Help with science homework!

[Pollyputthekettleon71]

DC brought this question home. Is it just us or is it confusing?

If chocolate is heated it melts and becomes a liquid. After cooling again it returns to its solid state. Heating has only changed it temporarily. If the foods listed were heated over a candle which would change temporarily and which would change permanently?

cheese/sugar/bread/spaghetti/butter/potato crisp/peanut/chocolate/banana/lard/biscuit/rice

Is it a question of foods changing back to their solid state or whether heat irreversibly changes food; in this case by burning as spaghetti is not usually heated over a candle but in water.

Still rude. Asking for clarification might have been better...

Ah well.

Seriously? You're a teacher?

She's not being rude about the teacher, surely the homework seems badly written and impossible to do sensibly FM? Why is it rude to point out that it is nonsensical?
Why should the child struggle to complete something that is illogical?

I'm a teacher too, I'd rather a parent pointed out that I'd made a mistake.

@FM....yes.

Nonsensical is rude. Could I have some explanation please is polite. And potentially helpful.

I agree I'd like to know if the work I sent home was impossible to complete because it is poorly written

I'm an old teacher though, and have made many a cock up over the years. None fatal so far, but some very funny.
So I'm comfortable with children or parents, TAs or teachers saying 'This doesn't make sense' Often I am grateful to the point of giving out merit marks for the help.

It was a photocopied sheet for SAT revision. One of about 60 sent so far since Feb half term.

Oh God.

Optional SATs?

And it was the homework not the teacher the comment referred to.

No just a load of sheets from revision books. There will be about 100 sheets completed by the time the SATs start.

I can see that. I still think it was a poor choice of vocab.

I mean are they doing optional science SATs? Because my DS is in year 6 and has dropped a science lesson for another English comprehension lesson. He is underwhelmed.

Teacher didn't take offence- just didn't agree it was nonsense. She knows I teach and we have a good relationship.

I think it's optional SATs but school could be being moderated for science. We haven't be told.
They've brought home science sheets every week and have had to make revision powerpoints about Forces and Electricity over Easter. Child very underwhelmed too!

Sounds infinitely preferable to extra comprehension for my DS.

I wonder if DC would get some bonus points by explaining that choc when melted and allowed to cool actually returns to a different solid structure as chocolate has 3 possible forms depending on what temperature it cooled from (see this website for more details)

I think it's a question about reversible and irreversible changes but chocolate is not a scientifically accurate example (albeit probably adequate for a school lesson)

@FM -At least the end is in sight now...only 2 more weeks to go. The year 6 teachers will wishing they had longer though!

weelllllllllll , chocolate exists in 4 states... if you get it too hot ove your candle it will not return to normal. (random fact learnt when learning about making suppositories a very long time ago) the thing is I can not remember anything useful about it..

xk.. i think there is a state that remains liquid as well.

Hi Pollyputthekettleon71

just searching the web about melting points of food - I came across this (which looks a bit more reasonable) and suspect this is generally what the teacher was after:

www.schoolsnet.com/pls/hot_school/sn_primary.page_pls_resource_detail?x=16180339&p_res_id=1335

That's a KS1 unit PastSellByDate. I wonder if the teacher is looking at the burning element of the Y6 reversible and irreversible change strand