Systems-Get it Right!
⚫ The Digestive System
× Wrong concept: Food is digested in every part of the digestive system.
✓ Right concept: Food is digested only in the mouth, the stomach and the
small intestine.
⚫ Plants And Their Parts
× Wrong concept: Plants that consume insects, such as the Venus flytrap, do
not make their own food.
✓ Right concept: Plants such as the Venus flytrap can still make their own
food. They consume insects to get enough nutrients to grow healthily.
⚫ The Plant Transport System
× Wrong concept: The water-carrying and food-carrying tubes of the
transport system are found only in the stem of a plant.
✓ Right concept: Both the water-carrying and food-carrying tubes are also
found in other parts of a plant - in leaves, flowers and roots. This is to
ensure that water and food can also reach these parts of the plant.
⚫ Air And The Respiratory System
× Wrong concept: Breathing is the same as respiration.
✓ Right concept: Breathing is the exchange of gases between the air and our
bodies. Respiration is the process by which oxygen is used to break down
food and provide us with energy.
× Wrong concept: Plants carry out respiration only at night, when they are
not photosynthesising.
✓ Right concept: Plants carry out respiration all the time.
⚫ The Circulatory System
× Wrong concept: When we are exercising or doing a vigorous activity, we
breathe more deeply because we are tired.
✓ Right concept: We breathe more deeply because our body needs more
oxygen in order to release more energy. Our heart also needs to pump
faster to send more oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the muscles. This
will result in the increase in our heart rate. Lactic acid may build up in the
muscles if the muscle cells do not receive enough oxygen, causing fatigue.
To remove this lactic acid, we need to breathe harder to obtain more
oxygen.
× Wrong concept: Arteries and veins have the same function.
✓ Right concept: Arteries transport oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the
other parts of the body. Veins transport carbon dioxide-rich (oxygen-poor)
blood from different parts of the body to the heart.
⚫ The Unit Of Life
× All plant cells contain chloroplasts.
✓ Right concept: Most plant cells contain chloroplasts. Plant cells that are not
green do not contain chloroplasts, for example, root cells and onion skin
cells.
× Wrong concept: All cells contain a nucleus.
✓ Right concept: Human red blood cells do not contain a nucleus. Without a
nucleus, these cells cannot reproduce and will die eventually. Red blood
cells are produced by the bone marrow.
⚫ Electrical systems
× Wrong concept: A battery stores electricity.
✓ Right concept: A battery stores chemicals, not electricity. When the two
ends of a battery are connected in a closed circuit, the chemicals react to
produce electricity.
× Wrong concept: The gas found inside a bulb is air.
✓ Right concept: A bulb is filled with an inert gas such as argon. Argon is a
non-reactive gas and it does not react with the filament at high
temperatures. Air contains oxygen, which can cause oxidation and damage
to the hot filament.
× Wrong concept: Electricity flows from the positive end to the negative end
of a battery.
✓ Right concept: Electricity flows from the negative end to the positive end
of a battery. Electrons are negatively charged and they move from the
negative end to the positive end of a battery.
× Wrong concept: A bulb will light up as long as the metal casing and the
metal tip are connected to the battery.
✓ Right concept: A bulb will not light up if the metal casing and the metal tip
are connected to the same ends of the battery. The bulb will only light up
when the metal casing and the metal tip are connected to different ends
of the battery.
× Wrong concept: All non-metallic objects are electrical insulators.
✓ Right concept: Not all non-metallic objects are electrical insulators. One
example is graphite, a form of carbon. It is a relatively good conductor of
electricity.
⚫ Using electricity
× Wrong concept: Two bulbs connected in series (in a circuit) will be brighter
than two bulbs connected in parallel. The brightness of the bulbs when the
bulbs are in series should follow the brightness of the bulbs when the
batteries are in series. Since batteries in series make the bulbs brighter,
bulbs in series should also be brighter.
✓ Right concept: Two bulbs connected in parallel (in a circuit) will be brighter
than two bulbs connected in series. This is because the total resistance in
two bulbs connected in series is much higher, so the amount of electric
current flowing in the circuit will be smaller.
× Wrong concept: It is safe to touch the internal components of an electrical
appliance as long as the electrical appliance is switched off.
✓ Right concept: Electrical components called capacitors are found inside
appliances such as television sets. They can retain dangerous amounts of
electric charges in them. When we touch a capacitor, the charges can flow
through our body to the ground, giving us an electric shock.
