Day 1: Food Science
Food science is the study of chemical and physical structures in food. In their first activity, kids learned how to make a hypothesis and found out which foods have more water in them. They cut small pieces of banana, carrots, and marshmallow and put them on a plate. Each food was weighed out. The kids then made a hypothesis about which food they thought would have the most water. For example, one student wrote, "If bananas have the most water, then they will have the biggest difference in before and after weight because more water was taken out." The foods were then placed in the dehydrator, a machine which removes all of the water from food. After they were dehydrated, each food was reweighed; the food with the biggest difference in weight was the one with the most water in it. The end results were the following: 1st- Carrots (95% water), 2nd- Banana (85%), 3rd- Marshmallow (52%). The next activity focused on why we make pudding with milk instead of water. Each child made a cup of pudding with water and a cup with milk. During snack time, they were able to taste and see the difference. Without milk, pudding does not solidify. This is because milk contains a protein known as Casein, which makes the pudding solidify. In the final activity, kids made gummy worms! By mixing calcium chloride and sodium alginate, we make the gelatin which gummy worms are made of. Then, students could chose a color to make their gummy worms; they could also add citric acid to make sour gummy worms!
Day 2: Environmental Science
Environmental science is the study of the human and natural impacts which influence the environment as well as the way organisms interact with their environment. The first activity of the second day demonstrated to students the relationship between environmental quality and money. Sometimes, the choices which are best for our environment cost us more money and time. Each kid started out with a certain amount of money and the group had a fish tank with clean water. They were asked relevant questions such as, "Imagine you have a friend who throws trash on the ground. He says he'll pay you $2 if you just ignore it and don't tell his mom. Do you pick up the trash or ignore it and get $2?" For every student that made the a bad decision for the environment, the water got more polluted. The next activity included an outdoor scavenger hunt and the identification of endangered and extinct animals. The animals ranged from easier (Woolly Mammoth-Extinct) to harder (Golden Toad-Extinct). Students then traveled to the final station, where they learned about the parts of a plant and then planted a flower to take home!
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| Students learn about how their actions impact the environment. |
Biotechnology is the application of new technologies to solve biological problems in the world today. At the first station, kids played a memory game which showed the large scope of biotechnology. Topics ranged from DNA to Plants to Bacteria. From these topics, kids learned what biotechnology is and how it applies to their lives'. In the next activity, kids made DNA double helixes from twizzlers and marshmallows. We then talked about what DNA is. DNA is found in every cell in your body, and is basically a 'code' for what you look like. It has four base pairs, Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine, and Guanine. These pair together, forming the 'rungs' in the DNA ladder. However, adenine can only pair with thymine; likewise with cytosine and guanine. So kids had four different colors of marshmallows to learn about this exclusive pairing. Next, they learned about bacteria. Kids got to use microscopes to look a bacteria and learn about the structure of a bacterium. They learned about where bacteria like to live. Each kid had a liquid which glows under UV light squirted into their hands. After rubbing it in, they saw that their hands glowed bright orange under UV light! They then washed their hands; the liquid acts like bacteria, hiding everywhere a bacterium would. Afterwards, the kids saw that most people still had orange on their hands under the UV light. In addition, we learned about the difference between good and bad bacteria. 'Bad' bacteria is the kind that makes you sick. 'Good' bacteria can be found helping to make yogurt and bleu cheese and helping you to digest your food.
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| Chris teaches about the structure of bacteria. |
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| Destiny teaches about DNA structure with twizzlers. |
Day 4: Animal Science
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| Students meet the dairy goats at Loudenbeck Farms. |
Please check out the Big Foot Recreation Department website next July to enroll your kids in this amazing week of activities!
Written by: Amelia Hayden
Big Foot FFA Reporter
