Turn your lab into a chocolate factory – and turn your students on to problem-solving with the enzyme invertase.
Linking key concepts to products and activities that we all tend to take for granted is always a powerful way of engaging pupils in the process of scientific exploration and discovery.
In this instance, ask students to consider a question that may never have occurred to them before: how do confectioners get soft centres into chocolates?
Using the enzyme invertase, learners will work to create soft-centred chocolates of their own, develop an understanding of ‘How Science Works’ – including the application of science in the ‘real world’ – and then compare the use of enzyme technology with more modern techniques used by the confectionary industry.
You can use these activities to reinforce or help develop an understanding of enzymes, particle theory and a range of ‘How Science Works’ links. You can also easily tailor the activities for a KS3 or KS4 cohort.
Learning objectives
- Investigate the function and uses of the enzyme invertase
- Apply understanding of particle theory
- Explore a number of ‘how science works’ links
Starter activity
It probably will not take too much encouragement to get pupils thinking and talking about chocolate. To kick things off, for example, ask students to list a range of chocolates with both hard and softer runnier centres.
From memory (or from a few samples), ask pupils to describe the properties of the chocolate with softer centres. Hopefully they will remember (or observe) that these tend to be sweeter.
Ask pupils to consider how softer-centred chocolates are made; particularly in relation to the likely issues involved with wrapping a runny fondant mixture within chocolate.
If discussions related to enzymes are not forthcoming then you might like to prompt pupils with an example of a stiff fondant mixture (before treatment with invertase) and a runnier mixture, once invertase has acted on the sucrose substrate.
For pupils who have learnt about the role of digestive enzymes in earlier topics, there are clear opportunities here to link back to this understanding.
If, however, this is the first time pupils will have encountered enzymes then the next activity may help in developing an understanding of enzyme function.
Mike Cole has a background in secondary science education, and more recently in teacher education as a professional development leader in secondary science.
