Science Fair My Science Investigation Title: Avoid the Mould
Name: Mrs Heath and Room 12 Students
Room 12 Waimea Intermediate 2015
My Science Investigation I will follow this process:
1. Decide on a question 2. Do some research 3. Create a hypothesis 4. Develop a method 5. Collect Results 6. Evaluate Results Science Fair – Homework plan You need to keep a diary/logbook straight away. This is a running record of your Science Fair journey. This diary needs to be handed in with your completed project for judging. Record everything that you research, even those ideas that you thought of but discounted, your reasons for choosing your question, and your successes and frustrations. Remember to take plenty of photos. Date each day’s activities. 2
Your log book is where you will: 1.
Enter your thoughts and trial plans. It does not have to be picture perfect.
2. Record all data relating to your investigation. 3. Keep a record of all your research. 4. Keep all your thank-you letters and acknowledgements of people who have helped you. 5. Keep a photograph timeline. 6. Record your research references of websites, books and people. 7. Keep your ethic forms if applicable.
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Step 1. Write your Question What do you want to find out? a.
This is my original question. Where is the best place to store my food, so that it doesn’t go mouldy?
b.
This is my revised question after completing the research stage.
When I change the place that I store my food what will happen to the amount of mould growth and the speed that it grows? Step 2. Do some research What is the purpose of your experiment and why do you want to do this? It is important to me that the money I spend on groceries doesn’t go to waste. I want myself and my family to be healthy and not get sick from eating mouldy food. I don’t want to waste food, because I have to throw away mouldy food. One piece of fruit in a bowl will spread mould to the other pieces around it. Mums keep food in the following places: 4
Freezer, fridge, pantry, back of the cupboard, fruit bowl on the table, in a bag, in a sealed container, in the wardrobe, the chilly bin or a chilly bag, a glass jar, spare room, zip-lock bag, tin foil, garage.
Do you know of any investigations like this one? Mrs Heath conducted a similar experiment with her Year 34 class. They combined all food types into one large bag. Explain what you have found out regarding what is already known about your question. Is this similar to your original thoughts? The Building Science Concepts book informed me that mould is made up of spores that are airborne and can irritate breathing. I will keep all of my samples in zip-lock bags to keep us healthy. Most foods will maintain good quality longer if frozen. Foods stored in the freezer will lose colour, flavour, texture and nutritional value. Once thawed mould can grow when temperatures increase. Refrigerator temperatures do not destroy microorganisms present in food which will grow into mould. The lower temperature will slow the growth of mould. Perishable food will still deteriorate, even at refrigerator temperature, but the mould will grow at a reduced rate. Time and temperature are important factors in food quality.
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https://food.unl.edu/safety/refrigerator-freezer Freezing has advantages and disadvantages for food preservation. The two main advantages are that the procedure is simple and that it keeps food more like fresh produce than any other method of long-term preservation. A disadvantage is the cost to buy and operate a freezer. If you already have one for convenience, freezing inexpensive sources of produce can be an economical way to provide a variety of high quality fruits and vegetables during out-ofseason months. Also, home frozen foods can be preserved to your own taste or special dietary needs. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/08704.html
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Brainstorm things we could change: The types of food. Where we place the food. How we store the food. Results we could measure: How quickly mould grows. The amount of mould growth. The different types of mould. Choosing your variables: Fair Testing – Change one thing! I will change The places we store the food I will measure The speed and amount of mould growth
I will keep these things the same The zip-lock bag size (for food safety) The food types – the same cheese, the same pumpkin, the bread rolls. Equal portion for each food type. How often I check the samples. 7
This is my final Question: (write this on page 4) When I change the place that I store my food What will happen to the amount of mould growth and the speed that it grows?
Step 3. Create a Hypothesis I predict this will happen…………..because………. Sebastian thinks the zip-lock bag will stop any mould at all. Bread: The freezer, then the fridge, will be the best places to store bread so it doesn’t go mouldy because that is where my mum keeps her bread. The chilly bin will be the best place because it is dark and cool. The cupboard will be the best place to store bread because you will eat it before it has the chance to go mouldy. Pumpkin: The fridge will be the best place for the pumpkin if it is cut up into pieces – which will keep it nice and cool, preventing the mould from spreading. The freezer will make the pumpkin last longer. A pumpkin should be kept in the pantry because it has skin on it and the mould won’t get in as easily. 8
Cheese: The best place to store cheese is in the fridge because it is cold in the fridge.
Pumpkin, cheese and bread rolls – the foods for our experiment.
Sometimes you will prove to be correct, other times you may be incorrect. Your hypothesis will be right or wrong – you will still learn something new!
