Tech-knowledge-ease! A Family Guide to Technology

By Robert W. Maloy and Sharon A. Edwards

Kitchen Science and Technology

In our last Parent Express column, we learned about the presence of technology tools, large and small, in the grocery store. Today we enter the kitchen, as its tools—the stove, refrigerator, and oven—introduce important chemistry concepts for kids and adults to explore together.

Chemistry is the transformation of one substance into another through changes in temperature and pressure. Foods change their state of matter when cooked or frozen. For example, oatmeal starts as a solid and becomes a liquid, and popcorn changes from an inedible to an edible solid, losing steam (a gas) in the process. Water alters its state over and over again through evaporation, condensation, freezing, and melting. Flour is transformed from seed to fine powder in the course of harvesting and packaging. Kids and adults can systematically investigate the different food transformations that occur in the preparation of daily meals and snacks.

Temperature is a key to both chemistry and cooking and provides many lessons for kids. A digital cooking thermometer with large numbers gives easy-to-read information about the temperature of foods as they cook in the oven— kids can keep track of how long different foods must be cooked.

Making Jell-O and baking cookies illustrate another group of chemical processes, similar to those that create and maintain the rock cycle that begins in the heated core of the earth itself. Igneous rocks (granite, scoria, pumice, and obsidian) from inside the earth emerge as melted rock or magma, and harden into smooth, sometimes glass-like surfaces. Similarly, Jell-O begins as a boiling liquid that changes into a solid with a shiny, glossy finish.

Sedimentary rocks (sandstone, limestone, shale, conglomerate, and gypsum) consist of many different ingredients cemented together over time by water, wind, and geologic pressure. To simulate how sedimentary rocks are made, homemade no-bake cookies press together different ingredients like peanut butter, raisins, honey, chocolate chips, and walnuts, to form tasty creations.

Metamorphic rocks (like schist and gneiss) change their shape and form under the pressure of extreme heat and great pressure. Similarly, cookies baked in the oven change their shape and form as their ingredients are heated at high temperatures.

To learn more about rocks, go to http://www.fi.edu/fellows/payton/rocks, a delightful website developed by a teacher in Indiana in conjunction with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. ‘Rocky’ the Rock Houndtakes kids on a tour of all things geologic, including animations of how igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks are formed.

There is more interesting and easy-to-understand information on matter, atoms, elements, chemical reactions, and biochemistry at the “Chem4Kids!” website at http://www.chem4kids.com/index.html

WayBack: U. S. History for Kids is a delightful website for families interested in exploring history. Developed by PBS Kids and The American Experience television program, WayBack offers seven interactive journeys into the past: “Family Ties,” “Technology in 1900,” “The Future,” “Flight,” “Summer Vacation,” “Gold Rush,” and “Stand Up for Your Rights.” Each program presents a fascinating glimpse into history as it happened to ordinary people living in extraordinary times.

Photo courtesy of WGBH

“Stand Up for Your Rights” explores three moments in American history when individuals courageously defended their beliefs—in 1637, Anne Hutchinson was put on trial for her dissenting religious views; in 1917, Alice Paul was jailed for aggressively campaigning for a woman’s right to vote; and in 1954, the Little Rock Nine, a group of African-American teenagers faced life and death to become the first Black students to attend an all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. These stories show how individuals can change the course of history by pursuing the civil rights promised to all of us as citizens in a democracy.

“Technology in 1900” looks at early automobiles, ‘music videos’ circa 1900, and the first telephone operators—the contrast with today’s cars, music television, and cell phones is amazing. In “The Future,” kids make predictions about what is to come. By reviewing past generations’ predictions about today’s world, kids gain an understanding that everyday decisions and actions are creating the future. The “Family Ties” program includes an online family tree-maker where children can assemble the history of parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. All of the sections are interesting and engaging, making WayBack: U. S. History for Kids a site to visit many times.

Having ventured into the past electronically, kids and adults may continue their adventures with children’s books, exploring history from many different perspectives. Brave Harriet: The First Woman to Fly the English Channel by Marissa Moss tells the story of Harriet Quimby, the first American woman to receive a pilot’s license,who flew solo over the English Channel in April 1912. The Buffalo Nickel by Taylor Morrison introduces James Earle Fraser, the American sculptor who designed the Indian head or “buffalo” nickel because of his great regard for native peoples. Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan is a fictional re-telling of an actual plane ride, shared by Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt. In this story, Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt leave a White House dinner to fly in an airplane over Washington D. C. in April 1933. Castle Diary: The Journal of Tobias Burgess, Page by Richard Platt, describes the life of a young page in Europe in 1285. At that time sons of noblemen were sent to the castles of important lords to begin their training to become a knight, learning how to hunt, handle weapons, and conduct themselves socially.

These selections allow history to come alive for children, either through the computer screen, or in the pages of a book. They provide a strong reinforcement of the social studies lessons and skills to be taught in schools this fall.

About the Reviewers
Robert W. Maloy is a Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Sharon A. Edwards is a K-2 teacher at the Mark’s Meadow School in Amherst, Massachusetts. They are authors, with Ruth-Ellen Verock-O’Loughlin, of a new book on children’s writing, Ways of Writing with Young Kids: Teaching Creativity and Conventions Unconventionally (Allyn & Bacon, 2003) and available online at www.ablongman.com/wow. If you have comments about the reviews, suggestions for technology to review, or stories about how you are using technology with kids, we want to hear from you. Kids, we want your ideas and suggestions, too. You can contact us by e-mail at rwm@educ.umass.edu.