Spot the Difference

This term we are learning about chemical sciences. Students have been exploring change through through the context of food, including spaghetti, chocolate and popcorn. We have been learning about how heating and cooling food can change its properties and whether the change can be reversed or not.

In week two we looked at the difference between a frozen icy-pole and a melted icy-pole. We did this to find out what students think they know about how everyday materials can be physically changed in a variety of ways.

In week three we focused on spaghetti and the chemical change it goes through when it is cooked. We looked at it, felt it and smelt it before coming up with lots of adjectives to describe the cooked pasta.

Last week we made spaghetti towers. We used raw spaghetti to create our towers in teams. First we discussed how it felt and reviewed our lesson from last week. Then we worked in teams to build the tallest tower possible using only uncooked pasta and marshmallows. Even though the task seemed easy to begin with we were faced with many obstacles, like towers toppling over and pasta breaking. In the end we popped our architect hats on and collaborated as a team to build a structure that would stand. Take a look!