I start out the year with this Oreo Double Stuf Lab to work on evaluating claims; we honestly do this lab on Day 2. I don’t see any reason to waste time not getting into science content! The students love it because they get to end up eating Oreos.
A couple years ago we bought a bunch of pocket scales from Amazon. They are really accurate and easy to pass out. Plus, they were around $10/each, so if anything happens to it, I can replace them. There are also some that are even more accurate for a few more $.
I put them in groups of 3 and give each student 1 regular Oreo and 1 Double Stuf Oreo. They work together to determine the mass of the regular stuf and the double stuf. Here are a couple tips:
- have them wash their hands or use hand sanitizer
- review how to use the scales
- paper towels and toothpicks are helpful for each student to collect the “stuf”
- review how to calculate an average-trust me, it is necessary on day 2
- they cannot eat the cookies until you say!
This is also our first lab that we write our conclusion using Claim, Evidence, Reasoning. It makes for great practice because they understand Oreos, mass, and what makes something double. For me, this covers a wide range of our Process Standards in the TEKS. It doesn’t take long, but it really gets them thinking and practicing their skills early. Here are some options for their data:
- Create a poster and have them complete a peer assessment
- Make a commercial or news report sharing their results
- Write up an actual lab report
If you are new to CER, you can find more information on how to use it here. If you aren’t even sure it is for you, read about why I use it here.
