Understanding of Food

NC Standard:  4.04, 4.05

Activity:  Testing for Starch

Question: What are carbohydrates?

Vocabulary: Starch, sugar, carbohydrates

Materials: Tincture of iodine (from you local drug store), an assortment of pieces of food such as potato, bread, apple, cracker, carrot, etc.

Background: Your body is tunes to run on a number of basic types of foods. These fall into three groups, which are different according to their chemical makeup. Each of these food types performs a specific job.
Carbohydrates are fuel foods. These are the starch and sugar foods like cornflakes, donuts, bread, spaghetti or potatoes.
Proteins are building blocks for body repair and growth. These tend to be in meaty sorts of foods, usually from animal sources like chicken, eggs, steak, cheese, hot dogs, beans and grain foods.
Fats are for energy production. They are in oily foods like butter, cream or margarine.
often foods fall into a combination of these groups, like peanut butter, which is both fat and protein. Ice cream contains fat, carbohydrates and protein.

Procedures: Put the students in groups of three ot four. Have each group predict which food pieces they think will have starch in them. Test each of the food pieces by putting a drop of tincture of iodine on the food. If starch is present the iodine will turn blue black. Record your results as to which food has starch and which does not have starch.  

Evaluation: Students will create a chart showing their results.
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Line of Learning:  This line is drawn to provide students with a space to share their experimental learning in words or pictures.
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