M&Ms, Gingernuts, and Current Events

Ian Milne has turned out to be quite a wonderful science professor. He talks quiet and it is often difficult to understand what he is saying, but he has had us some sweeet investigations. Today, he wanted to show us how to teach some lessons, so he showed us by allowing us to do the investigations. The first one involved gingernuts—cookies similar to our gingersnaps. Our task was to figure out why the gingerbread man hopped on the fox’s back instead of getting wet in the river. We observed that they first floated in water, then the heavier material (molasses) dissolved to the bottom and created a brownish/yellowish bottom layer, then the cookies sunk, and then they eventually floated back up to the top. You can’t tell in the picture too much, but the cookies were absolutely disgusting by the end.

We also experimented with dissolving M&Ms. We just dropped an M&M in a cup of water and observed. This may not sound very exciting, but it was so cool. First the color dissolved off. Then the white coating dissolved off in swirling patterns. Even the “m” came off! And then the chocolate stayed completely solid. If the elementary school students are as intrigued by this as we were as 21 year olds, I know it can be a great science lesson!

This one was cool because we put two M&Ms in thinking the colors would mix, but they surprisingly stayed on their own sides for the most part.

Social studies focused on current events today. As much as I wish I was up to date on the current events of the world, I definitely am not. Especially at BYU in the Provo bubble, I know I miss out on most current events that I know I should know. I have decided that I need to be informed and be aware in order to be a more effective teacher, and therefore I am going to take a daily or weekly current events quiz online (our professor gave us some great online resources for this). That way even if I don’t have a ton of time to read the newspaper or watch the news, I will still be aware of the major current events. Here are some of the quiz questions we were asked at the beginning of class:

1. Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar is from what country?
2. The Marshal Island, currently faced with rising seas, is found where?
3. One of the world’s leading arms manufacturers is the Untied Arab __________?
4. The oceanic whitetip is what kind of animal that is believed to be attacking people in Egypt?
5. Fifa’s “Ballon d’or” is for the world player of the year in ­­­­­­­­­­____________?
6. What is uranium yellowcake?
7. To try and put out a fire in the Pike River Coal Mine, a jet unit has pumped in __________________.

Some of them I knew, many of them I guessed. It was easier when I took it because I had multiple choice answers, but see how well you did :)

1. India
2. Oceania
3. Emirates
4. Shark
5. Soccer
6. Raw material for atomic weapons
7. Carbon dioxide