Lesson video

Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to your second science lesson on practical skills with me, Miss Roberts.

It's great to see you all back here.

So let's get started.

Today, we're going to look at how we draw a scientific diagram.

So what will you need? You're going to need a pencil and a pen, a ruler, and something to write with.

Pause the video now and go and get what you need.

Okay, I've got everything I need and I've also got my favourite Teddy with me who is Lenny the Lion, and Lenny the Lion always helps me with my learning and I like telling him all of my star words.

Ah-huh, huh, really? Oh my goodness, huh! I'll tell you all about what he's told me at the end of the lesson.

So, we are ready to get onto our star words.

So, first of all, we'll do our star words and then we'll look at diagrams versus illustrations.

We'll look at similarities and differences.

Then we're going to draw a scientific diagram and then you'll go on to your learning review.

So, if you joined me last lesson, you'll remember, we go star words, star words, star words, your turn.

Good job.

The first star word today is diagram.

Your turn.

My turn, diagram, your turn.

Good job, I hope people have done the actions as well.

The next word is illustration.

This I've got my paintbrush because illustration is a bit more like drawing or a painting.

So illustration, your turn.

Illustration, your turn.

Good job.

The next word is, going to make them bigger for you, the next word is labels, your turn.

So I'm drawing a straight line in, and then I'm writing my label.

Labels, your turn, good job team.

And the last word is accurate.

Your turn, accurate.

So when you're accurate, you're careful to be right.

When you're accurate, you're careful to be right.

So for instance, if I wanted to draw an accurate straight line, I would use a ruler rather than just trying to do it by myself because then, if I use a ruler, it's going to be accurate.

Just say that one more time for me, good job.

Okay, so let's look at diagrams versus illustrations.

So on the left-hand side, you can see a diagram.

This is a diagram of a cup with some water in it and some sand at the bottom.

It doesn't look very much like a real cup and the water isn't blue, and the sand doesn't look like that normally, does it? But this is a scientific diagram.

It gives the key information.

It's simple and it just reports on what you want to see.

You can also see that there are some labels, you can also see there are some, can you say that, labels, well done, and the labels are identifying the key information in the diagram.

On the right-hand side of your screen, you can see an illustration.

Can you say that word again? Illustration.

Now this illustration is lots of different flowers.

Now these illustrations look very different to my diagram on the left.

They're expressive, they've got lots of detail, they're full of colour and shading and they, you could also say they look very artistic.

Now I'm not saying that you can't have illustrations in science, you definitely can.

In fact, a scientific illustrator is even a job, but when we're drawing diagrams for our experiments, we would use a diagram rather than an illustration.

A famous scientific illustrator was Maria Merian and over her life, she recorded an illustrator, the life cycles of 186 insect species.

It was her meticulous observations and drawings that proved caterpillars turn into butterflies.

So for instance, she was watching and looking at insects and she would draw them in an illustration.

Over the course of that time, the amazing resource that she built up was a whole bank of illustrations, very careful, accurate drawings and paintings of insects.

That's really important for us as scientists to have, but what we're looking at today is what those differences are between a diagram and an illustration.

There are no labels on illustrations.

So, what are the similarities and differences? Now that we've looked at an example.

So, you can see that they both include an image.

On the left, there is an image of a cup with some water and some sand in, and on the right, there's lots of images of flowers, but the images look very different, don't they? So, the other similarity is they both have detail.

On the left, there is water and there is sand, so there is important detail.

There's not lots of detail, but there is some.

On the right, there is also detail, very, very accurate detail with colours, and shading, and sizes.

The differences though are quite clear.

Only a diagram has labels.

Only a diagram has labels, well done, and illustrations have a lots of extra detail.

Like I've said, the colours and the shading are lots of extra detail that you would find in an illustration, but you wouldn't find in a diagram.

Diagrams only show the key information.

Diagrams only show the key information, well done.

So let's just recap those similarities.

They both have an image.

They both have an image and they both have important detail.

They both have.

They're also both accurate.

They're also both accurate, well done.

So those are our three similarities.

Our differences, diagrams contain labels.

Can you say that? Only diagrams contain labels.

Only illustrations have extra detail, and only diagrams show the key information.

So those are our three differences.

Let's go to the next screen and I want you to see if you can fill in the table for the similarities and the differences.

So similarities, they both include.

Differences only diagrams contain.

