Year 4 Homework help

[Mrspimplepopper]

My dd 8 has just gone into year 4. Homework this week is to design a STEM activity using chocolate that the whole class can do during science.

Any teachers/Ta' s able to help dd with ideas please I'm completely stuck

Something to do with melting temperature?

How about getting equal quantities of milk, dark & white chocolate and melting them. Time how long it takes to melt the different chocolates. (Hint: the higher the dairy content the quicker it will melt)

Melt some milk chocolate and some white chocolate. Make a large button sized disc with the milk chocolate. Put a little blob of white chocolate in the middle and use a cocktail stick to pull the white chocolate into a spiral. You now have a chocolate model of a spiral galaxy such as the milky way.

Alternatively you could look at the different ways in which you can melt chocolate - microwave, over a Bain Marie, in the oven, directly on the hob. Then look at the different heat sources and how effective they are. (This is perhaps a little past yr4 however!)

Prof Brian Cox did a set of videos for primary science experiments with the Royal Society. There’s one about the melting rate experiment here

Could you melt chocolate and butter, and show that on cooling don't things look the same, and dome things change (the buttervwill separate).
Or, could you use a thermometer to look at the temperature chocolate melts at, and link to body temperature?

Homework this week is to design a STEM activity using chocolate that the whole class can do during science

Has the teacher run out of ideas already?

This is ridiculous and i'd tell them to work out their own activities.

The teacher is basically getting you to do their job.

Design a parachute to drop a chocolate bar from a height so it doesn't break.

Melt a whole chocolate bar and one broken into pieces, time how long each takes.

Bury a piece of chocolate and dig it up x days later and see how it has changed. Compare burying in different places (sun shadow/ soil or sand).

Design a parachute...Compare burying in different places (sun shadow/ soil or sand).

What is the child learning when it is mumsnet that are providing the activities?

What is the point?