This activity is part of the Etwinning Project “Sweety STEAM”. The Project is carried out in partnership of 13 teachers from different countries. Throughout the project, we carried out monthly activities. The February activity is mainly organised for the STEM Discovery Challenge using the Scientix Repository Resource “The Chocolate Challenge. Quantitative sensory evaluation of food”. Here, in this blog, we want to tell about our project “Sweety STEAM”, and also the resource we selected from Scientix Resource Repository.
Authors : Zeynep Kalıncı & Fatma Uludağ
Student Age: 10 – 13
Subjects : Literature, English as a Foreign Language, Arts, Science, Mathemathics
Partner Schools
- Zeynep Kalıncı – Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Secondary School (TURKIYE)
- Fatma Uludağ- Şahinde Hayrettin Yavuz Science And Art Center (TURKIYE )
- Manuela Ortigão -Escola Secundária de Gondomar -(PORTUGAL)
- Elbi Yordam -Selimiye Secondary School (TURKIYE)
- Elif Fergane- Hürriyet Secondary School (TURKIYE)
- Mehtap Öz- Prof. Dr. Şaban Teoman Duralı Science and Arts Centre (TURKIYE)
- Dilek Sevinç -Kilis Science and Art Center (TURKIYE)
- Danijela Erceg – Primary School Manuš,Split (CORATIA)
- Bekir Bora Atalay – Şehit Fatih Sultan Karaaslan Anatolian I. Hatip (TURKIYE)
- Pınar Emre Arslan – Konak Science and Arts Center (TURKIYE)
- Murat Şahin -Fethiye Science and Art Centre (TURKIYE)
- Yeliz Güdül -700. Yıl Osmangazi Secondary School
- Slađana Boričić – OŠ”Dr Arčibald Rajs”- (SERBIA)
Objectives:
- Improve students interest in STE(A)M subjects (science, technology, engineering, math )
- Develop students problem solving skills
- Develop students literacy skills
- Improve students foreign language skills (listening / writing)
- Improve students science skills (4 basic tastes, melting and freezing, graphic interpretation)
- Improve students art skills
- To create an enjoyable learning environment at school
- Integrate STEM and literacy to give students the confidence to explore STEM topic
Abstract: At the beginning of this project students read a fantasy novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is one of the best selling childrens’ books. Following the reading activity, students fulfilled a series of STE(A)M challenges integrated with literature because we wanted to arouse the curiosity of children and to create an opportunity to develop students interest in STE(A)M education.
Project Activities
First Month Activities
First, children read the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Secondly, we applied the Book Review Kit at the British Council Public Website. Students did listening and matching activity under the preparation part in the page and then applied the Worksheet for the writing activity.
Lastly, students did a reading and drawing activity. They depicted what happened in the novel or a particular scene. We used the best student drawings from each partner and we created a common art magazine. Click on the link below to see our collaborative work.
Second Month Activities
At the beginning of the activity we asked the students: Would you like to open your own chocolate factory like Willy Wonka? Following that, the students learned how to make chocolate. During this activity, the students experienced solid-melt-solid.
Further, we carried out a student discussion using some questions. For instance:
Question 1
Discuss what temperature does chocolate melt at? (Answers received: average 32-34 degrees C, a little bit lower than your body temperature, that’s why it can melt in your mouth)
What factors cause a chocolate melt or become solid?
Question 2
Tasting chocolate – How does chocolate taste?
Students gave answers and talked about 4 basic tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter). After that, students explored the tongue map, so they learned how different parts of the tongue have different sensory receptors for different tastes.
Question 3
Discuss if melting and freezing a physical or chemical change.
Afterwards, students examined the graphic below and answered: ‘What can be interpreted from the data?’
Students used twinspace forums, so that they could note down their answers. In this way, they could see each others’ answers. Web 2.0 tools, such as Padlet, can be used for the same purpose.
Finally, we joined the STEM Discovery Campaign Challenge. Thanks to the Scientix Resource Repository, we found and selected an enjoyable resource that matches our project theme, titled “Chocolate Challenge”. Here is the link for this resource: Chocolate Challenge
As a result, we could manage to complete a series of activities in an interdisciplinary way around the same theme. Moreover, we had the opportunity to embed Scientix in Etwinning Projects. It was a great experience for all partners because ‘STEAM has never been so sweet!’