Lesson video

Hello, scientists.

My name is Mr. Wilshire.

And in this lesson, we are going to be looking at protecting our eyes from the Sun.

This is the planning stage.

The outcome for this lesson is I can plan how to investigate sun protection.

As always, there's some key words for us to consider as we work our way through this lesson.

The first is Sun.

Next, protect.

Then it's damage.

After that is ultraviolet or UV.

Finally, it's plan.

Don't worry if you're not too sure what some of these words mean.

The definitions have appeared on the screen for you now, so you can pause the video here and take a moment to recap on some of the ones that you may have forgotten.

Pause the video now and restart when you've done that.

The first part of this lesson is called Sun Protection.

The Sun provides heat and light for planet Earth.

Here you can see an image of the Sun poking its way through the trees.

Why is this so important though? Why is it important that the Sun provides heat and light for our planet? Discuss.

What did you think of? Why is it so important that the Sun provides heat and light? Well, heat and light are necessary for living things to survive on earth.

Here you can see lots of different animals out on safari.

There are zebras, wildebeest.

There's even some ostriches there and a giraffe in the background.

All of these animals wouldn't be able to survive unless they were in a hot environment.

And of course, animals need light to be able to help them to see.

That's gonna help them to forage.

That's gonna help 'em find water and also find each other in a herd.

So let's stop and think.

Is this true or false? Living things need the Sun to survive? The answer here is true.

Can we justify our answer? Which of these statements is correct? Is it because the Sun provides the heat and light that living things need to stay alive, or is it that we only see the Sun during daytime? The correct answer here is A, the Sun provides the heat and light that living things need to stay alive.

Sofia and Jun are playing outside on a sunny day.

Sofia says, "I'm putting on some sunscreen to protect my skin." Jun says, "I'm not wearing any sunscreen.

The Sun is so far away.

it can't damage my skin." What do you think? Who's correct here? Who do you agree with? Is there anyone that you disagree with? Pause the video here and discuss.

Restart when you've done that.

You can see the Sun shining very brightly in the sky there.

I wonder who you agree with more.

Well, the Sun gives out different types of light.

Ultraviolet or UV light can be dangerous even though the Sun is very far away from our planet.

Sofia says, "If I put on sunscreen, it can protect my skin.

It can protect it from dangerous UV light." There's lots of different types of sunscreen here.

I wonder if you've ever had to put on sunscreen that's like this.

They usually have different numbers.

These ones here are the number 20, the number 15, and the number 30 there.

That shows us how much protection that they're giving us.

Remember that even though the Sun can be behind the clouds some of the time, it could still burn our skin.

So it's always good to be safe.

Sofia says, "Different sunscreens contain different levels of protection from UV light produced by the Sun.

This is called its SPF or the sun protection factor, the number.

The higher the number, the more the sunscreen protects your skin." Oh, so those are the numbers that we were reading on the last slide, 20, 15 and 30.

The one on the left there is an SPF of 20.

The one in the middle is an SPF of 15, and the final one on the right there is an SPF of 30.

So the one on the right is the one that can give the higher amount of Sun protection.

Too much UV light can damage our skin and cause sunburn.

It's important to protect your skin when you're outdoors, especially in summertime, even if it's cloudy like I said earlier.

Here you can see some skin damaged by UV.

I know that some people might like to go in sunbathe, but burning your skin in this way can cause some serious damage to your skin and also it can really hurt.

So by covering yourself in the sun cream, you're going to be able to protect yourself against the Sun's harmful rays and still get a nice tan.

Wonder how else we can protect our skin from UV light though.

What do you think? Pause the video here and restart when you've done that.

So what did you think of? How else can we protect our skin from UV light? Is there a way that we can cover ourselves up maybe? So as well as wearing sunscreen, we can protect our skin from UV light by wearing a sun hat and clothes that cover our skin.

It's also really important to not spend too much time in the Sun and also enjoy the shade.

Here you can see a poster with some sun safety tips.

It says there to wear protective clothing, to use sunglasses, seek shade when you need to, wear a hat, always cover up your head.

