Science Biscuit Investigation Since lockdown Ive had lots

Science Biscuit Investigation

Since lockdown I’ve had lots of time to drink my tea and coffee and get busy dunking my biscuits. I’m finding it challenging to find a biscuit that both satisfies my need for biscuity crunch and one that lasts more than a couple of dunks! Join me for the great big RFA dunk to find our school’s favourite dunking biscuit!

Choose a big question to investigate: • Mr Lemin likes his biscuits soggy. Which biscuit should be have with his tea? • Which biscuit will make the best dunker? • Does the thickness of a biscuit affect it’s dunking time? • Does the amount of sugar affect dunking time? Or you can come up with your own question to investigate about dunkibility.

PLAN

We are going to be planning, doing and reviewing a fair test for this investigation. Watch the BBC Bitesize video on fair testing. Fair testing is when we try to keep everything the same (variables), apart from one thing (independent variable) to try and find something out about that one thing. https: //www. bbc. co. uk/bitesize/topics/z 2 ddmp 3/articles/zpctrwx

Choose your biscuits first. Do a look and taste comparison with your biscuits to help you make the prediction. Use the table or create your own.

After we have done a comparison we need to make a prediction about which biscuit will last the longest number of dunks or get the soggiest without breaking! A prediction is what you think will happen in the experiment. It is a sensible guess and often is made thinking about the properties of the item – in this case a biscuit. You should also be able to say why/ justify why you think have made this prediction. I predict that ________ will be the best biscuit, because. . .

Variables We need to think about what we are going to keep the same and what we are going to change (these are called variables). Some of the variables for this investigation are: • • Temperature of tea Length of time left in the cup Number of dunks Size of the cup Milk or no milk Hot milk or cold milk The biscuit Time taken with dunking Can you think of anything else?

For Upper KS 2: Independent Variable – The ONE thing that you choose to change in an experiment. Dependent Variable – The ONE thing that you measure to see if there is an effect (put in results table). Controlled Variables – ALL the things that you need to keep the same for a fair test. You should begin to use these terms when you are talking and writing about your experiment.

What are we going to measure and how? EYFS and KS 1 suggested: Number of dunks to make the biscuit crumble (counting number of dunks) KS 2 suggested: Time it takes for the biscuit to fall off in the tea (recording time)

What equipment are you going to need? Think about all the items of equipment you are going to need and make a list: • • Mug of tea Kettle Biscuits Adult to help Is there anything else you are going to need? You might need some measuring equipment to help you work more accurately. If you have them in your house you could get: • A thermometer • A ruler • A stopwatch Don’t worry if you don’t have these things – you could use non standard measures to measure thickness and your parents phone to record the times!

DO

This is the part when we actually do the experiment! How we are going to record our results? Use the table to help you, or create your own! Make sure you have lots of fun dunking your biscuits…and maybe also eating a few!

Have a look at this video of someone else trying out the classics! https: //www. youtube. com/watch? time_continue=31&v=7 KPWtc. Ds. Ah. I&feature=emb_logo

KS 2 – reliability How will ensure your results are reliable? Consider repeating some of your experiment to ensure that the results are similar if not the same. The more times you carry out an experiment – the more reliable to results – and the more reliable your conclusions will be!

What do our results tell us? It is sometimes a bit tricky looking at results in a table with lots of writing (and maybe some tea spills!) and then trying to figure out what they show us. Watch this video on how to create your own graph: So we put our results into a table to make it easier! How do I create a table? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=M 8 ufrd. Kbj. RM

EYFS and KS 1 – number of dunks You could also draw a picture of what the biscuits look like or after they have been dunked. Playing Video Games Time (minutes) Use your results to create a block graph of the number of dunks up the y axis (the vertical line) and the biscuits on the x axis (the horizontal line) Day of the Week

KS 2 – time taken for biscuit to fall apart If you decide to do the number of dunks – this is called discrete data as it is a whole number. If you do the time taken for the biscuit to fall apart – this is called continuous data as it is time and not a whole number/ doesn’t necessarily have an ending. We can use this table to help us choose what type of graph is most appropriate for the experiment we are doing. In this experiment we will create a bar graph.

