Science Week - Body

We investigated  - How the body starts to break down food

• we learned that starch is used for energy.  It is a complex sugar and can't be absorbed into the blood until it is broken down into simple sugars.

• we made a starch solution by mixing rice with water.  When we added iodine the solution turned blue-black (this happens when iodine comes in contact with starch).
• we had fun making a saliva solution by rinsing water around our mouths and spitting it into a cup.  When we added this to the starch solution and iodine the blue-black colour slowly disappeared, showing the starch had changed.
• we found out that we have an enzyme called amylase in our saliva and this starts to break down the complex sugars in starch into simple sugars.

Science Week - apples

The children investigated - How can we prevent an apple from turning brown?

• we observed slices of apple and found out that they turn brown when they are left out in the air.
• we used the internet to research why this happened and to find ways to prevent it.
• we found out that when you cut an apple, phenols in the apple react with oxygen and make the apple brown.
• we tested lemon juice, orange juice, water, wrapping the slices in cling film and putting slices in the fridge.
• we learned that it's important to have a 'control' slice of apple with nothing done to it, to compare it with the others.
• we planned our investigation and thought about how to make it a fair test.
• we found that the lemon juice worked best.