Which one only has extra detail? I want you to pause the video and complete your task.

If you need to go back to the screen to use the information, or you can download the worksheet and fill it in on that.

If you need more time, pause your video 'cause I'm about to go through the answers.

Okay, so did you remember them? How did you get on team? Pause the video now, and mark your work, well done.

So now let's think about how we draw a scientific diagram.

You've seen one example already, but I'm going to show you another one.

Here are the rules for drawing a scientific experiment.

When we draw them, we need to use a sharp pencil.

You need to draw in 2D, you draw clean single lines, you use a ruler to draw straight lines.

You don't shade or colour in, and you need to label objects with a straight line.

Remember, those are our labels.

I wonder team, are there any rules on there about drawing diagrams that you're surprised by? Can you tell your screen which one surprises you? Interesting, I was surprised that you shouldn't really shade or colour in, because I remember when I was younger, I probably would have coloured in a scientific diagram, but that's not correct.

So we don't shade or colour in our scientific diagrams. Let's have a look at my leaf.

Here is a leaf.

Now, it's not green because it's a scientific diagram.

I've used a sharp pencil and you can see some labels as well.

So let's go through those rules again using my scientific diagram of the leaf.

I've used my sharp pencil.

There is no shading or colouring in.

I joined it in 2D, so I've not tried to make it 3D and really lifelike, mainly because that's really tricky, but also we want to keep it nice and simple so it's just the key information.

I've used clean, straight lines using a ruler.

So there not so wobbly or squiggly all over the page because otherwise that would be really messy and it might be confusing to see what the label is attached to.

So I've used that straight line on my labels, so that it's really, really clear.

I wonder, can you have a go at drawing on the rules to this diagram? I want you to draw the leaf, add the labels and then draw the rules that you can remember.

Pause the video and have a go now.

Okay, pause the video if you need more time, 'cause I'm going to go through those rules again and see if you remembered and managed to label them all onto your diagram.

Sharp pencil, give yourself a tick if you've got that one.

No shading or colouring in, give yourself a tick if you got that one.

Was drawn in 2D, draw clean, straight lines using a ruler and label with a straight line.

Did you manage to get all of those? If you did give yourself a pat on the back.

That's awesome teammates.

You are really, really excellent at drawing scientific diagrams now.

The next slide I'm going to show you has two examples of scientific diagrams and I want you to think about the question that's on the screen, let's have a look.

Which is better, diagram A or diagram B.

They both show my cup, my water and my sand, but which one is a better scientific diagram and why? I'm going to give you a moment to think and then I'm going to ask you to tell your screen, and then we'll share the answer.

So have a think for 10 seconds.

Okay, which one do you think is a better scientific diagram and why Can you tell your screen? Hm-hmm, well done.

Diagram A, is not a very good scientific diagram because it has shading.

Therefore, diagram B is better.

I hope you've got that team.

Give yourself another pat in the back if you did, well done.

Okay, now you can see on the screen a diagram of a tree.

Again, it doesn't look lots like a tree, but it looks mainly like a tree because it's got the key information it needs.

It's not brown on the trunk.

I can't see the soil, I can't see the grass, I can't see the weather around it.

Whether it's sunny, maybe it's cloudy, maybe it's raining, but I have got the key information of that tree.

On the left are the labels I'd like you to add to your tree.

You can draw this out in your notebooks or you can download it on the worksheet and then I want you to add the labels using a ruler so that it's nice and clean and straight.

Have a go at either drawing your own tree or labelling on the worksheet, have a go, and pause the video.

Okay, let's see if your labels were as accurate as mine.

You can see that I've used a ruler.

I've drawn them nice and straight and I haven't done lots of different lines for the same label.

For instance, I can see there's lots of leaves, but I haven't drawn hundreds of lines for leaves, I've just done one clear label.

I've used a nice straight line for the trunk, the branches and the roots, and I've drawn the words nice and clearly.

So team, we are now experts at drawing scientific diagrams. Well done you.

What I'd like you to do is I'd like you to find something in your home and draw a scientific diagram for it.

Remember just the key information and remember all of those rules.

If you want to go back, you can find them in this video.

Well done everybody.

I'm going to give you an awesome cheer for your science learning today.

I'm so impressed and Lenny the Lion was so excited for you to see the drawing of the tree because he was really impressed.

He'll be here next lesson on our third lesson for practical skills.

So well done everybody, bye.