Bar Charts Data that is counted and has no in-between value is called discrete data. Discrete data is usually collected in a frequency table and then presented as a bar chart. Pet Cat Dog Fish Rabbit Other A bar chart has a horizontal axis and a vertical axis. • A bar chart must always have a title explaining what it shows. • Each bar must be the same width. A number line is marked on the vertical axis. The scale of this number line is chosen based on the data range. The data categories are organised on the horizontal axis. Each axis must have a label explaining what it shows. 14 12 Number of Children • There must be a gap between each bar. A Bar Chart to Show How Many Pets Y 6 Have 16 • Bars must be carefully drawn to show the data. Number of Children 12 14 7 5 8 10 8 6 4 2 0 Cat Dog Fish Type of Pet Rabbit Other

What does your graph tell you? A graph helps us to easily read the information about the experiment. • Which biscuit stayed together for the most dunks? • Which biscuit fell apart the most easily? • Which biscuit took the longest to fall apart? • Were there any biscuits that got the same or similar results?

REVIEW

Rank the biscuits from the most dunkable to the least dunkable. Least dunkable Most dunkable Create your own ranking line and take a photo!

The science behind it! Biscuits are basically starch held together by sugar. Dunking melts the sugar leading to a more intense sweetness but also leading to disintegration (it falling apart). At the same time the starch grains swell which temporarily helps to hold the dissolving biscuit together. According to some sources milk makes the drink 3 times slower to penetrate (go into) the starch molecules and slows the disintegration time!

Conclusions You don’t always need to write a conclusion, but it is important to think about the different steps of the experiment and what it has shown us. Does it answer our question that we set out to find? Does it tell us which is RFA’s most dunkable biscuit?

Talking or writing about a conclusion – remember to include these things: • • For KS 1 Make a comment about what we have found out and what have we noticed? Make a comment on why we think our results might be this way. State which is the most dunkable biscuit. Link back to prediction – was this correct? • • • For KS 2 Everything from KS 1 Make comparisons between aspects of the experiment. Relate results to scientific knowledge (density of the biscuit, absorption, coating) Draw a diagram to explain scientific thinking and results. Evaluate the effectiveness of your experiment and anything that may have had an impact on results/ potential sources of error. Suggest improvements/ further areas for investigation and study.

KS 2 use the PEEL conclusions to help you structure your written conclusions.

Example Conclusion: Tea Bag Investigation: In our investigation we found that the pyramid shaped tea bag made the strongest tea. This is shown by our results where we observed that the cross disappeared on average after only 20 seconds with the pyramid tea bag compared to 40 seconds with the square bag and 60 seconds with the round bag. We think that the pyramid shape made the strongest tea because when we looked closer at the tea bags with a magnifying glass we observed that the holes in the pyramid bag were larger than in the other bags. This would have allowed the hot water to enter and leave the pyramid bag faster than the others so allowing the water to become darker more quickly. The pyramid tea bag also had the larger surface area which means that diffusion would be able to happen at a far greater rate than in the other smaller surfaced tea bags which also helped to produce a stronger tea in a shorter space of time. So my prediction was correct. I feel that my results are reliable because I took care to control all the variables by making sure the same amount of water was used in each beaker by using a measuring cylinder; the same temperature of water was used by boiling the kettle each time before using and having the same person judge when the cross could no longer be seen. Therefore I am confident that the pyramid tea bag makes the strongest tea.

Further Investigations? • Are own brand biscuits the same as premium brand biscuits? • Does the number of layers affect the dunkability? • Does the amount of sugar affect the time it takes to fall apart? (For this you will need to analyse the sugar content on the food label and work out the amount of sugar per biscuit in the pack) • Does hot milk make a different? • Does the strength of the tea make a difference? • Do the results stay the same with coffee or herbal tea?

Other science fun! Create a vocano Watch the video (or use the video from NHM) and see how substances react when they are put together. https: //www. nhm. ac. uk/discover/how-to-make-a-volcano. html Grow a rainbow Watch the video of how to use capillary action to create your own rainbow using kitchen roll and pens. Secret messages Watch the video and create your own invisible ink and write a secret message. Learn how lemon juice contains carbon compounds which oxidize when heated. BBC Bitesize Use the BBC daily lessons to find science knowledge for your year group and previous year groups to keep your knowledge top notch! https: //www. bbc. co. uk/bitesize/articles/z 6 vpnrd

Watch incredible videos of Africa’s finest animals through the Wild Earth youtube channel. There are live daily safari game drives – what will you spot? https: //www. youtube. com/channel/UCV 6 HJBZD_h. Zc. IX 9 JVJ 3 d. CXQ

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