The Wonderful World of Science — Solutions
All in-text “?” questions and Activities from Chapter 1, answered in detail with step‑by‑step explanations.
This chapter has no numbered exercise — instead it poses curiosity questions in speech‑bubbles and three “Let us think and write” activities. Every one of them is solved below, with the same illustrations used in the textbook.
The “?” speech‑bubble questions
Sprinkled through the chapter, these blue speech‑bubbles ask the four big questions that frame the whole book.
Science is a way of thinking, observing and doing things to understand the world we live in and to uncover the secrets of the universe. It is not a fixed pile of facts to memorise — it is an ongoing adventure in which we:
- ask questions about things we notice around us,
- explore the world to gather clues, and
- try to understand how and why things work the way they do.
The most important ingredient for doing science is curiosity — which is exactly where the title of this textbook, Curiosity, comes from. Science can be found everywhere: in a grain of sand, a mountain, the depths of the ocean, the vastness of space, a dish cooking in the kitchen, or a game on the playground.
Chapter 1 gives us a preview — a “trailer” — of everything Grade 6 Science will take us through. With the help of this book, we will explore:
As the chapter puts it, the deeper we go, the more we realise that all these ideas are connected — like pieces of one giant, unending jigsaw puzzle.
We can find answers on our own by following the scientific method — the same five‑step process the book illustrates using the example of a pen that suddenly stops writing.
This loop of observing → questioning → guessing → testing → analysing is exactly how professional scientists work too. Anyone who follows these steps — a cook, a bicycle‑repair person, an electrician, or you — is, in that moment, working like a scientist.
This closing line is a play on words between “wise” and “whys”, which sound almost identical when spoken aloud.
The message: a person becomes wise because they keep asking “why?” about the world around them. Constant, genuine curiosity — asking why the sky is blue, why bread turns mouldy, why a tyre goes flat — is what builds real understanding over time. So to grow wise, don’t stop being a “whys” person!
Activity Solutions
Model answers for all three activities, following the scientific‑method framework taught in this chapter.
Let us think and write
You were asked to:
- Write about a similar problem that you tried to solve.
- What steps did you take?
Problem: One day, my torch stopped giving light even though I switched it on.
What if the first guess had been wrong?
If the torch still hadn’t worked with new batteries, I would have made a new guess — maybe the bulb was fused — and tested that next, by replacing the bulb. This is exactly the trial‑and‑improve loop the textbook describes for the pen‑ink example.
Let us think and write
You were asked to:
- Describe a daily‑life situation where you think someone was following a scientific method.
Situation: My mother was cooking dal in a pressure cooker, and the dal spilled out from under the lid.
A second everyday example — the bicycle repair person
When a bicycle tyre goes flat, a repair person observes that air keeps leaking out, questions where the leak is, guesses it could be a puncture, and tests this by dipping the tube in a tub of water — bubbles rising from one spot confirm exactly where the hole is. An electrician checking a bulb that won’t light follows the very same steps to decide whether the bulb or the switch is faulty.
Let us think and write
You were asked to:
- If you have to ask “Why?” about something, what would you ask about?
- Try to write down how you would attempt to find an answer to your question.
My “Why?” question: “Why does a slice of bread turn mouldy after a few days, while a biscuit does not?”