Preserves

Produced by FunKids Radio and the RSC, this short snippet uses Kareena and her superhero friend K-Mistry to introduce children to methods to preserve food.

This podcasts can be used as a ’hook’ when introducing the topic to your students, or at the end of a lesson to stimulate discussion about what they have learnt.

If you teach primary science, see the headings below to find out how to use this resource:

Skill development

Children will develop their working scientifically skills by:

Learning outcomes

Children will:

• Describe how living things are classified into broad groups according to common observable characteristics and based on similarities and differences, including microorganisms.

Concepts supported

Children will learn:

• That there are methods to slow the process of decomposition.
  • These processes don’t kill the bacteria, but either prevent them growing in the first place or slow the rate of decomposition by reducing the activity of the bacteria. Food will still decompose eventually, but at a much slower rate.

Suggested activity use

This resource would be useful to be used after or in conjunction with Fast Facts 14 (https://edu.rsc.org/2337.article

Practical considerations

A range of different preservation methods would be required for children to carry out, though total removal of oxygen in a classroom environment will be difficult.

Different foods will need to be provided in order for children to test different preserving techniques.

Please take into account health and safety considerations, particularly relating to allergies as well as handling decomposing foods.