The kindergartners and I have been using our five senses to explore Science. We've smelled mystery scent jars, dissected marshmallows, sorted objects by shape, size, and material, and even tested our understanding of density by predicting which objects would sink or float. I chose today's lesson to incorporate touch, smell, and for one class, taste. I was especially excited about giving this demonstration because my third son happens to be a kinder here too, and I wanted him to eat the apples I lovingly slice for his lunch instead of returning with the full container. I figured I am not alone on the "but they're brown!" argument, and thought most of our little darlings could benefit. :) I took a whole apple, cut it into slices. We discussed that they looked good and they would all choose to eat them. Then we put one in an empty (they know from a previous lesson that it is not empty, but air filled) bowl, filled another bowl with freshly squeezed lemon juice, and one in a bowl of water. We then discussed our predictions of outcome.
Because this demonstration needed some time to provide results, we took a trip out to our school garden. We used our sense of sight to observe the various types of lettuce, identify vegetables by their leaves, and discuss parts of the plant we eat. They got a big kick finding out they were eating flowers when they ate broccoli. It was awesome how many of our kiddos knew something about the garden. From their comments it sounds like lots of you parents are doing great things in your own yards!
Back inside, we observed the changes in our apple slices. We decided that the slice exposed to air alone changed the most, looked brown and "kind of rotten." The one with lemon looked the best and they thought that would be the best. I then had a few volunteers smell each of the samples and they decided that the brown apple smelled the most like a "real" apple. We discussed how there was nothing wrong with the brown apple, it was just a reaction between the inside of the apple and the oxygen in the air. The lemon juice served as a "shield" over the apple and prevented the chemicals in the apple from mixing with the oxygen. However, this apple slice smelled and would taste different than our regular apple. For my son's rotation, I had him be our taster. He confirmed that they tasted different. I then cut off the exposed, brown part of the apple and showed that there was fresh white apple underneath. At the end of this lesson, we determined that just because an apple turns brown when it comes into contact with the air, it doesn't mean that it is rotten or bad to eat. Hopefully this is the part that sinks in. I'll know when I unpack today's lunches. :)
This is an easy experiment to conduct at home. Other fruits like pears and bananas would be fun to work with too. You could compare all three and see which fruit browns the fastest, tastes best/ worst with lemon juice, and even use other household liquids, like soda, orange juice, and vinegar.
Because this demonstration needed some time to provide results, we took a trip out to our school garden. We used our sense of sight to observe the various types of lettuce, identify vegetables by their leaves, and discuss parts of the plant we eat. They got a big kick finding out they were eating flowers when they ate broccoli. It was awesome how many of our kiddos knew something about the garden. From their comments it sounds like lots of you parents are doing great things in your own yards!
Back inside, we observed the changes in our apple slices. We decided that the slice exposed to air alone changed the most, looked brown and "kind of rotten." The one with lemon looked the best and they thought that would be the best. I then had a few volunteers smell each of the samples and they decided that the brown apple smelled the most like a "real" apple. We discussed how there was nothing wrong with the brown apple, it was just a reaction between the inside of the apple and the oxygen in the air. The lemon juice served as a "shield" over the apple and prevented the chemicals in the apple from mixing with the oxygen. However, this apple slice smelled and would taste different than our regular apple. For my son's rotation, I had him be our taster. He confirmed that they tasted different. I then cut off the exposed, brown part of the apple and showed that there was fresh white apple underneath. At the end of this lesson, we determined that just because an apple turns brown when it comes into contact with the air, it doesn't mean that it is rotten or bad to eat. Hopefully this is the part that sinks in. I'll know when I unpack today's lunches. :)
This is an easy experiment to conduct at home. Other fruits like pears and bananas would be fun to work with too. You could compare all three and see which fruit browns the fastest, tastes best/ worst with lemon juice, and even use other household liquids, like soda, orange juice, and vinegar.