The Sweet Suit Saver Science Fair Experiment 2017

If you don't know... Ms. West and I have a science fair reputation to uphold.  We have both won districts a few times individually and since we have been in the same classroom we have placed 2nd and last year we won the district with a perfect score... so when we got to planning this year's project- we were in it to win it... and have so much fun of course!

We always try to connect our project to something we have been learning about in class.  Last year it was so easy because we had been doing baking.  This year we had been reading about the Gingerbread Man so we wanted to tie it all in.  Unfortunately we had done an experiment with the Gingerbread Man a few years ago when we made boats for him- so it couldn't be closely related to that.  We thought about altering his recipe... but we did that with the cakes last year.  So... we asked the kids and they came up with some great ideas.  We wanted to save him from the fox... but he had to get across the water first.  Here were their ideas:

We really loved the idea of either making him hard enough to survive the water or making him a suit.  We decided that we would try for the suit... but it did have to be edible.

Before we started experimenting we learned about solids, liquids and gases.  We also made a batch of gingerbread cookies.  One would be used to see what happened if we left him in the water for 10 minutes without the suit.  The others would be for the coating.  Ms. West followed a recipe with the students to make the cookies.  Once baked we did the first test.

Once we did the initial test it was clear that the gingerbread man got soggy and fell apart when left in the water for 10 minutes.

We introduced the coatings to the students and asked them to make a prediction about which one they thought would help the gingerbread man get across the water (or last for 10 minutes).  The 4 coatings/suits were Chocolate, Marshmallow, Caramel and Karo Syrup (Candy) Coating.  Just by a hair... the most students chose chocolate as the suit they thought would work the best to keep the gingerbread man safe in the water- so that became our class hypothesis.  I was skeptical for sure!

Once students made their predictions we also had them choose a team to work on.  The team would melt their coating and cover the gingerbread man cookie.  The cookie would then be placed in the freezer for a few hours and then be tested.  Students made prediction sheets about the coating they chose.

We spent the day coating the cookies in the different toppings. 

Karo Syrup (Candy Coating)/Suit

Marshmallow Coating/Suit

Chocolate Coating/Suit

Caramel Coating/Suit

After the gingerbread cookie coatings/suits had hardened back to a solid form we took them out of the freezer.  Each one was placed in a cup of water for 10 minutes.

After the cookies sat in the water for 10 minutes we took them out to see what would happen.

The marshmallow and caramel coated cookies fell apart right away!

The Karo syrup coated cookie stayed in tact for a few seconds and then crumbled.  It was only hard on the outside but soft soggy in the middle.

The chocolate coated cookie stayed hard and when broken open was still dry in the middle!  We also noticed in the cup that it floated even when we tried to push it down.

The day after our project we used photographs of what we had done to debrief with our students and discuss what had happened.

Our project competed at our school and won.  Then it went to the district science fair and we won 1st place!  I got to go with 2 of my students to a special luncheon for district winners where they got to explain the project.  They did a great job.  

This was such a fun experiment... can't wait to see what next year's project will be.