For Science Week we adopted a local scientist. We were lucky to have Dan and Julie Asher who came in and shared their experiences growing grapes and creating wine. The students got stuck in creating grape juice. They took the grapes off the stem, crushed them using the traditional method (after cleaning their feet) and then used all their scientific observation skills to describe the created juice.
The next time round was exploring the science of how yeast acts as a catalyst in the process of fermentation and therefore the creation of wine. The students first used their scientific observation skills to describe the changes in the juice after it had been left to settle (with the skins on) for a few days. Then it was back to hands on learning and activating the yeast (by adding it to warm water) before adding it to the grape mixture and keeping it at the required temperature of 40 degrees. We now need to wait for 2 weeks to allow the yeast to convert the sugar into alcohol. Watch this space.
Wow Room 7 this is fabulous hands on learning. Great to see making observations too! Miss Maxwell
ReplyDelete