Chiba Entrance Science case studies
Chiba Entrance Science · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The science stream of Chiba University's entrance examination is the route by which applicants seek admission to the Faculty of Science and the School of Science, where mathematics and the natural sciences are taught as research disciplines rather than as service subjects. It is aimed at upper-secondary graduates, including international applicants, who intend to read mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology or earth science at university level and who are willing to be assessed on genuine subject depth rather than on memorised procedure. The Chiba Entrance Science case studies are 5 cases and about 3,083 words.
1The Newsletter Pass-Rate Claim: Which Comparison Survives Scrutiny?
Chiba Minami High School's science club ran two optional revision courses before the second-year mock examination, and the club newsletter, going to print tomorrow, states: 'Course A is clearly the more effective course, because 75% of its students passed, against 67% of those on Course B.' The raw numbers: Course A enrolled 60 students and 45 passed; Course B enrolled 120 students and 80 passed. The club president, however, checked who had signed up.
634 words, about 3 min2The Filament Lamp: A Straight Line That Should Not Be Straight
A student investigates a 6.0 V torch bulb using a variable power supply, an ammeter and a voltmeter. She records seven pairs: (0.50 V, 0.100 A), (1.00 V, 0.160 A), (2.00 V, 0.240 A), (3.00 V, 0.310 A), (4.00 V, 0.360 A), (5.00 V, 0.410 A), (6.00 V, 0.450 A).
604 words, about 3 min3The Buffer That Would Not Reach Its Target pH
A first-year student must prepare 1.00 dm³ of a buffer of pH 4.74 by mixing equal volumes of 0.100 mol dm⁻³ ethanoic acid (Ka = 1.8 × 10⁻⁵) and 0.100 mol dm⁻³ sodium ethanoate. She calculates that 0.0500 mol of sodium ethanoate is required and weighs out 4.10 g, taking the molar mass to be 82.0 g mol⁻¹.
627 words, about 3 min4Elodea and the Lamp: When the Inverse-Square Test Fails at One Point
A student investigates photosynthesis in Elodea using a lamp placed at four distances from a tube of pondweed in hydrogencarbonate solution. At each distance she allows five minutes for equilibration, then collects the oxygen evolved in a capillary for five minutes and records the volume.
634 words, about 3 min5The Sentence That Proved Too Much
The school magazine's science page carries this draft, written by a first-year student, summarising a study reported in a news digest: 'Researchers fitted 40 urban foxes with tracking collars and recorded when the animals were active over eight weeks in and around one city. In streets with brighter night-time lighting, foxes were recorded as active later after sunset.
584 words, about 3 min