Hello! And welcome to week 6 everyone!

Coming up on the middle of semester and with the current Covid-climate being so turbulent, a lot of you have probably had classes move online, which can be tricky. If you’re having some issues with science or just can’t get Beer-Lambert’s Law, never fear! We have specially put together a selection of fundamental modules online through Articulate Rise, and the whole selection is there for you to peruse.

Add individual links for each module

We will aim to add more over the rest of semester as well, but if there are specific topics you want help with, or just want to chat about the ones you’ve done, shoot us an email or join in on the Chem Clinics [book here] and we’re always happy to help!

Take care of yourselves and get into science!

Rhiannon, Kitchen Lab Team

mcveighr@qut.edu.au

Hello all 🤗!

It’s been a few weeks, but we wanted to show you all the cool pictures and ideas that the MTeach (primary) students came up with for our exploding marshmallows workshop [come check it out for yourself here!].

The premise of this workshop is the investigation on how to change the environment of a few different marshmallows – the Giant North American species, the Dwarf Australian species (with pink and white subtypes) and the elusive Sugar Exoskeleton Peep! There are many things you can do with a marshmallow – heat them up, submerge them, squish and stretch them; but how do you measure those things and what do you actually have the time to do in a workshop? Remember to think critically – too many variables, and you won’t be able to get it all done or properly investigate it all. Too obscure of a variable to measure might leave you with no results! Our workshops are intentionally left open ended so as encourage further exploration and investigation by our students.

So, for some inspiration, and also to honour our MTeach students from Week 2, here’s what they got up to in the workshop!

[Top left]: Measuring degree of splat (or expansion) of a marshmallow after a certain time in the microwave.

[Top right]: Measuring which marshmallow is most suited to hot chocolates, using the average temp of hot chocolate of 86°C!

[Bottom]: How compressed can a Peep be? (using weights and a paper plate stabiliser)

All of our students did so well with the experiment, and we saw many innovative and new ways of exploring this workshop!

Thank you to all that could come, and we hope to run some more soon!

The Kitchen Lab Team

Can’t get enough of the lab?  Perhaps you wish you had more time to practise and feel prepared for lab work?  Maybe you just want to meet some like-minded folk that love all things science 🙂

Never fear, the Kitchen Lab team are here with a series of workshops that will help you revise and build confidence with those essential lab skills.  Take a look at what’s on offer this semester

To view available sessions and register to attend, follow this link to the events page.

All on campus workshops are held at Gardens Point campus (GP O-304) on Tuesdays 11am – 12:30 pm and repeated at Kelvin Grove campus (KG S-106) on Wednesday 10:30 am – 12 noon.

If you’d can’t make it on to campus, online modules will be available for you to work though at your own ‘Kitchen Lab’ bench at your own pace.  We are only zoom away if you would like some feedback.

To view and register for the sessions, follow this link to the events page.

If you have questions about the sessions, please contact the Kitchen Lab team at success.health@qut.edu.au

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!