Gluten Investigation

Gluten Packet Page 1 Making observations: –What did you notice about the different gluten balls while you were making them? –What did you wonder about? What makes for a good scientific observation?

Gluten Packet Page 1-2 Identifying Variables –What is the independent variable? –What is the dependent variable? –Which variables were kept constant? –What was used as the control?

Gluten Packet Page 3 Hypothesis Statements –Write out your predictions about the amount of gluten that would be in each of the three flours. –Write these statements in the “IF – THEN” format (“IV – DV). Why do you think this?

Procedures P.4 Add ¼ cup of each flour into separate containers. Label. Add 2 tablespoons of water into each container. Stir with mixing stick until dough sticks to the mixing stick. Scrape dough out on to the desk. Knead for 10 minutes. Let dough ball sit for 10 minutes. Mass each dough and record results and observations. Clean up while waiting. Rinse dough ball for 10 minutes, gently squeezing and kneading it for the entire time. Mass rinsed dough ball and record results. Record observations.

Gluten Packet Page 5 Materials and Amounts –Bread Flour –Whole Wheat Flour –All-purpose Flour –Containers –Water –Mixing Sticks –Timers

Journal Questions 16 Oct 2012 Reflect on the inquiry investigation completed yesterday. –What did you and your group do well? –What could you and your group have done better? –How do you feel the activity went? Did you enjoy doing it? Why? –In general, how is science going for you this year? –

Data Page 6 Data Table –Flours used –Mass of each dough ball before rinsing –Mass of each dough ball after rinsing –Total change in mass –Percent gluten –Observations during the entire process

Journal Question 22 Oct 2012, P. What does it mean for data to be: – Precise (precision) –Accurate (accuracy) –Reproducible (reproducibility)

Accuracy – how close a measurement is to the true or accepted value Precision – how close a group of measurements are to each other Reproducibility – the ability to get similar results every time a measurement is made

Inquiry in your Notebook Transfer this information into your science notebook. –Procedure you used. List out the steps. –Re-write out your 3 hypothesis statements. –Add in the Data Table with Results Flour Mass of Dough (g) Mass After Rinsing (g) Mass of Gluten (g) % Gluten All Purpose Bread Whole Wheat

Percent Gluten Mass of gluten (g) x 100 = Total mass of dough (g)

Journal Question 23 Oct 2012, P. Looking at the class data, were the results precise, accurate, or reproducible? Why or why not? –Answer for each term.

Class Data 5 th Hour Flour % Gluten Alpha % Gluten Beta % Gluten Gamma % Gluten Delta % Gluten Epsilon All Purpose Bread Whole Wheat

Class Data 6 th Hour Flour % Gluten Alpha % Gluten Beta % Gluten Gamma % Gluten Delta % Gluten Epsilon All Purpose Bread Whole Wheat Flour % Gluten Zeta % Gluten Eta % Gluten Theta % Gluten Iota All Purpose Bread Whole Wheat

Gluten Packet Page 6 Analyzing Results –Rank the three flours from highest to lowest gluten content.

Gluten Packet Page 7 Drawing Conclusions –The hypothesis that ______________ was/was not supported by the experimental data. The data showed that _______________ ________________________________ –Do this for all three hypothesis statements. –What information is important to include when analyzing your results?

Discussion Page 7 (and your science notebook) Discussing your results Compare your results with the class results. Why do you think there were differences? Next compare your results with the results that the flour companies publish about their flours. (Next slide) Why do you think your results were different than the published results?

% Gluten in Flours All Purpose: about 12% Bread Flour: about 13.5% Whole Wheat: less than 5% Cake Flour: about 8% Pastry Flour: 9%

Journal Questions 24 Oct 2012 Describe what it felt like to work with the whole wheat dough and rinse it. Do not use any words that would convey a bias to a reader.

Reflections Page 8 Reflecting on the investigation –If this investigation was to be done again, what would be done differently and why? –What were the major sources of error that affected the results? How were the results affected? Consider the major assumption we made in calculating the % gluten... (that everything left after the 10 minute rinsing period was gluten). Did this turn out to be a valid assumption or was it a major source of error? –What other questions could be investigated?

Introduction The introduction to a scientific report sets up your experiment for the reader. It describes: – what the experiment is about (Purpose) – why it is important to study the subject (Real-world applications) – what is already known about the subject (background information) –and what you expect the results to show (hypothesis)

Introduction The first several paragraphs describe subject of the investigation and what is already known about it (background). –What is gluten? –What does gluten do? –Where is gluten found? –Why is gluten important in flour? –Why do different kinds of flour have differing amounts of gluten? – -What happens to a person if they are allergic to gluten?

Introduction The next few paragraphs describe the experiment by stating the purpose of the investigation and how the results were collected, recorded, and analyzed. –The purpose of this investigation was to find out __________________________. –The variable being tested was __________. –Briefly, the procedure was that for each of the three flours used, ________________. –The amount of gluten was determined by __. Dough balls were massed both ____________. Mass data was used to calculate percent gluten.

Introduction The final paragraph –Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the amount of gluten found in three different flours and predict which _____________. –Restate the independent and dependent variables being tested. –Restate the predicted results.