The Science of Chocolate

by Yvonne Baker

The sign of a good party is when guests are reluctant to leave. Similarly, the sign of a good day sharing science, technology, engineering and mathematics with people must be when they are still there, exploring resources and sharing ideas, long after you expected the place would be empty.

So it was with our second family open day at the National Science Learning Centre and the National STEM Centre. This time the day was themed around chocolate, which was bound to bring people in, but with over 300 children, parents, grandparents and others choosing to spend a sunny April Saturday with us, I think we can justifiably call it a success.

Professor Paul Walton from the Department of Chemistry at the University of York kept the youngest to the oldest (and there was quite a range) enthralled with a romp through the chemistry of chocolate, making quite complex science understandable and engaging. His talk culminated in the world premiere of a chocolate so smooth and luscious that the faces of those lucky enough to taste it said everything – this really is a substance which, although not containing oxytocin (‘the cuddle molecule’), does a good job of making us happy partly through the wonders of chemistry. We learnt about jiggly and straight molecules, skin elasticity and the chemical formula of a human being (it’s complicated!). We also got to understand why you lose your taste when you hold your nose – in the case of chocolate, it’s down to those volatile polyphenols!

Watch the video to get a feel for the day

Here is the entire video of Professor Paul Walton’s presentation – although be warned it is over 35 minutes long, with variable video and audio quality

Our thanks should also go to Flavoursense Nation for their range of hands on activities exploring the role our senses play in the perception and experience of flavour and foods.

Valentine’s Day Science Lesson Planning Ideas

by Mark Langley.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, no doubt many of you will be looking for ideas to link your class activity with a day that may be on many of your students minds.  In our video, Mark Langley, one of the Professional Development Leaders at the National Science Learning Centre demonstrates how to make soft centred chocolates, using enzymes, which if created in a food safe environment, using food materials and following a scrupulous hygiene regime, can be eaten or given to loved ones.

This activity is a useful way to bring vocational science ideas into the classroom, and is a good demonstration of how science is applied in the real world – in this instance how creme eggs get their soft gooey centre.

If you have enjoyed this demonstration and are interested in learning about other ways and methods of delivering vocational science in your class activities, the network of Science Learning Centres has a range of vocational science courses going on across the country or you may be specifically interested in Mark’s own course BTEC and Applied: Successful pathways for 14 – 19 year Science.

You may also be interested in reading the National STEM Centre’s Valentine’s Blog.

Do you have any other Valentine’s Day Science activities you’d like to share?  How did they go?  How have you applied them?  Let us know and we can share them with others.

Merry Christmas from the Science Learning Centres

Welcome to the last of our resource and activity gifts for Christmas.

A huge thank you to all of our delegates who have participated at one of the Science Learning Centres across the country this year.

Here are the last of our resources for you to share, use or take inspiration from.

Primary

(Please scroll down for Secondary)
In this video, Zoe Crompton provides winter and snow related ideas and activities for primary school children.

Winter Primary Science Activities

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Here are the primary CPD courses coming up in the New Year.

Secondary

This video shows Simon Quinnell demonstrating a range of experiments which can be performed at the Christmas dinner table.

Science Activities for the Christmas Dinner Table

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Here are the  secondary CPD courses coming up next term.

If you like the ideas behind Simon and Zoe’s videos and would like to learn more demonstrations then you should consider attending our practical demonstration courses:

Technicians as Demonstrators:  The Practical Demonstrator in the Classroom

or one of our regional demonstration courses.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported the network of Science Learning Centres over the past year.  In particular to the major funders of our awards and bursaries.

The Wellcome Trust		Department for Education
AstraZeneca		AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust
BAE Systems		BP
General Electric Foundation		GlaxoSmithKline
Rolls-Royce		Vodafone
Vodafone Group Foundation

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year from the Science Learning Centres and the National STEM Centre, we look forward to welcoming you back in 2012.

What time is feeding time?

by Richard Needham

Here is a suggestion for an activity you can use with children of primary or

Birdfeeder experiment equipment

secondary age. It involves collecting information about when birds visit a bird feeder over a twelve hour period. I used it to find out if feeding patterns in garden birds are linked to changing light levels. You could also use the activity as a context for teaching about measurement and precision.

My set up used a force sensor attached to a hook. A bird feeder containing peanuts was suspended from the bottom of the sensor. This was connected to a logger which I wrapped in a plastic bag for weather protection.  The logger I used also collected data about light levels, temperature and sound. Data was collected from late afternoon until next morning.

