Kitchen Lab – Successful Futures

Kitchen Lab April 17, 2020

What would MacGyver do? Capturing the science happening in your kitchen

We all know how valuable time in the laboratory is for developing those core science skills and supporting our understanding of key concepts. Sadly, with the current social distancing measures, tinkering in the lab is just not an option at the moment. How can we make the most of our time at home to support our science learning and skill development?

What would MacGyver do to keep his skills in tip-top shape?

We think he’d head straight to the STIMulate Blackboard page and check out the self-guided Kitchen Lab practical activities, make the most of the materials and space around him and get his science on!

Whether you’re looking to hone your skills on calculating concentrations, dilutions, spectrophotometry fundamentals, standard curves or experimental design, the link above will provide you with some quick activities and inspiration to bring the lab bench into your kitchen.

We also recognise that an important aspect of the Kitchen Lab workshops that cannot easily be replicated in this format is the social element and opportunity for feedback and discussion with peers. For this reason, we have scheduled some zoom sessions for Weeks 7 and 8 to provide an opportunity to come together and discuss the methodology, results, wins and challenges. Visit the Kitchen Lab events listing to check the event details.

You can also show off the creative science happening in your kitchen by posting a picture on the padlet.
https://ssg.padlet.org/health_ssg/8abxprjgze0s

Happy Sciencing!

Kitchen Lab March 23, 2020

Kitchen Lab is now available in YOUR kitchen!!

It’s time to move the science skills from the laboratory bench to the kitchen bench.

Kitchen Lab is a fun and light-hearted place for students to practice critical laboratory skills without the pressures of assessment. We love working with you in the workshops, but the current situation means we have to shake things up a little!

Bookmark this page so you can access guided activities, videos and register to join us for an online session.

If you have any questions, get in touch with the Kitchen Lab team at success.health@qut.edu.au

Kitchen Lab June 28, 2019

Workshop 7: Analysing data & writing reports – Putting all of the pieces together

Do you think vaccines cause autism? That climate change isn’t real? That eating genetically modified crops is safe? That antibiotics can cure a cold? Scientific evidence helps us answer all of these questions. Being able to communicate our findings is an important scientific skill. Check out this video of last year’s 3 minute thesis (3MT) competition winner in action.

It’s said that maths, often statistics, are the language of science so knowing how to analyse and present data is a core skill. In this workshop we worked in small groups to produce graphs and descriptive statistics to describe the outcome of an experiment. We then worked through how we would present this in a scientific report.

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .

Kitchen Lab June 28, 2019

Workshop 6: Experimental Design – Exploding Marshmallows!

Could you show that following the Mediterranean diet improved the gut microbiome? Whether podiatry care prevented falls in elderly patients? If coloured lenses benefit patients with age-related macular degeneration? Whether analysing circulating tumour DNA could replace invasive biopsies? To do so you’d need good experimental design skills. In this workshop we worked in teams to hone these skills by investigating how changing the environment affected the mighty Australian dwarf marshmallow and the reclusive North American giant marshmallow.

After this workshop would you be able to design a better experiment than the famous marshmallow test? Check out this article to see how difficult good marshmallow test design is.

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .

Kitchen Lab June 27, 2019

Workshop 5: Connect the dots: Can your dilution make a perfect line?

We all know that molecules are too small to be seen so we’re often in the dark about what a sample consists of, how pure it is or how quickly it’s reacting. With spectrophotometry we can use light to ‘see’ all of these aspects, spectrophotometry is therefore a widely used technique. Working in small teams we extracted chlorophyll from spinach, then used serial dilution to prepare a range of samples of known concentrations. Spectrophotometric analysis of these samples allowed us to construct a standard curve, we could then use this to work out the concentration of an unknown sample.

This workshop was good for

Understanding how spectrophotometry works
Practising extraction techniques and serial dilutions
Establishing good spectrophotometer technique
Constructing standard curves and understanding how to use them

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

Want to know more about spectrophotometry before attending the workshop? Check out these videos on spectrophotometry and standard curves.

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .

Kitchen Lab June 27, 2019

Workshop 4: Colour Changing Unicorn Solutions – Titrations

Ever wondered how we know the dose of ibuprofen in Nurofen tablets? The amount of vitamin C in orange juice? The amount of sugar in a diabetic’s blood? Titrations can be used to verify all these concentrations. Working in small groups we first investigated the sensitivity and range of our indicator before practising our titration skills.

This workshop was good for:
• Interpreting stoichiometric ratios
• Appraising the uses and limits of pH indicators
• Practising accurate titration technique
• Constructing titration curves and understanding what the different regions tell us
• Understanding how buffers work and how to calculate their range

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

Want to know more about titrations before attending the workshop? Check out these videos on stoichiometry, indicators, titrations and titration curves.

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .

Kitchen Lab June 26, 2019

Workshop 3: Making Potions – Solutions and Dilutions

We’re all used to using solutions and dilutions in our daily lives – making a good strength gin and tonic or diluting Ribena with water for example. Getting concentrations and dilutions right is vital for health and science students, this article highlights just how important this skill is. In this workshop we individually made a series of solutions, including a master mix, before practising dilutions.

After this workshop would your skills be up to making the ideal martini? Check out this video to see how it’s done.

This workshop was good for:

Understanding the different units we use to describe concentration, including molarity
Appreciating the common mistakes when preparing solutions and knowing how to avoid them
Practising pipetting accurately
Understanding how to make, and why we use, master mixes
Calculating (using C₁V₁ = C₂V₂) volumes required for, and making, dilutions

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au

Kitchen Lab June 25, 2019

Workshop 2: Hitting the Bulls Eye – All About Measurement

We all know the importance of accurate measurement – no one wants their curry to be a phaal when they ordered a korma. Good measurement depends on good technique as well as accurate and precise equipment, check out this video to see why. In this workshop we worked in pairs to investigate the accuracy and precision of different types of lab equipment, including equipment like micro-pipettes. We then calculated how accurate and precise we could be with this equipment.

After this workshop would your measuring skills be up to making the perfect brownie? Have a look at this video to see how it’s done.

This workshop was good for:
• Understanding the difference between accuracy and precision
• Analysing which equipment we’d use to measure different volumes
• Practising how to pipette accurately
• Discussing sources of error and how to minimise their affect
• Calculating standard deviation, accuracy and precision

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .

Kitchen Lab June 24, 2019

Workshop 1: Introduction to working in the lab

We use our observation skills daily, check out this video of a chocolate connoisseur using hers.

If you know expensive chocolate from a bargain bar you’d have aced this workshop – eating chocolate for science! Working as a large group we discussed the importance of good observation skills in our different target professions. Utilising our observation skills we compared the smell, taste and mouth feel of mystery chocolate bars.This data was then used to construct average profiles for each chocolate sample. Using these flavour profiles and the different chocolates ingredient lists we drew conclusions about which chocolate sample was which.

After this workshop would your observation skills be up to telling Cabernet from goon? See how the experts went in this video.

This workshop was good for:

Understanding how our lab observation skills are used in our professions
Sample management and labelling
Contrasting the different types of data we can collect
Practising observation skills
Knowing how to use lab books

Find out more and register to attend a session today by visiting our registration page .

To contact the Kitchen Chemistry team email success.health@qut.edu.au .