Teaching ScienceIdeas and help for trainee Science teachers

A fun video to introduce food chains perhaps?

Many of you know that some of the foods we eat are “fortified” with extra iron. What’s not always known is that it is possible to use a strong magnet to extract this iron and take a look at it.

To do this, I followed a method from Bob Kibble in School Science Review (see end)

I selected Tesco own brand Rice Snaps. I checked many different brands of cereal, and this was one that had the highest amount of iron per 100g.

1. To extract the iron, first put the cereal into a large, sealable sandwich bag.

2. Then, use a rolling pin to smash the cereal into a fine powder.

3. When the cereal is a dust, transfer into a new bag. This is important as the bag you were originally using will now almost definitely be full of tiny holes

4. Fill this new bag with water until the cereal forms a messy, swimming, paste.

5. To extract the iron I used a very strong, small magnet. The one I used came from a set that I used to hang photos onto metal wires. To make it easier to handle I stuck mine to the end of a screw, but you could attach it to a piece of wood.

An alternative would be to use a magnetic stirrer and a white, teflon-coated stirring rod.

6. Fish around in the paste with the magnet for a few minutes. Make sure you trawl the whole bag.

7. Carefully clean the magnet in a bowl of clean water and gently pat dry.

8. The iron filings won’t be visible to the naked eye, but if you use a digital microscope (even a very cheap one) you should be able to see them.

8. The iron filings should be visible on the magnet. There’s wasn’t lots, but there was enough to be visible. You should just be able to see some along the edges of the magnet.

And that’s it. Proof that makers of breakfast cereal do indeed add extra iron into your food – and it’s possible to see it!

Reference

Kibble, B (2010) Iron in Cereal, Let’s take a look at it. School Science Review, 92 (339), 10-11

Launched in 2005, Grow Your Own Potatoes (GYOP) was one of the first primary school based growing projects. Since then it has become the largest of its kind with almost 1 million children signed up for 2010 learning where potatoes come from, how they grow and that potatoes are a healthy food. Its simplicity and the fact that GYOP is a hands on activity makes it perfect for young pupils.

The twelve potato-based lessons are organised under the following headings:

• Growing potatoes
• Knowing potatoes
• Healthy eating and potatoes
• Cooking potatoes

The lesson notes are designed to provide the basic structure and content for lessons, but will need to be tweaked to meet the needs of individual classes.  Under the ‘task’ section there is a suggested task for children aged 5-7 and one for children aged 7-11 years.

Worksheets, PowerPoint presentations, factsheets, recipes, video clips and games are available to support the lessons.

Find out more here.