Apple Exposure Experiment

When people think of teachers, they instantly think of apples - or at least I do. :]  When we do fun apple activities, it is one of my favorite times of the year. 
We completed two different apple science experiments during our apple unit.  The first one had to do with oxidation to apples.  This was really interesting, and my kids really enjoyed observing the apples.  They felt like real scientists!
I enjoyed this experiment because it was really easy to prepare for.  The only thing is that you have to allow the apples time to sit (at least 2 hours) in order for the experiment to work. 
First, gather the necessary materials.  You need vinegar, milk, water, lemon juice, apple, cups, and a knife. Cut the apple into slices and place one slice in each cup.  You will have one cup with vinegar, one with water, one with milk, and one with lemon juice.  You need to pour enough just to cover the apple.  Also, be sure to leave one apple laying on the table - this is the control.

Have students make a hypothesis first as to which item will keep the apple from turning brown.  Then, I let my kids place the apples in the cups.  I try to let them do as much as possible so they feel as if they are completing the experiment on their own.  I also set it up so that there were enough items for the three tables in my classroom.  This way the students weren't fighting over seeing the apples. 

My kids LOVED observing the apples, touching them, and drawing their observations. 

You can see where we recorded our information below. 

This was perfect because it allowed my students to follow the scientific method. 

You can see on the form that we placed the apples in the liquids, and then checked back an hour later. I ended up having to adjust it to 2 hours because the 1 hour wasn't long enough.  Scientists are always adjusting to make their experiment work! :] (At least that's what I told my kids.)

We recorded our final results and wrote what we learned as scientists. 

The kids did a great job being careful with the cups and apples.  We had a lot of fun using our 5 senses to record our observations as well. 
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