestine is increased by villi.
· What are the three main types of food molecules? And what are each broken down into by digestive enzymes?
· Describe how you would test for
(a) Starch,
(b) Protein
(c) Simple sugars
(d) Fats.
Visit Sky Learning for the rest of this guide along with further study aids to accompany your studies.
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