Growing a Gummy Bear

Type of resource: Video

Web address https://youtu.be/FEIdjnx5jsI

Supporting website: https://www.playdoughtoplato.com/growing-gummy-bear-science/

Language: English

Description

Experiment investigating the scientific principle of osmosis by soaking a gummy bear in water overnight and observing how it grows, having absorbed water.

Scientific concept introduced

Osmosis

Creative and critical thinking

Critical Thinking:
– Prediction
– Explaining

Creative Thinking:
– Curiosity
– Imagining

Mathematical reasoning

– Counting
– Measuring (length and capacity)

Scientific thinking

– Questioning
– Observing
– Predicting
– Reasoning
– Comparing

Learning how to learn

– Following guidelines
– Fun in Learning
– Turn taking in groups

Additional

– Oral language – listening and following instructions
– Literacy – vocabulary development
– Cooking skills of measuring liquids using a tablespoon
– Drawing skills
– Collaborative skills of turn taking

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FEIdjnx5jsI?feature=oembed

Growing a Gummy Bear

Overall aims

● to enable pupils to explore what happens when a gummy bear is soaked in water for a long period of time
● to develop pupils’ skills in listening and following instructions
● to develop pupils’ cooking skill of measuring liquids using a tablespoon
● to develop pupils’ skills in observing and predicting
● to develop pupils’ skills in comparing
● to develop pupils’ skills in counting
● to develop pupils’ skills in turn-taking
● to develop pupils’ skills in measuring (length)
● to develop pupils’ creative thinking skills

Vocabulary – keywords should be understood

Gummy bears, sugar, sweet, taste, shorter, longer, bigger, smaller, wider, narrower, ruler, rubbery, soft, squidgy, dissolve

Expected learning outcomes (operational aims)

The child will be enabled to:
– follow instructions for the experiment
– identify foods that taste sweet

– measure the length of gummy bears with a ruler
– count from 1 to 10
-practice the skill of measuring using a tablespoon
-make observations and predictions during the experiment
-compare objects in terms of size and length
-identify differences and similarities between a gummy bear soaked in water and a control gummy bear
– work together in small groups
– draw a creative story

STEM skills – to which the learning unit is related to

CORE STEM SKILLS

● Asking questions
● Observing
● Predicting
● Explaining
● Reasoning
● Curiosity
● Imagining
● Comparing
● Counting
● Measuring – length and capacity

ADDITIONAL SKILLS

● Following guidelines
● Fun in learning
● Turn taking
● Oral language
● Literacy – vocabulary development
● Cooking skill of measuring liquids using a tablespoon
● Creative thinking skills
● Drawing skills

Teaching methodologies/activity outline

Teacher Note: This experiment investigates the scientific principles of osmosis by soaking a gummy bear in water overnight and observing how it grows, having absorbed water. You will need to leave this experiment overnight.

Introduction:
1. Inform pupils that they are going to be doing an experiment with gummy bears. Elicit what they know about gummy bears.
Sample questions: What do they look like? How do they taste? (sweet) What are they made of? (mainly jelly – gelatin; sugar; and food colouring) What do you think makes them taste sweet? (they’re made with sugar).
2. Ask pupils to think of any other foods that taste sweet and write a list of these on the board. Discuss the importance of not eating too many sugary foods.

Activity:
(Ask pupils to work in groups of 5 or 6, reminding them to take turns).

Materials: (per group)
– 2 drinking glasses
– 2 gummy bears
– A tablespoon
– A large bowl of Water (The group will need about 10 tablespoons of water)
– A ruler per pupil

Instructions:
Part 1 (Day 1)
1. Ask pupils to take turns feeling the gummy bears and to describe what they feel and look like – small, rubbery, soft, squidgy.
2. Give each pupil a small ruler and ask them to find the numerals from 1 to 10 on the ruler as you call them out. Then ask pupils to count the numerals in order on the ruler (younger pupils will need more adult support with this).
3. Ask pupils to take turns measuring the length of a gummy bear with the ruler and to note the result.
4. Now ask pupils to place a gummy bear in each of the glasses.
5. Ask pupils, taking turns in the group, to measure out 10 tablespoons of water and pour it into one of the glasses. (The water needs to cover the gummy bear.)

6. Explain to pupils that you are going to see what happens when a gummy bear is left in water overnight. Ask pupils why they think one gummy bear was left out of water – eliciting that this is what we call a ‘control’. We use a control in experiments to help us make sure we know exactly what causes any changes we find in our results.

7. Ask pupils to predict what they think will happen to each of the gummy bears – size and shape.

Part 2 (Day 2)
8. The next day ask pupils to examine their gummy bears, comparing the gummy bear in water and the control, identifying differences in shape and size. Did any of the changes the pupils predicted happen? Ask pupils to take turns measuring the length of the gummy bears with a ruler – what changes are there in length, if any; are there other changes? For example, are either of the gummy bears shorter, longer, bigger, smaller, wider, narrower.

9. Discuss with pupils what happened.
The science behind this – Gummy bears are made with sugar and gelatin dissolved in a warm water solution. As the solution cools down, the water leaves it and the bears become firm but they’re chewy too because there’s still a little water left inside. This water is a sugary solution. It’s this sugary water (solution) that’s important to our experiment. The water added to the gummy bear was plain water and it was different to the sugary water inside the gummy bear. These two types of water wanted to balance each other, so the plain water moved towards the more sugary water. The gummy bear absorbed that water and became bigger. When water moves like this, it’s called osmosis.

Conclusion:
Ask pupils to draw a creative story about a big and little gummy bear. Encourage them to use vocabulary describing length and size.