The Science Behind Smoking (Module 5)

Introductory Story for Module 5

"Oh, gosh," gasped Kevin. "I feel like I'm choking."

"What's wrong?" asked Ami. "Do you have a bad cold?"

"No," said Kevin. "I just ate in the smoking section of a restaurant."

"Now that you mention it," said Ami, "you do smell kind of funny."

"You know, you're right - however much I hate to admit that," said Kevin. "I had no idea that just being around smokers could affect me so much."

Just then, Ami and Kevin heard a dinging noise coming from the computer. It was Corty; who else?

"Hi, gang," said Corty. "I heard you talking about smoking. You probably didn't know this, but being around smoke is almost like smoking yourself."

"It is?" exclaimed Ami and Kevin in unison. "How can that be?"

"I'm glad you asked," said Corty, "because you're about to find out all about it during the fifth mission of Brain Power!"

"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Kevin.

"Come right this way and you'll find out," said Corty. "Over here, you'll find water, three cups, cigarettes, and leaves. Using the steps of scientific inquiry, you’re going to do an experiment to find out why smoking affected poor Kevin over here so much."

"Let me see," said Ami. "I think the first step is to observe. We should probably take a look at all that stuff over there."

"And I think the second step is to make a prediction, or a hypothesis," said Kevin. "So maybe the point is to see what happens to the water when we put a cigarette in it for a few days."

"If we put leaves in a second cup and nothing in the third cup, we can compare the cigarette water with two other cups," finished Ami.

"Let's try it," said Kevin. "Hey, kids. Why don't you do it, too? I'll bet you'll learn some things that you'll find very useful."

"That's right," said Ami. "I think we all have a chance to get to the bottom of this smoking thing once and for all."