By Eliana Hudson, UMKC communications intern
For many people, baking can be a hobby, a way to relax after a stressful day, or to satisfy a craving for sweets. At AFIA, baking is a learning experience. A few days ago, Mrs. Davis’ third/ fourth grade class baked chocolate and lemon cupcakes. Mrs. Davis wanted her class to see the use of math in baking, specifically understanding the importance of knowing how to add, subtract, divide, and multiply fractions. It was also to show how the scientific process can be applied to something as simple as cooking.
Before the class began baking the cupcakes, she asked the class to get out some paper to make predictions and write down how many steps they thought it would take to bake the cupcakes. They began by making a prediction and drawing how they thought the cupcakes would turn out. One student asked if they should write down the steps, and Mrs. Davis agreed that would be a great idea.
One problem Mrs. Davis ran into was that there were no measuring cups. So, she used a styrofoam cup instead. Now the class had to use conversions and figure out the correct fraction ratios. After this small bump, the class continued to bake and use their math and science skills. Bre’ Asia said, “It’s science, but you get to taste it. And it’s math, too.”
When the cupcakes were taken out of the oven, the class enjoyed their special treat: a combination of science, math, chocolate, lemon, baking and team work.
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