Food Fun in the Science Classroom


Linda Dunnavantby: Linda Dunnavant

Making Science Fun… with Food!

There’s nothing like food to get students engaged in a lesson.  Even the coolest of oh-so-cool middle schoolers will be putty in your hands after you tell them they’re going to have a chance to eat and learn at the same time.  Food can be incorporated into the science classroom in countless ways.  As long as it relates to your curriculum, the sky is the limit!

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Why Is a Drinking Bird Like a Dog on a Hot Day?


Ted Beyer, Educational InnovationsBy:  Ted Beyer

Summertime—sun and fun!  For most of us (in the northern hemisphere at least) that means hot weather.  Heat does interesting things to the world around us, and to us as well.  On a hot day you tend to perspire.  Your body does this for a good reason:  as the moisture evaporates, it cools your skin, and thus helps to regulate your body temperature.

In contrast, dogs don’t perspire—they don’t have sweat glands!  So on a hot day you will see dogs panting—lots of rapid, shallow breaths with their tongues looking bigger than usual hanging out of their mouths.  That’s the doggie way of cooling off.  They are moving air over a wet surface—again using evaporation to lower their body temperature.
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