SOIL, FOOD AND SOCIETY
He Oneone, he Kai me te Hāpori
The chain in my lunchbox
He raupapa kame kei roto i taku pouaka tina.
Year 7 - 8 students
Big Question
What makes my lunch old?
Scientists develop a hypothesis based on initial research and scientific questioning. The inquiry is then clearly defined and data is collected from research and experiments.
How to develop a hypothesis
Developing a hypothesis is a process you can learn.
Scientific questioning will help you form a hypothesis and help you think of a scientific question that will test your hypothesis.
Watch the video to see the process in action.
Developing a hypothesis and scientific questions
So, what exactly do you mean when you say "what makes my lunch old"?
Good point. That question is not clear. The word 'makes' and the word 'old' can both be interpreted in different ways.
Scientists use scientific questions to make their inquiry very clear. Scientific questions can be long so they are very clear.
If you think the big question is about what happens to food that makes it spoil you will have to research that inquiry and develop a hypothesis you can test.
If you think the big question is about what the age of the food is in your lunch you will have to research that inquiry and come up with a hypothesis that you can test.
Does it mean what makes my lunch spoil? I think it's an inquiry into how things go mouldy or rotten.
I think it means what are the items in your lunch that are the oldest. It is research into the age of all of the items in your lunch.
An experiment can be part of your investigation
EXPERIMENT ONE
Getting mouldy
This experiment measures the rate of mould growth in different conditions.
You will need to investigate the topic to decide what conditions you think will affect mould growth. This will form the basis for your hypothesis.
You will then test your hypothesis in an experiment and record the results.
Take care, mould spores can make you sick. Follow the instructions carefully.
Click image for help
EXPERIMENT TWO
Food dating
This scientific investigation analyses the manufacturing dates of the processed foods and estimated age of the fresh food in your lunchbox.
The investigation will provide the age of each item of food in your lunchbox as well as an average age of all the food.
The challenge is to clarify the big question, think of a hypothesis and then analyse and interpret the results of your investigation.
Click image for help
Are you ready to tell the world?
More here about publishing
What to publish
Scientists usually publish their data along with their findings. This way what they say is backed up with evidence.
Scientists often explain their data so their findings and conclusions become clear to the observer.
Using a graph to show data can make your findings clearer,
Support the graph or table with a summary of the data and the conclusions you have made.
