Science Fair

My Science Investigation

Title:

Avoid the Mould

Name:

Mrs Heath and Room 12

Students

Room 12

Waimea Intermediate 2015

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My Science Investigation

I will follow this process:

1. Decide on a question

2. Do some research

3. Create a hypothesis

4. Develop a method

5. Collect Results

6. Evaluate Results

Science Fair – Homework plan

You need to keep a diary/logbook straight away.

This is a running record of your Science Fair

journey. This diary needs to be handed in with

your completed project for judging.

Record everything that you research, even

those ideas that you thought of but discounted,

your reasons for choosing your question, and

your successes and frustrations.

Remember to take plenty of photos.

Date each day’s activities.

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Your log book is where you will:

1. Enter your thoughts and trial plans. It

does not have to be picture perfect.

2. Record all data relating to your

investigation.

3. Keep a record of all your research.

4. Keep all your thank-you letters and

acknowledgements of people who have

helped you.

5. Keep a photograph timeline.

6. Record your research references of

websites, books and people.

7. Keep your ethic forms if applicable.

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Step 1. Write your Question

What do you want to find out?

a. This is my original question.

Where is the best place to store my food, so that it

doesn’t go mouldy?

b. This is my revised question after completing the

research stage.

When I change the place that I store my

food what will happen to the amount of

mould growth and the speed that it grows?

Step 2. Do some research

What is the purpose of your experiment and why do you

want to do this?

It is important to me that the money I spend on groceries

doesn’t go to waste.

I want myself and my family to be healthy and not get sick

from eating mouldy food.

I don’t want to waste food, because I have to throw away

mouldy food.

One piece of fruit in a bowl will spread mould to the other

pieces around it.

Mums keep food in the following places:

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Freezer, fridge, pantry, back of the cupboard, fruit bowl on

the table, in a bag, in a sealed container, in the wardrobe,

the chilly bin or a chilly bag, a glass jar, spare room, zip-lock

bag, tin foil, garage.

Do you know of any investigations like this one?

Mrs Heath conducted a similar experiment with her Year 3-

4 class. They combined all food types into one large bag.

Explain what you have found out regarding what is

already known about your question. Is this similar to

your original thoughts?

The Building Science Concepts book informed me that mould

is made up of spores that are airborne and can irritate

breathing. I will keep all of my samples in zip-lock bags to

keep us healthy.

Most foods will maintain good quality longer if frozen. Foods

stored in the freezer will lose colour, flavour, texture and

nutritional value. Once thawed mould can grow when

temperatures increase.

Refrigerator temperatures do not destroy microorganisms

present in food which will grow into mould. The lower

temperature will slow the growth of mould. Perishable food

will still deteriorate, even at refrigerator temperature, but

the mould will grow at a reduced rate. Time and

temperature are important factors in food quality.

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https://food.unl.edu/safety/refrigerator-freezer

Freezing has advantages and disadvantages for food

preservation. The two main advantages are that the

procedure is simple and that it keeps food more like fresh

produce than any other method of long-term preservation.

A disadvantage is the cost to buy and operate a freezer. If

you already have one for convenience, freezing inexpensive

sources of produce can be an economical way to provide a

variety of high quality fruits and vegetables during out-of-

season months. Also, home frozen foods can be preserved

to your own taste or special dietary needs.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/08704.html

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Brainstorm things we could change:

Results we could measure:

Choosing your variables: Fair Testing – Change one thing!

I will change

I will measure

I will keep these things the same

The places we store the food

How quickly mould grows.

The amount of mould growth.

The different types of mould.

The types of food.

Where we place the food.

How we store the food.

The speed and amount of mould growth

The zip-lock bag size (for food safety)

The food types – the same cheese, the same pumpkin,

the bread rolls.

Equal portion for each food type.

How often I check the samples.

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This is my final Question: (write this on page 4)

When I change the place that I store my food

What will happen to the amount of mould growth and the

speed that it grows?

Step 3. Create a Hypothesis

I predict this will happen…………..because……….

Sebastian thinks the zip-lock bag will stop any mould at all.

Bread:

The freezer, then the fridge, will be the best places to

store bread so it doesn’t go mouldy because that is where

my mum keeps her bread.

The chilly bin will be the best place because it is dark and

cool.

The cupboard will be the best place to store bread because

you will eat it before it has the chance to go mouldy.

Pumpkin:

The fridge will be the best place for the pumpkin if it is cut

up into pieces – which will keep it nice and cool, preventing

the mould from spreading.

The freezer will make the pumpkin last longer.

A pumpkin should be kept in the pantry because it has skin

on it and the mould won’t get in as easily.

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Cheese:

The best place to store cheese is in the fridge because it is

cold in the fridge.

Sometimes you will prove to be correct, other times you

may be incorrect. Your hypothesis will be right or wrong

– you will still learn something new!

Pumpkin, cheese and bread rolls – the foods for our experiment.

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Step 4. Develop a Method

This is how you will do the testing

You need to complete the experiment several times to

show results are not a one-off.

This is the equipment I need to use to carry out the

investigation:

Food – pumpkin, cheese, bread

Snap-lock bags

Bowl

The fridge in Food Technology

The cupboard at the back of the room (pantry)

Staffroom Freezer

Dark place – such as a cupboard or the cylinder stools

A glass jar

The pictures below are some of the places we will store the food

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These are the steps I need to take to complete the

experiment:

(Use procedural writing – each step begins with a verb, number the

steps) Be specific to show clearly how you will carry out your

investigation.

