学生眼中的G4P —— 效实IB高二科学实验项目

第二组：王之岳、胡羽舰、石易、叶疏桐
执笔：王之岳

Our topic of research was whether energy drinks and energy bars contain energy or not. We were inspired by the energy drinks “Monster Energy” sold in the store downstairs and another popular “energy source” called “energy bar” which is actually a kind of food stick. Our group questioned the realness of the names and advertisements of these products: Can energy drinks and food provide energy to human body?
我们的研究课题是：能量饮料和能量棒中是否真的蕴含能量。这一课题灵感源自便利店中售卖的怪物高能饮料（Monster Energy）和另一款畅销食物——能量棒。我们组对于这些产品的命名和营销内容表示质疑：能量饮料和食物真的能为人体提供能量吗？

We did two experiments to explore the topic. For energy drink, we firstly did an experiment on the impact of Monster on human body. We compared the heart rate and the time spent running 400m on the playground before and after drinking.
我们进行了两项实验来研究本课题。对于能量饮料，我们首先就怪物高能饮料对人体的影响做了一项实验，对比了饮用前与饮用后400米跑的用时和心率。

In the lab, we burned some energy bars and two main substances in energy drinks and used the flames to heat water. This is to measure the amount of energy they contain.
我们在实验室内燃烧了能量棒和功能饮料中所含的两种主要成分，并用该燃焰加热水。这是为了测试它们所含的能量。

The result turned out that the hypothesis was partially right - energy drinks contain little energy, and has no positive effect on the human body, meanwhile, energy bars do contain lots of energy and can be used as a reliable source.
实验结果表明，我们的部分设想是正确的：能量饮料含有极少能量，并且对人体没有益处；能量棒却拥有大量能量，可以作为可靠的能量来源食用。

 

During the process, we mainly encountered three problems.
在实验过程中，我们遇到的问题主要有三个。

Firstly, choosing the research question. We wanted the topic to be origin, associated with all three subjects, and easy to investigate in school. When we were given the topic of energy, we considered lots of choices, like the transfer among different forms of energy, clean energy sources and fruit batteries. We finally decided to do energy drinks and energy bars because few people are paying attention to the topic and it is relatively easy to be investigated through analyzing the impact on human body and the actual energy contained.
第一，确定研究问题。我们希望设计一个涉及三门科学学科，并能在校园内顺利研究进行的原创课题。当我们得知今年的主题是能量时，我们有过很多设想。比如不同能量形式间的转换、清洁能源与水果电池等……最终，我们决定研究能量饮料和能量棒，因为很少有人关注这类课题。而且该课题研究对象与内容相对易操作，通过检验分析其对人体的影响和所含能量便可进行。

Secondly, figuring out the structure of experiments. This was a problem because we did not have advanced equipment and specific substances in the school lab. We can neither directly extract substances from Monster Energy, nor measure precisely the amount of energy contained in an energy bar. To solve the problem, we designed a heart rate and running an experiment to reflect the effect of energy drinks more directly. We also purchased the major substances contained in the energy drink separately in order to avoid extracting them from the drink.
第二，建立实验框架。这一困难主要由实验室设备水平和特定物质缺乏引起。我们无法从怪物高能饮料中直接分离提取物质，也无法精确测量单位食物棒中所含能量。为解决这一问题，我们设计了一项运动心率实验来更直观地反映能量饮料对人体的影响。同时，我们购买了能量饮料中所含的主要物质成分来代替从饮料中分离提取的步骤。

Thirdly, group work. In the project, students were grouped randomly, so group members may not know each other well. Also, there were no leaders specified which made decision making much more difficult. We tried hard to unify our thoughts and come up with a feasible proposal. We also did a detailed plan for the speech in order to prepare for each section carefully and allowed time to practice together.
第三，团队合作。在实验项目活动中，团队成员是随机分配的，因此部分组员之间可能不熟悉。另外，因为没有规定队长，团队决策显得更为艰难。我们努力统一成员意见并提出可行计划。我们还就演讲展示部分制定了详细的计划，以便留足时间充分准备、合作排练。

The G4 Project is really meaningful not only to the IB course, but also to our future. Our abilities to integrate knowledge, group work, planning, analyzing, and evaluating experiments, and connecting natural sciences to other areas of knowledge and CAS Activities were all examined and practiced.
Group4科学实验项目不但对IB课程，更对今后的学习生活有所裨益。我们整合学科知识的能力、团队合作、计划、分析和评估实验、跨学科研究以及CAS实践活动能力都得到了检验与提升。