Staying hydrated is going to help as well and limit your sun time.

Using sunscreen can also really help in this case.

I can see that the person there is using a factor 50 plus.

That's going to give you a lot of protection.

I wonder if you've heard any of these instructions before, and I wonder if you know why they're so important.

Ultimately, keeping yourself protected from the Sun is really, really important because it can damage your skin, it can tyre you out, and it can also cause you to get incredibly thirsty.

So if you are going to play outside in the Sun, it's a good idea to get plenty of time in the shade as well.

Who do you agree with here? Aisha says, "Light from the Sun can't harm us because the Sun is so far away." Jacob says, "UV rays from the Sun can't harm our skin if it's cloudy." And Sam says, "Too much UV light from the Sun can be dangerous and harm our skin." Who do you agree with most? And the person I agree with most here is Sam.

Too much UV light from the Sun can be dangerous and it harms our skin.

UV rays from the Sun can harm ourselves even if it's cloudy.

And light from the Sun can definitely harm us even though the Sun is very far away.

So here is your first task, task A.

You need to have a little look at some ratings on different sunscreens to compare how much protection they give.

Here is an example of sunscreens.

You've got the 20, the 15, and the 30.

Have a little look at those ratings there and consider how much protection they give.

Is there any other writing on there that you need to consider? Any other information that the sunscreen can give you about protecting yourself from the Sun? Best of luck comparing the different sunscreens.

Reset the video when you've done that.

How did you get on? Let's have a little look at what the children have said here.

Your answers may be similar to this or they may be a little bit different, depending on the type of sunscreens that you are looking at.

Sam says, "I notice that the higher number, the more protection the sunscreen can give you from the Sun." Jacob says, "The highest SPF I observed was 50, but you need to follow the instructions to make sure you apply it properly.

Then you can ensure that it protects your skin.

That's good advice for anything that you're going to buy that might help protect you.

In this case, we're protecting ourselves from the Sun.

You must read the instructions to see how to best use it.

When you're putting on sun cream in this way, you don't just splodge it on you and leave it.

You need to rub it into your arms and your hands and any other areas that are going to be exposed to the Sun.

That way, the cream is going to be rubbed into your skin and not just sitting on top of it.

It's lovely to have fun in the Sun, but it's a really good idea to stay protected, especially as the Sun's rays can really damage our skin, especially when it's very hot.

But don't forget the Sun can also damage your skin when it's hiding behind those clouds as well.

The next part of this lesson is called Planning an Inquiry.

Andeep says, "It's not just our skin we need to protect from the Sun.

We need to protect our eyes too." Izzy says, "Our eyes are 10 times more sensitive to UV light from the Sun than our skin.

Children's eyes are at the greatest risk of UV damage." Oh my goodness.

That's a statistic that I didn't know.

I wonder how can we protect our eyes from damage by the Sun.

Should we walk around covering our eyes up all the time? I don't think this would be very useful.

What do you think? You discuss now and decide.

What's the best way to protect your eyes from the Sun? It got very dark in here for a moment.

What kind of ways did you think of that are gonna help protect your eyes from the sun? You can't walk around with your hand over your face all the time.

Laura says, "Well, I'm wearing my science goggles." Alex says, "I can wear the glasses I use to see the interactive whiteboard in class to protect my eyes." And Lucas says, "I can wear my swimming goggles." What do you think? Are any of these answers a good idea? Discuss.

I don't know if science goggles Are particularly practical to be wandering around with, especially if you're out on the beach.

Wearing glasses that you use to see the interactive whiteboard does put something in front of your eyes, but that's good for looking at a whiteboard.

It's not gonna protect it from UV rays.

And swimming goggles, they're very tight and I think everyone would look very strange wandering around with 'em on their faces all the time.

I wonder what you thought.

Sunglasses are one such example that have special lenses.

These lenses can protect our eyes from UV damage from the Sun.

There you can see sunglasses, like this that you may have seen in the shops, all for sale there, and there's a little girl wearing some sunglasses as well.

