Cupcake Core Sampling
In this activity, students discover one method
scientists use for investigating the unseen.
You will need:
Foil cupcake wrappers
Cake batter(white)
Food coloring
Clear straws
Napkins
Colored pencils
Scissors
Plastic knives
Lab sheet for each student:
Preparation
The day before your lesson, mix up the cake batter and divide
it into four or more bowls. Add a few drops of food coloring to
each bowl, mixing it in to make several colors of batter. Set
out enough foil cupcake wrappers for your class on a cookie sheet
lined with foil. Using small spoons, randomly place a little of
each color in each foil cup. Bake as directed.
Procedure
1. Ask students to imagine looking down at a small section of
the ground; what would they see? Guide them to realize that nothing
on their list is below the surface. How might they investigate
what is below? What guesses might they make without doing any
digging? Discuss the definition of "cross-section".
2. Give each student a cupcake. (No eating until the end!) Tell
the students the possible colors that might be lurking below the
surface. Without unwrapping the cupcake, each student should draw
and color his or her hypothesized cross-section of the center
of the cupcake.
3. Explain the process of core sampling. You may wish to obtain
images from books or the Internet of scientists at work obtaining
core samples. Discuss the necessity of taking multiple samples
to get an accurate picture.
4. Give each student a clear straw, which he or she should cut
into three equal sections.
5. Students should take one core sample at a time: one from each
side and one in the middle. For each sample, he or she gently
pushes a straw straight down from top to bottom, then covers the
top with a thumb and removes the straw.
6. The cake will condense into a small layered column. Students
will need to examine the order and ratio of the colors, then draw
and color the core's composition as it was before getting "smooshed".
Repeat for three samples.
7. Now, having examined the evidence, each student should draw
a new hypothesis for a cross-section of the cupcake.
8. Finally, students use plastic knives to slice through the centers
of their cupcakes, then draw an actual cross-section diagram.
How did they do with their hypotheses?
9. Ask and discuss: In what circumstances would scientists find
this procedure useful? What earth processes could we observe through
core samples?
