17) The atmosphere of the earth only has one layer called “the atmosphere.”
Activity: students need to understand each of the five layers of the atmosphere. It will help them understand the components of each of the layers.
Standard: PS 2.1a Nearly all the atmosphere is confined to a thin shell surrounding earth. The atmosphere is a mixture of gases, including nitrogen and oxygen with small amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other trace gases. The atmosphere is stratified into layers, each having distinct properties. Nearly all weather occurs in the lowest layer of the atmosphere.
18) Earthquakes and volcanoes occur in random locations around the world.
Correction: Earthquakes and volcanoes do not occur randomly but on specifically limited belts resulting from the plate tectonic forces.
Activity: students can use a model of the earth with three layers to demonstrate how the heating of the inner core results in volcanoes.
A model of the earth can also be used to show how plate tectonic forces cause earthquakes.
19) The greenhouse effect or global warming is caused by something to do with the ozone layer.
Correction: global warming is caused by increased human activities, which result in pollution leading to global warming.
Activity: students can participate in minimizing global warming by saving water, which reduces carbon pollution.
Students can also speak up on the effects of global warming and encourage their communities to use renewable energy.
20) Man-made activities have little to do with global warming.
Correction: Man-made activities are the major causes of global warming since global warming is brought about by pollution as a result of increased man-made activities.
Activity: students can participate in activities that positively contribute towards minimizing pollution such as planting of trees.
Students can also be encouraged to educate their communities on the dangers of pollution, which eventually brings about global warming.
21) Animals are the only living things. Plants, fungi, eggs and seeds are not living.
Correction: All ling things function through the cellular structure, and therefore plants, fungi, and other organisms with cells are all living things.
Activity: students can be asked to make a list of the living things that they can think of. This way, they will not only list animals, but they will include other animals.
22) Only living things make up an ecosystem.
Correction: An ecosystem consists of both ling and non-living things.
Activity: students can be involved in tasks such as developing food chains in an ecosystem, starting from a picture of a producer that obtains energy from the sun using picture models.
Students can also build their own model ecosystems.
23) Plants get water through their leaves.
Correction: plants get water through their roots.
Activity: students can grow a plant, at school, or at home, whereby they can perform experiments. A section of the students can water the plants by the leaves and the other section by the roots and observe which plant thrives.
24) Plants obtain their energy directly from the sun.
Correction: Plants, through their leaves, absorb light from the sun. This light is then converted to energy in the of sugars.
Activity: students can perform an experiment by planting two plants. Put one of them in the light and the other one in a dark place. They should then observe the performance of the two plants.
25) Plants produce oxygen for our benefit
Activity: students can place a growing plant in a dark room/place and observe how the plant responds.
Standard: PS 6.2b The major source of atmospheric oxygen is photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and oxygen is released during photosynthesis.
26) Only large land mammals are animals.
Activity: students can list all the animals they can think of and then have them pick the ones they think are mammals.
Students can prepare a list of the characteristics of mammals from where they will know whether an animal they listed falls in that category.
Standard: PS The mode of reproduction for mammals is by giving birth, although the duck-billed platypus is the only egg-laying mammal.
27) Whales, jelly fish, and star fish are all fish.
Activity: students can name all the reptiles they think are fish.
Students can also list the characteristics of fish and see whether the animals they listed match up to them.
Standard: PS fish are characterized by their back-bone, scales and gills. They reproduce through laying eggs.
28) Behavior and habitat are criteria for classification.
Correction: Classification is determined by the complexity of the cell structure, body organization, nutrition, and lifestyle.
Activity: students can collect organisms such as insects and plants from within the school compound.
They can then try and classify them according to their similarities, by looking at their physical features.
Standard: 1.1h Living things are classified by shared characteristics on the cellular and organism level. In classifying organisms, biologists consider details of internal and external structures. Biological classification systems are arranged from general (kingdom) to specific (species).