Santa Sweet Show

STEMLinc Video Conferencing: Let Santa’s elf engage your Year 3 & 4 students in festive science! Who doesn’t love Christmas lollies?  In this show, we take a journey into the wonderful world of sugar, where we learn about some of the physical properties of sugar and its use in making a variety of sweet Christmas treats.  Students perform several experiments on how sugar and other sweets interact with water in unique and sometimes beautiful ways.  Students have the opportunity to collaborate with Santa while learning STEM. (Image: Ecolinc)

Year Level: 3 – 4

Duration: 1 hour

STEM in a box:

Students will perform 3 experiments in this program, and all the materials required are sent out in a STEM in a Box kit.  Schools will need to provide water and 6 stopwatches or other timing devices, and students will need a writing implement.

Background Information:

Sugar is a substance that has many interesting properties, not least its alluring taste.  Sugar can melt and solidify just like water, and indeed can dissolve in water to form a solution known as syrup.  If excess sugar is dissolved in hot water, it will begin to crystallise out as the mixture cools.  Controlling the rate of recrystallisation leads to sweets with different textures and consistencies.  Additionally, sweets are usually coloured and flavoured to increase the enjoyment.  All these factors are investigated in this program to some degree, and the overall aim is for students to consider the design aspects of creating sweets, beyond just their sweetness.

Prior Knowledge:

This program discusses solids and liquids, and the first experiment conducts a fair test.  While not essential, it would be useful if these concepts have been introduced previously in the classroom.

Learning Intentions:

In this program students will:

• Learn that sugar melts and solidifies just like water.
• Understand the importance of fair tests
• Gain insight into the design process of manufacturing various sweets

Activities:

In this program students will:

• Conduct a fair test to determine what type of sugar (coarse or fine grained) dissolves fastest in water.
• Undertake an activity that helps visualise sugar dissolving by placing Skittles® in a tray of water.
• Perform an experiment to find out what the “m” on M&Ms® is made of.

Victorian Curriculum:

Science – Chemical sciences

• A change of state between solid and liquid can be caused by adding or removing heat (VCSSU059)
• Natural and processed materials have a range of physical properties; these properties can influence their use (VCSSU060)

Science – Planning and conducting

• Suggest ways to plan and conduct investigations to find answers to questions including consideration of the elements of fair tests (VCSIS066)

Science – Analysing and evaluating

• Reflect on an investigation, including whether a test was fair or not (VCSIS071)

Technologies – Food specialisations

• Investigate food preparation techniques used in modern or traditional societies (VCDSTC026)

Technologies – Generating

• Generate, develop, and communicate design ideas and decisions using appropriate technical terms and graphical representation techniques (VCDSCD029)

IMPORTANT:  Cancellation Policy

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2. Any cancellations need to be received in time for STEMLinc to re-sell your tickets to other teachers.
3. Please use the Eventbrite confirmation email to facilitate any cancellation of your booking.  That will automatically release yiour ticket for re-sale on our system.