The lenses there are a particular shade so that they can shade your eyes and make it a little bit cooler.

It helps you to see a lot better, but I can see that this little girl is also protecting her head as well.

Different sunglasses can give us different levels of protection from the Sun's UV light.

Here you can see a label on some sunglasses.

And Lucas says, "Look for the label that says 100% UV protection or 400UV, which tells us that these sunglasses block harmful UV rays from the Sun." That's some good knowledge there.

I should look out for that the next time that I'm looking for sunglasses.

So stop and think.

What can help to protect our eyes from the Sun? Is it reading glasses, sunscreen, or sunglasses? The correct answer here is sunglasses.

Here's Andeep, and he's got his sunglasses on.

He says, "My sunglasses are of 100% UV protection, so I can look at the Sun." Oh.

It was a very sunny day outside, and I wonder if you think it's safe to look at the Sun, even when you are wearing protective sunglasses.

What do you think? Is it safe to look at the Sun even if you're wearing sunglasses? Well, sunglasses then they're not really protective goggles.

Although they're going to help shade your eyes from the Sun, looking at the Sun directly is going to cause some damage to your eyes.

Sam says here, "It's never safe to look at the Sun, even if you're wearing sunglasses.

Looking at the Sun, even on a cloudy day, is very dangerous and can damage your eyesight.

Now you can see an example of a cloudy day.

It is not safe to look at the Sun, whatever the type of glasses that you're wearing, UV light rays can be very, very harmful.

And although sunglasses may say that they protect from them, that doesn't mean that it will protect your eyes for looking at the Sun for long periods of time.

Wearing your sunglasses to help shade your eyes as you go about your business in your day is the best way to wear them.

Let's stop and think.

It's safe to look at the Sun if you're wearing sunglasses.

True or false.

The correct answer here is false.

Of course, it's not safe to look at the Sun, even if you're wearing sunglasses.

So let's justify your answer here.

Is it only safe to look at the Sun if you're wearing 400 UV sunglasses or is it never safe to look directly at the Sun? The answer here is it is never safe to look directly at the Sun, regardless of how protective your sunglasses may be.

Scientists carry out inquiries to discover how we can protect ourselves from harmful UV light.

Alex says here, "Scientists develop sunlight protective sunscreens and lenses for sunglasses.

They test their ideas to produce new and improved products to help keep us safe from the Sun." Of course, that's a very good thing to do, isn't it? Scientists ask questions and plan different types of inquiries.

Izzy says, "None of these sunglasses has got a UV sticker on it.

I wonder which pair is best to wear." Alex says, "Well, our question here could be, which of these sunglasses give the best protection from the Sun?" I wonder what you think.

Is there a good way to find this answer out? Have a quick think while we move on.

Who do you agree with here? Laura says, "Scientists plan inquiries to help them to answer questions." Sam says, "Scientists plan inquiries because they like wearing white coats and science goggles." Andeep says, "Scientists plan inquiries to impress their friends." Who do you agree with more? Discuss.

Well, I think I agree with Laura more.

Scientists plan inquiries to help them to answer questions.

They can then go on to help other people with the answers that they found out.

It's not just because they want to impress their friends or because they like wearing white coats and science goggles.

So the children make a plan to find out which sunglasses would give their eyes the best protection from the Sun.

Izzy says, "I could wear each pair of sunglasses, look at the Sun, and decide which pair the Sun looks the least bright to me." Hmm.

No, that's not a good idea at all.

You should never look at the Sun.

Alex says, "That would be very dangerous.

You must never look directly at the Sun, even when wearing sunglasses." I started to get that she may need a reminder of that halfway through her talking there.

Laura says, "Well, I've got a bracelet made out of UV beads.

When I play outside, the beads change from white to dark colours When they detect UV light from the Sun.

The darker the colours, the more UV light has been detected, and this helps me to know when I need to wear sunscreen to protect my skin." There you can see an example of some UV beads that are used in a bracelet.

Izzy then has a new idea for their plan using these beads.

She says, "We could use some UV beads and place them under the lens of each pair of sunglasses outside on a sunny day.