1. Cut the pumpkin into even sized wedges

2. Cut the Bread into even sized pieces

3. Slice the cheese into even sized slices

4. Put each food item into a separate zip lock bag.

5. Label the bag with the food and the storage place.

6. Place the food samples in the places.

7. Wait and check daily.

8. Examine the samples each day at the same time.

9. Write on the tracking sheet to monitor the mould growth.

These pictures show cheese, pumpkin and bread at the start of our experiment.

We are about to place them in the cupboard.

Each sample is in a plastic bag so that the mould spores don’t spread

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Step 5. Collect Results

(graphs, diagrams, photos)

Interpret data by explaining what you saw when you

carried out your experiment. Use your senses.

These are the results of my tests and experiments:

When I changed ……… I measured..…

When I changed where I stored my food types, I

measured when the mould appeared on the food. I took

regular photos to show the amount of mould growth

Insert graph and table results here:

I changed I measured

Where I kept the

pumpkin samples…..

Mould first appeared on the sample stored in

the bowl. No mould appeared on the samples

stored in the freezer, the fridge and the jar.

The most mould grew on the sample stored in

the cupboard.

Where I kept the

cheese samples…..

Mould first appeared on the sample stored in

the jar. No mould appeared on the samples

stored in the freezer, the fridge, the cylinder,

the cupboard and the bowl. The most mould

grew on the sample stored in the jar.

Where I kept the

bread samples…..

Mould first appeared on the samples stored in

the jar and bowl. No mould appeared on the

samples stored in the freezer and the fridge.

The most mould grew on the sample stored in

the bowl.

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We have completed a table to show our daily checks.

Place of Storage

and Food Types

Day

1

Day

2

Day

5

Day

6

Day

7

Day

8

Day

9

Day

10

Day

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11/6 12/6 15/6 16/6 17/6 18/6 19/6 22/6 23/6

Bowl Bread X X X X

Pumpkin X X

Cheese X X X X X X X X X

Fridge Bread X X X X X X X X X

Pumpkin X X X X X X X X X

Cheese X X X X X X X X X

Freezer Bread X X X X X X X X X

Pumpkin X X X X X X X X X

Cheese X X X X X X X X X

Jar Bread X X

Pumpkin X X X X X X x X X

Cheese X X X X X

Teaching Station

Bread X X X X X

Pumpkin X X X X X X X X

Cheese X X X X X X

Back

cupboard

(Pantry)

Bread X X X X X X

Pumpkin X X X X

Cheese X X X X X X X X X

Dark Cylinder

Bread X X X X X X

Pumpkin X X X X X

Cheese X X X X X X X X X

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Most Mould Least Mould

Bowl Fridge and Freezer

Pantry Cupboard Fridge and Freezer

Jar Fridge and Freezer

These three photos below show mould growth. Along the top row of each

sample there was no mould growth in the places labelled. Along the bottom

row are the samples with the most mould growth.

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Step 6. Evaluate Results

You can draw conclusions from asking

and answering these questions:

What happened?

What did you find out?

What patterns did you notice in the results?

Do you know why this happened?

Was your hypothesis right or wrong?

What are implications of these results?

What scientific concepts have you learnt?

When we changed the place we stored the food, the

food samples in the fridge and freezer did not grow

any mould because they are cold, dark places.

This means my prediction was correct.

As a result of my investigation I now know that the

best places to store food to prevent or delay mould

growth are in the freezer or in the fridge.

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Step 7. Further thinking

Where to from here?

I could have improved my investigation by:

1. Conducting each experiment 3 times to make sure

we didn’t fluke our results.

2. We could have found another place to store food.

3. At the end we forgot about our samples in the

dark cylinder.

4. We could have tried different food types.

5. We could have filmed with time lapse

photography.

6. Checked the samples on the weekend.

7. We could try hotter places to see if we grow

more mould.

Questions I still have are:

1. Why did the pumpkin grow a different mould type

than the previous experiment of this type?

2. Can I grow longer hair mould?

3. What would happen if I left the samples for

longer?

4. What prevents mould from growing?

5. What can I learn about mould by looking through a

magnifying glass?

6. Can we make mould grow faster?

7. What if I leave my food in the rain?

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8. If I leave something in the coldest place, will

it eventually grow mould?

9. Can I make mould on cooked items?

10. If store food outside will it grow mould?

11. Will mould grow on pastry items?

12. Does the thickness of the bread make a

difference to mould growth?

13. Why doesn’t mould grow on people?

14. Does mould grow on uncooked dough?

15. Does mould grow on pets?

16. Does mould grow on meat?

17. Does food with no expiry date go mouldy?

18. Does ice cream get mouldy?

19. Do lollies go mouldy?

20. Will a pie grow mould?

21. Do people grow mould in their stomachs?

22. Does tea get mouldy?

23. Does any mould ever grow in the fridge or

freezer?

24. Can water grow mould?

25. If the freezer is the best place to store food

to prevent mould, does freezing food change

its taste?

26. Can I eat food straight out of the freezer?

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Investigations or research I need to carry out to

answer these questions are

1. Can I grow different varieties of mould on one

food type?

Now make up your Science Display

Board to show your investigation: