CAMBRIDGE PRIMARY

Science
Challenge

Fiona Baxter and Liz Dilley

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Contents
Introduction 4
1 Humans and animals 5
1.2 The heart 6
1.5 The digestive system 8
1.6 What do the kidneys do? 9
1.7 What does the brain do? 11
2 Living things in the environment 14
2.4 Food chains in different habitats 15
2.5 Deforestation 18
2.6 Air pollution 21
2.7 Acid rain 23
2.9 Take care of your environment 26
3 Material changes 29
3.2 Mixing and separating solids 30
3.5 Solutions 32
3.6 Making solids dissolve faster 35
3.7 Grain size and dissolving 37
4 Forces and motion 40
4.3 Balanced and unbalanced forces 41
4.5 Forces and energy 43
4.6 Friction 45
4.7 Investigating friction 47
5 Electrical conductors and insulators 50
5.2 Does water conduct electricity? 51
5.3 Do different metals conduct electricity equally well? 53
5.6 Changing the number of components 55
5.8 Length and thickness of wire in a circuit 57
5.9 How scientists invested batteries 60
Answers 63
Glossary 70

3
 Introduction
This series of primary science activity books
complements Cambridge Primary Science and
progresses, through practice, learner confidence
and depth of knowledge in the skills of scientific
enquiry (SE) and key scientific vocabulary and
concepts. These activity books will:
• enhance and extend learners’ scientific
knowledge and facts
• promote scientific enquiry skills and learning in
order to think like a scientist
• advance each learner’s knowledge and use
of scientific vocabulary and concepts in their
correct context.
The Challenge activity books extend learners’
understanding of the main curriculum, providing
an opportunity to increase the depth of their
knowledge and scientific enquiry skills from a key
selection of topics. This workbook is offered as
extension to the main curriculum and therefore
it does not cover all the curriculum framework
content for this stage.
How to use the activity books
These activity books have been designed for
use by individual learners, either in the classroom
or at home. As teachers and as parents, you
can decide how and when they are used by
your learner to best improve their progress. The
Challenge activity books target specific topics
(lessons) from Grades 1–6 from all the units
covered in Cambridge Primary Science. This
targeted approach has been carefully designed
to consolidate topics where help is most needed.
How to use the units
Unit introduction
Each unit starts with an introduction for you as
the teacher or parent. It clearly sets out which topics
are covered in the unit and the learning objectives
of the activities in each section. This is where you
can work with learners to select all, most or just
one of the sections according to individual needs.
The introduction also provides advice and tips
on how best to support the learner in the skills
of scientific enquiry and in the practice of key
scientific vocabulary.
4 Introduction
Sections
Each section matches a corresponding lesson in
the main series. Sections contain write-in activities
that are supported by:
• Key words – key vocabulary for the topic, also
highlighted in bold in the sections
• Key facts – a short fact to support the activities
where relevant
• Look and learn – where needed, activities
are supported with scientific exemplars for
extra support of how to treat a concept or
scientific method
• Remember – tips for the learner to steer them
in the right direction.
How to approach the write-in activities
Teachers and parents are advised to provide students
with a blank A5 notebook at the start of each grade
for learners to use alongside these activity books.
Most activities will provide enough space for the
answers required. However, some learner responses –
especially to enquiry-type questions – may require
more space for notes. Keeping notes and plans
models how scientists work and encourages learners
to explore and record their thinking, leaving the
activity books for the final, more focused answers.
Think about it questions
Each unit also contains some questions for discussion
at home with parents, or at school. Although learners
will record the outcomes of their discussions in
the activity book, these questions are intended to
encourage the students to think more deeply.
Self-assessment
Each section in the unit ends with a self-assessment
opportunity for learners: empty circles with short
learning statements. Teachers or parents can ask
learners to complete the circles in a number of
ways, depending on their age and preference,
e.g. with faces, traffic light colours or numbers. The
completed self-assessments provide teachers with a
clearer understanding of how best to progress and
support individual learners.
Glossary of key words and concepts
At the end of each activity book there is a glossary
of key scientific words and concepts arranged by
unit. Learners are regularly reminded to practise
saying these words out loud and in sentences to
improve communication skills in scientific literacy.
1 Humans and animals

What learners will practise and reinforce

The activities in this Challenge unit give learners further practice in the
following topics in the Learner’s Book and Activity Book:

Topic In this topic, learners will:

1.1 Body organs
1.2 The heart
1.4 The lungs and breathing
1.5 The digestive system
1.6 What do the kidneys do?
1.7 What does the brain do?
see Skills Builder, Section 1.1
explain how the heart works
see Skills Builder, Section 1.4
make a model of the digestive system
answer questions about the kidneys
draw a graph of brain growth

Help your learner TEACHING TIP

In this unit, learners will practise using graphs to present
Talk about ways to
results (Section 1.7). They will also practise using results
keep the body organs
to draw a conclusion and make further predictions healthy, such as
(Section 1.7). To help them: following a balanced
1 Explain that the scale on a line graph must be divided diet, drinking six to eight
into equal intervals – for example five or ten years, or glasses of water every
100 g or 200 g. day and doing regular
exercise.

