Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Cookie Geology

Last night, I made an ordinary, but delicious, batch of chocolate chip cookies, for a snack, and six, not so ordinary, mystery cookies, for science.



Today, I gave the children each one of the special cookies, to sketch out, and investigate.


The first thing they noticed, was some of their cookies looked different from the ordinary chocolate chip cookies, with bits of things other than chocolate, sticking out. But, some looked pretty normal, with only chocolate chips showing.

So, we weighed all the cookies, and one of the regular chocolate chip cookies, from our snack, and discovered the science cookies all weighed about the same as each other, and all more than a regular, chocolate chip cookie, of about the same size.

The children concluded, that all their cookies had extra ingredients, since they all weighed more, than the regular, chocolate chip cookies.

Then, they tried to decide what the extra ingredients were, by looking at the cookies. First off, they could see chocolate chips, and raisins. They could tell those, by their color, and texture. But, there were also white things, that they weren't so sure of.

Some of them thought they were marshmallows, and some thought they were macadamia nuts.

So, they pulled out the tools (tooth picks), for a closer examination...

They were marshmallows. They also removed a few raisins, and chocolate chips, intact, noting the effects of heat from baking, was greater on the chocolate, and marshmallow, than on the raisins.


And, just when they thought they had the ingredients all figured out, they were surprised, when they divided the cookies, and found coconut centers.


Finally, since our specimens were made of cookie dough, and not rock, they gave them the old, tried and true, taste test. Something, I assured them, they would not want to do "in the field".

It's great to be a homeschooler.

10 comments:

Christy Killoran said...

You have the yummiest science experiments in your house.

Unknown said...

I have a friend who teaches a geology unit with her classes, and does this investigation with store bought cookies, but I bet yours taste better!

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

This is seriously one of the absolute best experiments I've seen on your terrific blog. Perhaps you can also educate me on a science of chocolate chip cookie baking. I tried them for the first time last week using this recipe, but without walnuts. They were tasty, but they sort of melted in the oven and spread all over the place, so they ended up very thin (and also stuck to the cookie sheet). I have no idea what I did wrong.

Ticia said...

Yummy and i bet they remember that

Joyful Learner said...

I would be too tempted to taste it before even starting! Kudos for your children to have the ability to wait. They look delicious!

Deborah said...

What a really cool idea - I am definitely going to try that:)

Unknown said...

what a yummy experiment!
(though my kids wouldn't eat them..raisins, nuts,....)

Casey said...

Hi, I'm new to your blog. I have been going through some of your recent posts, and I wanted to let you know I think it is a great resource! I have a 4.5 yo who I will likely be home/unschooling next year. I think that based on what I've seen this blog will be a great source of ideas and inspiration. Thanks for sharing!!!

Debbie said...

What a yummy geology assignment. I love this! This is going to be a must do one when Selena gets a little older!

Phyllis said...

How fun!