Rachel
My Lab Assessment for:
Taste-Test Dummy
Biological Concept: Gustation
Educational Concept: Observing, Questioning, Graphing, Hypothesizing
Benchmark(s) Addressed: 1 Organisms, 1 Matter, Forming of the Question/Hypothesis, Collecting and Presenting Data, Analyzing and Interpreting Results
Transformation of Concepts: Using different materials for tasting, or being blindfolded vs. not blindfolded. Other foods for the second part of the lab could be baby foods, or Apples vs. Onions (can the students tell the difference with their noses plugged?).
Estimated cost for presentation to a class of 30 students: Approximately $8.57
2 small containers of Lemon Juice @ $.54 each=$1.08
Bottle of tonic water@ $.98=$.98
Jellybeans @ $1.19/lb=$2.26
Toothpicks @ $.28 per box=$.28
Dixie Cups @ about $1.99 per 50=$3.97
Plus sugar and salt water which can be made from home ($0)
Estimated cost for initial set-up: Approximately $8.57
2 small containers of Lemon Juice @ $.54 each=$1.08
Bottle of tonic water@ $.98=$.98
Jellybeans @ $1.19/lb=$2.26
Toothpicks @ $.28 per box=$.28
Dixie Cups @ about $1.99 per 50=$3.97
Estimates cost for consumables: Approximately $8.57
2 small containers of Lemon Juice @ $.54 each=$1.08
Bottle of tonic water@ $.98=$.98
Jellybeans @ $1.19/lb=$2.26
Toothpicks @ $.28 per box=$.28
Dixie Cups @ about $1.99 per 50=$3.97
Time required for:
Developing Lab: 30 minutes
Prepping Lab: 15 minutes
Activity: 45 minutes
Cleanup: 10 minutes
Extensions:
Art: Students must color their own tongues for the lab, but after the lab is over, students must color new ones with the correct taste locations. This is the map of the actual locations of the taste receptors:
The Assessment:
What did you learn today?
What are some of the observations you made about the tastes?
Do you think all organisms taste the same way humans do?
Were you surprised at any of the results from this lab? If so, what surprised you?
How did your nose play a role in the flavor of the jellybeans?
Taste-Test Dummy
Rachel Janicke
My Lab
November 28, 2006
Introduction: The taste buds located on your tongue are important for the flavor of food. Your job today is to discover if certain areas of the tongue are more sensitive to different characteristics of food. We will be testing four specific characteristics; sweet, bitter, salty, and sour. Also, did you know that your nose is partly responsible for the flavor of food? We will test this statement today to see the differences of flavor sensation the nose gives you.
Procedure:
Part one:
1. First, wash your hands!
2. Collect the supplies needed for your experiment. You will need:
*toothpicks
*colored pencils
*salt taste: salty water
*sweet taste: sugary water
*sour taste: lemon juice
*bitter taste: tonic water
*plain water for rinsing your mouth
3. Hypothesize. Will different areas of your tongue be more sensitive to different characteristics of food? Draw a map of your tongue. Color and label the areas you think you will taste the different food characteristics.
4. Dip a toothpick into one of the solutions and lightly touch your tongue. (Use a new toothpick each time you dip into the solution.) Keep your tongue outside of your mouth during this process because saliva carries taste across the tongue. Our aim is to control the location of the taste. Once you are finished with the specific solution, wash your mouth out with water before testing the next solution. Also, please be careful when testing the back of your tongue; some people are sensitive and may gag.
5. Test each of the four different solutions. Record any observations, and use the map of the tongue given to you to color and label your conclusions.
Part two: For this experiment, students need to be in pairs.
1. Collect the supplies needed for your experiment. You will need:
*Jellybeans! Please pick two of each color per person.
*water
2. Have one partner close their eyes and plug their nose tightly. Their partner can give them different flavors of jellybeans while they try and guess the flavor, rinsing their mouths between testing. They should try to guess once with their nose plugged, and then without holding their nose for each flavor. This way they can see the differences in flavor sensation. Partners would then switch.
Sources:
Lab ideas. Accessed on 11-12-2006
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chtaste.html
Tongue picture. Accessed on 11-26-2006
www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/.../F050038/index.html
Map of taste receptors. Accessed on 11-26-2006
www.2basnob.com/rating-wine.html
Color and label the areas you tasted sweet, salty, sour, and bitter on the tongue.