1 Humans and animals

5
 1. 2 The heart heart, circulatory system

KEY FACT

The heart is sometimes

called a ‘double pump’.
This is because the right
side of the heart pumps
blood to the lungs and
the left side of the heart
pumps blood to the rest
of the body.

Explain the way the heart works

Circle the letter of the correct answer to each of the following questions
about the heart.

1 Your heart pumps blood through the body. This process is called …
a heartbeat
b pulsing
c circulation.

6 1.2 The heart

2 The heart is part of the ________________ system.
a organ
b circulatory
c blood.

3 The left side of the heart pumps blood that contains …

a oxygen
b no oxygen
c many different gases.

4 The right side of the heart pumps blood to …

a the brain
b the lungs
c the kidneys.

5 The circulatory system is made up of the …

a heart only
b heart and blood vessels
c heart, blood vessels and blood.

CHECK YOUR LEARNING

I know about the heart and its functions.

1 Humans and animals

7
 1. 5 The digestive system digestive system, organs

Make a model digestive system

Resources
You will need materials such as plastic bottles, plastic tubing, plastic bags,
balloons, string, paper cups, cardboard tubes, a bicycle inner tube, old
pantyhose (tights), scissors, elastic bands and electrical tape.

1 Design and make a model of the

Remember:
digestive system. Your model should:
Think about the structure
• be made of everyday or waste materials
and the function
• show the parts of the digestive system of each part of the
in the correct order. digestive system – for
example the gullet is a
Place your completed model on a piece
long, narrow tube. This
of cardboard or hardboard. You can use will help you choose the
glue or sticky putty to hold it in place. best materials for the
different parts.
Use your model to explain to a family
member or friend how the digestive system works.

2 Think about it!

What other organs are needed for digestion?
Find out about them and add one or two to your model.

CHECK YOUR LEARNING

I can make a model of the digestive system from everyday materials.

I know the order of the organs in the digestive system.

I can explain the way the digestive system works.

8 1.5 The digestive system

 1. 6 What do the kidneys do? kidneys, liver, filter,
urine, sweat, toxins, bile
Find out about the kidneys and liver
Read the information about the kidneys and liver, then answer
the questions.

The kidneys do some important jobs,

which help to keep your body working
well. They filter the blood to remove
waste products. These leave the body in
the urine. The kidneys also keep the right
volume of fluid in the body. The blood is
filtered through the kidneys many times
a day. The kidneys remove excess fluid
from the blood. If the volume of fluid
in your body goes down (for example if
you sweat a lot or you are not drinking
enough water), your kidneys will not
make much urine until the amount of fluid
in your body goes up. You can look after
your kidneys by drinking six to eight glasses of water each day.
Your liver is the heaviest organ inside your body. By the time you
are grown up, your liver will be about the size of a football and
will weigh about 1.4 kg. The liver does over 500 jobs in the body.
The liver’s main job is to take toxins out of your blood and break
them down. Toxins are harmful substances that can damage the

»
body – for example alcohol and drugs. The liver produces an
important liquid called bile. Bile helps you digest fats. It also
stores energy for the body.

1 Humans and animals

9
 1 Describe two jobs that the kidneys do in the body.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

2 a What liquid do the kidneys produce?

______________________________________________________________

b If you drink a lot of tea on cold day, how will it affect the
volume of this liquid that the kidneys produce?

______________________________________________________________

3 Write down a word from the information that means the same as:

liquid ___________________________________________________________

poisons _________________________________________________________

the amount of a liquid __________________________________________

4 Which function of the liver is similar to a function of the kidneys?

_________________________________________________________________

5 Suggest two things that people can do to keep their livers healthy.

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

CHECK YOUR LEARNING

I know what the kidneys do in the body.

I know what the liver does in the body.

10 1.6 What do the kidneys do?

 1.7 What does the brain do? brain

LOOK AND LEARN

At birth, the brain is about one-quarter of its full adult size. By the age of
two, the brain is almost three times bigger than at birth. During the first two
years of your life, lots of connections develop in your brain as you learn to
do things such as recognise people, sit, crawl, walk, talk, use a spoon and
drink from a cup. By the age of six, your brain is 95% of its adult weight.

Draw a graph of brain growth

This table shows the average size of the brain in males and
females of different ages.

Age Male brain size (g) Female brain size (g)

birth 380 360
1 year 970 940
2 years 1120 1040
3 years 1270 1090
6 years 1370 1200
11 years 1440 1260
20 years 1450 1310
60 years 1370 1250
80 years 1310 1190

Remember:

»
The brain cannot repair itself. If any part of
the brain is damaged, it cannot regrow.

1 Humans and animals

11
 1 Draw a line graph to show brain growth. Use different coloured lines
for males and females.

2 Between which ages does the brain grow the most? Suggest a
reason for this.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

3 Compare the brain size of males and females. Who has the bigger
brain? Suggest a reason for this.

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

12 1.6 What does the brain do?

4 At what age does the brain stop growing?

____________________________________________________________________

5 Think about it!

Why do you think the brain gets smaller as people start
to get old?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

CHECK YOUR LEARNING

I can draw a line graph of results.

I can obtain information about brain growth from results.

1 Humans and animals

13