Basic Science: Understanding Experiments

This practical, hands-on course aims to help you start thinking like a scientist by carrying out experiments at home and making scientific observations. You will carry out simple experiments to extract the DNA from fruit or vegetables, observe osmosis in action and bake a potato to destruction! You’ll also investigate how different liquids behave when frozen and how much water an everyday food item contains. As you carry out these experiments you will develop important science-based skills including observation, record-keeping, data analysis and how to control an experiment. After examining your results, you will share them with other learners and discuss your findings. You may also be interested in joining Basic Science: Understanding Numbers. All Open University science courses presented on FutureLearn are produced with the kind support of Dangoor Education.

• Hazel Rymer