First recording
Not many birds visited the feeder the first  evening, as you can see by the four points at the beginning of the top line of the graph (red), pictured below.

birdfeeder first results

However, there was a large increase in feeding activity the next morning. This is visible as many tall ‘spikes’ on the top right side of the red graph. The tallest ‘spike’ could be due to a larger bird visiting the feeder, or several birds landing on the feeder at the same time.

My colleague, who is a keen ornithologist, let me have his data for the masses of a large sample of garden birds. Over the last week my bird feeder has been visited by great tits (average mass 18g), blue tits (10g), house sparrows (25g), a nuthatch (20g) and an immature greater spotted woodpecker (60g). Chaffinches (20g) have tried to land on the feeder but do not have much success. I have tried using the data from this investigation to identify which species visited the feeder throughout the recording time. The force sensor measures up to 50N ± 1N; the light sensor measures up to 1000 lux. Would different sensors have given better results and made identification easier?

Second recording
The investigation was repeated the next evening which produced a similar graph, below, and prompted the question of what regulates the feeding times of the birds.

Birdfeeder graph 2

There seems to be a correlation with changing light intensity (blue line).  Research in to the work of Prof Alex Kacelnik FRS shows that there are many factors involved in regulating feeding behaviour, including day length and light intensity. Through this activity your pupils will be engaging with cutting edge science, as no one is yet quite sure how bird behaviour is influenced by the environment.

You can find out more about Kacelnik’s work by visiting the Royal Society website http://royalsociety.org/people/alejandro-kacelnik/
or  the Oxford University website
http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/staff/academics/kacelnik_a.htm

We’d love to see any results you have had from a similar experiment or thoughts on how this has worked for you.

Richard.

P.S I have now got this set up outisde the office window at the National Science Learning Centre -  more details to follow.

Dry Ice Demonstration

In this video senior professional development leader, Simon Quinnell, presents the dry ice demonstration. This is a good demonstration for discussing the properties of gases, acids and alkalies and for using at open evenings:

Watch the video

Please ensure you undertake a full risk assessment before performing this demonstration and that it meets your institutions health and safety requirements. We also recommend you consult CLEAPSS or SERC.

Winter Primary Science Activities

As a seasonal treat we have filmed a couple of activities to get primary pupils discussing the properties of snow and ice:

Watch the video

Cannon Fire Demonstration

The fourth in our series of demonstration videos is the ‘Cannon Fire’ experiment which can be used to demonstrate oxidation.

This impressive demonstration produces loud, crackling bursts of flame which resemble the sound of cannon fire.

CannonFire

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Please ensure you undertake a full risk assessment before performing this demonstration and that it meets your institutions health and safety requirements. We also recommend you consult CLEAPSS or SERC.

The following Science Learning Centre courses are filled with spectacular demonstrations that can help inspire your students:

Science Demonstrations: Effective and Safe

Technicians as Demonstrators: The Practical Expert in the Classroom

Whoosh Bottle Demonstration

If you are here to read about the practical survey, click here

The third in our series of demonstration videos is the classic ‘Whoosh Bottle experiment’ which can be used to demonstrate the combustion process.

Whoosh Bottle Demonstration

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Please ensure you undertake a full risk assessment before performing this demonstration and that it meets your institutions health and safety requirements. We also recommend you consult CLEAPSS or SERC.

The following Science learning Centre courses are filled with spectacular demonstrations that can help inspire your students:

Teachers and Technicians as Demonstrators: The practical expert in the classroom

Science Demonstrations: Effective and Safe

Methane Bubbles Experiment

This is the second in our series of demonstration videos developed to get your students Enthused about science.

Methane Bubbles Experiment

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Please ensure you undertake a full risk assessment before performing this demonstration and that it meets your institutions health and safety requirements. We also recommend you consult CLEAPSS or SERC.

The following Science learning Centre courses are filled with spectacular demonstrations that can help inspire your students:

Technicians as Demonstrators: The Practical Expert in the Classroom

Science Demonstrations: Effective and Safe

Coffee Whitener Flames Demonstration

Watch Simon Quinnell demonstrate the Coffee Whitener Flames experiment. This experiment can be demonstrated using cheap and readily available materials and is relevant to chemistry, physics and biology.

Coffee-whitener-flames-experiment

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Please ensure you undertake a full risk assessment before performing this demonstration and that it meets your institutions health and safety requirements. We also recommend you consult CLEAPSS or SERC.

The following Science learning Centre courses are filled with spectacular demonstrations that can help inspire your students:

Success in Teaching 11-16 Chemistry

Technicians as Demonstrators: The Practical Expert in the Classroom

The Experienced Technicians Programme