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Step 4. Develop a Method This is how you will do the testing You need to complete the experiment several times to show results are not a one-off. This is the equipment I need to use to carry out the investigation: Food – pumpkin, cheese, bread Snap-lock bags Bowl The fridge in Food Technology The cupboard at the back of the room (pantry) Staffroom Freezer Dark place – such as a cupboard or the cylinder stools A glass jar The pictures below are some of the places we will store the food
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These are the steps I need to take to complete the experiment: (Use procedural writing – each step begins with a verb, number the steps) Be specific to show clearly how you will carry out your investigation.
1. Cut the pumpkin into even sized wedges 2. Cut the Bread into even sized pieces 3. Slice the cheese into even sized slices 4. Put each food item into a separate zip lock bag. 5. Label the bag with the food and the storage place. 6. Place the food samples in the places. 7. Wait and check daily. 8. Examine the samples each day at the same time. 9. Write on the tracking sheet to monitor the mould growth. These pictures show cheese, pumpkin and bread at the start of our experiment. We are about to place them in the cupboard. Each sample is in a plastic bag so that the mould spores don’t spread
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Step 5. Collect Results (graphs, diagrams, photos) Interpret data by explaining what you saw when you carried out your experiment. Use your senses. These are the results of my tests and experiments: When I changed ……… I measured..… When I changed where I stored my food types, I measured when the mould appeared on the food. I took regular photos to show the amount of mould growth Insert graph and table results here: I changed Where I kept the pumpkin samples…..
Where I kept the cheese samples…..
Where I kept the bread samples…..
I measured Mould first appeared on the sample stored in the bowl. No mould appeared on the samples stored in the freezer, the fridge and the jar. The most mould grew on the sample stored in the cupboard. Mould first appeared on the sample stored in the jar. No mould appeared on the samples stored in the freezer, the fridge, the cylinder, the cupboard and the bowl. The most mould grew on the sample stored in the jar. Mould first appeared on the samples stored in the jar and bowl. No mould appeared on the samples stored in the freezer and the fridge. The most mould grew on the sample stored in the bowl. 12
We have completed a table to show our daily checks. Day 1
Day 2
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
11/6
12/6
15/6
16/6
17/6
18/6
19/6
22/6
23/6
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
Freezer Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
Jar
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X
X X
X X
X
x
X
X
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X
X
X
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X
X
X
X
X
Bread Pumpkin Cheese
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
X
X
X
Place of Storage and Food Types Bowl
Fridge
Teaching
Station
Back cupboard
(Pantry) Dark Cylinder
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X
X
X
X
These three photos below show mould growth. Along the top row of each sample there was no mould growth in the places labelled. Along the bottom row are the samples with the most mould growth.
Most Mould
Least Mould
Bowl
Fridge and Freezer
Pantry Cupboard
Fridge and Freezer
Jar
Fridge and Freezer 14
Step 6. Evaluate Results You can draw conclusions from asking and answering these questions:
What happened? What did you find out? What patterns did you notice in the results? Do you know why this happened? Was your hypothesis right or wrong? What are implications of these results? What scientific concepts have you learnt? When we changed the place we stored the food, the food samples in the fridge and freezer did not grow any mould because they are cold, dark places. This means my prediction was correct. As a result of my investigation I now know that the best places to store food to prevent or delay mould growth are in the freezer or in the fridge.
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Step 7. Further thinking Where to from here? I could have improved my investigation by: 1. Conducting each experiment 3 times to make sure we didn’t fluke our results. 2. We could have found another place to store food. 3. At the end we forgot about our samples in the dark cylinder. 4. We could have tried different food types. 5. We could have filmed with time lapse photography. 6. Checked the samples on the weekend. 7. We could try hotter places to see if we grow more mould. Questions I still have are: 1. Why did the pumpkin grow a different mould type than the previous experiment of this type? 2. Can I grow longer hair mould? 3. What would happen if I left the samples for longer? 4. What prevents mould from growing? 5. What can I learn about mould by looking through a magnifying glass? 6. Can we make mould grow faster? 7. What if I leave my food in the rain? 16
8.
If I leave something in the coldest place, will it eventually grow mould?
9.
Can I make mould on cooked items?
10.
If store food outside will it grow mould?
11.
Will mould grow on pastry items?
12. 13.
Does the thickness of the bread make a difference to mould growth? Why doesn’t mould grow on people?
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Does mould grow on uncooked dough?
15.
Does mould grow on pets?
16.
Does mould grow on meat?
17.
Does food with no expiry date go mouldy?
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Does ice cream get mouldy?
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Do lollies go mouldy?
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Will a pie grow mould?
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Do people grow mould in their stomachs?
22.
Does tea get mouldy?
23.
Does any mould ever grow in the fridge or freezer?
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Can water grow mould?
25.
If the freezer is the best place to store food to prevent mould, does freezing food change its taste?
26.
Can I eat food straight out of the freezer?
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Investigations or research I need to carry out to answer these questions are 1. Can I grow different varieties of mould on one food type?
Now make up your Science Display Board to show your investigation:
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