For instance, although we have done various experiments in middle and primary schools in the past years, these labs were always designed by the teacher or the author of the course book. Students’ job is just to do the experiment following the instructions and write a lab report according to a template. However, during the G4 Project, students are only given a board topic, in this case, energy. All plans, proposals, structure of experiments and lab reports are made by ourselves. This has exercised our creativity, imagination, and rigorous science mindset profoundly. What’s more, The connections to other areas of knowledge have really given us a great example of the application of TOK in other IB subjects. We carefully examined the effect of human sciences, arts, and ethics on our project. For example, we questioned why people would believe in the advertisements even they cannot verify whether the information is correct or not. We thought this happens because lots of decisions in our everyday lives are made based on emotions and feelings instead of rational reasoning. This has made us believe in the fact that all areas of knowledge are well connected and that none of them can be isolated from the rest of the world. We really enjoyed this project and are looking forward to more activities like this to be organized in our IB Centre.
虽然我们在小学和初中阶段完成过不少实验，但这些实验都是根据书本或者老师设计进行的。同学们的任务只是按部就班地进行操作，然后根据模板撰写实验报告。但在G4P项目中，同学们收到的只是一个广义主题，如今年的“能量”。所有的计划、提案、实验框架和实验报告都由我们自己设计和实施。这强化锻炼了我们的创造力、想象力和严谨的科学思维。不仅如此，与其他学科知识的联系，让我们更加明白应如何在其他IB学科中应用TOK知识理论。我们在实验过程中认真检验人文科学、艺术和伦理对课题产生的影响。例如，我们会思考为何人们会相信广告所宣传的内容，即使他们无法分辨广告信息的真伪。我们认为这类现象的存在是因为很多日常生活中的决策都是基于情绪和感性影响而非理性推断作出的。这使我们相信所有领域的知识都不是独立存在的，它们都在相互影响和作用。我们非常喜欢G4P科学实验项目、享受实验过程。希望今后我们效实IB中心能够推出更多此类活动。

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第五组：胡汉桐、马邵涵、范芷润、杨树蕙
执笔：胡汉桐

The topic of the project of our group is “Biofuel from paper waste”. As paper waste is a severe problem nowadays and so is the use of fossil fuel, we seek to use paper waste as a source as biofuel that can benefit the whole humanity and make our future sustainable. We conducted an experiment to find the heat value of different sorts of paper waste, with or without lard added. Our conclusion is that paper waste can produce energy and should be considered as a source of biofuel. Also, adding animal oil has negative effect on the heat value of the paper, thus we don’t need to use material like animal fat that pertains to the consumption of people to produce biofuel. Instead, we use wasted material, in this case, paper waste, to produce biofuel.
我们组的课题是“从废纸中提取生物燃料”。废纸污染和化石燃料使用一样，都是现今社会环境所面临的严重问题。我们试图将废纸作为一种生物燃料来源使用，以期造福人类社会，实现可持续发展。我们进行实验，研究不同种废纸（包括添加和未添加猪油）的热值。实验结论表明，废纸可以产生能量，应该被作为生物燃料来源使用。此外，添加动物油对纸张的热值有负面影响。因此不需要额外占用人类生存所必须的原料，如动物脂肪等来提取生物燃料。相反，我们可以利用废弃材料，如本课题中的废纸，来提取生物燃料。 

 

By doing the project, we developed a better understanding of the status quo of the use of energy and different sources of energy. We also developed the ability to use the limited apparatus provided to conduct a feasible experiment to find the results. We mastered the skill to do research and plan the most suitable experiment.  Though there are some sources of error, we managed to identify them and give possible solutions. What’s more, we developed collaboration skills as we did most of the work together. All the things we learned will definitely help us to do better academic activities in the future.
通过G4P实验项目，我们对能源使用现状和能源种类有了深入的了解。同时，我们学会利用有限的资源设备设计并完成切实可行的实验，从而解答研究问题。我们掌握了设计课题和研究实验的技能。虽然过程中会出现一些错误，但我们及时发现并尽力解决。除此之外，组员们分工协力进行实验，培养了合作能力。相信我们所学到的一切必将对今后的学术活动有所裨益。