Backyard Science

I have been busy trying to put together a maple sugaring science presentation for my daughter's outgoing 5th grade class. The challenge is that most of these students already know the basics of sugaring: you tap the trees, you collect the sap, you boil the sap, you bring the syrup into school with mini waffles -- it's a done deal. But the fifth grader still wants to share her maple experience -- but reading a picture book won't cut it.

First I thought about having the students make various percent sugar solutions and then have them weigh the solutions with the idea to create a graph on which we could determine the density of the syrup. Unfortunately our school and my kitchen don't contain precise enough equipment to make these measurements. (So remember that when you are finishing grad school and they are getting rid of those old but reliable 5 decimal place balances or graduated cylinders where the markings are kind of wearing off, and you think, "What would I ever do with that stuff?" My kingdom for some old equipment...)

So my next foray into backyard science still involves density determination but we will use the hydrometer to show the density of the maple syrup and from that data calculate the percent sugar. Then calculate the percent sugar in Coke, and make our own sugar solution and see how accurate our measurements are by using the hydrometer. All the while we are feasting on mini waffles and maple syrup -- after all eating is a big part of my type of science.

I will also show them pictures from super cooled sap and how it crystallizes when you pour it out of the bucket. The big take home message is: Science is all around us -- even during the mud season, when the world is dreary and cold to the core. Science is totally cool.