After five minutes, we could take the sunglasses away and quickly take a photograph of the beads to see what colour they are.

Alex says, "Great idea.

So the darker the colour of the beads, the less protection given by the sunglasses." What a good idea.

Here's the sunlight, and Alex says, "We'll also leave one group of UV beads directly in the sunlight so I can observe what happens when they have no protection from sunglasses.

We can compare the beads that have protection with those that don't have protection." That's a good way to create your own baseline so you know what beads would look like under the Sun, and then see what each bead will look like when it's underneath the sunglasses.

Izzy says, "The different groups of beads must be compared in a fair way.

This means that only one thing is changed and another is measured.

All other things are kept the same." Alex says, "Well, the only thing we'll change each time is the type of sunglasses." This type of inquiry is called a comparative test because the thing that's being changed is the type of sunglasses.

Izzy says, "We need to plan to keep everything else the same, such as the number of beads we use under each pair of sunglasses." And Alex says, "Yeah, we should make sure that the sunglasses receive the same amount of sunlight too by placing them all in the sunlight and not in the shade for the same amount of time.

Here you can see an example of sunlight and shade.

Let's think about where shadows are if you get to have a go at doing this test.

Is there anything else that Izzy and Alex should keep the same? Have a think.

What did you think of? We know that they're going to keep them in the same place.

They're going to use the same amount of beads.

Hmm.

I wonder if maybe the time of day.

It'd be good idea for all of these sunglasses to be tested at the same time, wouldn't it? Otherwise, the time of day might affect what's going to happen.

Stop and think.

Scientists only ever carry out one type of inquiry.

Is that true or false? The correct answer here is false.

Can we justify our answer here? Is it because scientists need to compare things in a fair way, or is it because scientists carry out different types of inquiries? The correct answer here is scientists carry out different types.

So here is your final task.

You need to plan your own investigation to find out which sunglasses are best at protecting our eyes from the Sun.

Izzy says, "You could use my idea, or you might prefer to plan something of your own." Sam says, "Write down what you'll need and what you'll do.

Remember to think about what you'll change and what you will keep the same." And remember, do not look at the Sun.

So it's your turn.

Now have a think about the type of experiment that you could do.

Are you going to use what Izzy said or are you going to change it slightly? Remember to record your findings as you go.

Best of luck with your task.

See you in a bit.

Best of luck with your task.

See you in a moment.

How did you get on? Here is an example of the written test.

I wonder if you had some time to actually do the test as well.

It says I'll need three pairs of sunglasses, some UV beads, a stopwatch or timer, a camera, or a tablet for taking photographs.

And then this is what is going to happen.

Step one, make four groups of 10 UV beads and cover with a lens of each pair of sunglasses and leave one group uncovered.

Two, make sure all of the groups are in the same area so that they all receive the same amount of sunlight.

Three, leave outside in sunlight for five minutes.

Use a stopwatch or timer to time them for five minutes.

It's also a good idea there not to go over and check them or move things around.

Four, remove the lens from above the beads and quickly take a photograph using a camera or a tablet.

Repeat this for all four groups, including those that were left in direct sunlight.

Five, observe each group of beads to compare how much they've changed colour.

It's a good idea to label each set of beads there so that you don't mix all your photos up.

I wonder if your experiment was a little bit different.

How did you go about planning it and were you able to complete it? Well done for completing that task.

Let's summarise our lesson.

The Sun provides heat and light and is necessary for living things to survive on earth.

Too much ultraviolet or UV light from the Sun can be dangerous, and there are ways to protect our eyes.

It's never safe to look directly at the Sun, even when wearing sunglasses, and scientists ask questions and plan different types of inquiries.

I hope that this lesson has given you some good ideas as to how you can be safe in the Sun.

Remember, just covering yourself up or wearing sunglasses isn't enough.

You might want to think about some sun cream or having different breaks at different times during the day so you're not outside in the sun all the time.

In that way, you're going to best protect your skin.

Well done for completing the task in this lesson, I'm Mr. Wilshire.

Thank you very much for listening.