how does the hot chocolate stay hot?

 

 

This week, with the year two (Oak) children at Dunkirk, we conducted an experiment in the ice and snow.  It was in response to the question asked by one of the children "how does the flask keep the hot chocolate hot?" 

  

 

So, we carried out a fair test, we put equal amounts of hot chocolate in the same types of water bottles, then we put each of these into the same paper bag... And then we packed different kinds of materials (or nothing) around each of the bottles.  We took the temperature of each bottle - and then, off we went out for an adventure...  We went to explore the allotment in the snow and we took the temperature of the hot chocolate every 10 minutes.  It was so interesting watching the children explore and learn, they made amazing discoveries.   

   

They were really interested in the temperature of the snow too.  It was –2 oC  in places but  0 oC in others and the children were really interested in why (“it’s because that part is in the shade” one boy suggested).   We did make sure we also had several flasks of hot chocolate ready to drink too!

Have a look here for the children's findings:
http://dunkirkprimary.weebly.com/our-curriculum9.html