Science lesson brings sweet rewards
Tiny bits of chocolate were scattered across classroom tables at the Harvard Ed Portal in Allston, though some clung to the fingers and faces of eight children busily conducting a scientific experiment. The local youngsters were participants in the “Science and Cooking for Kids” program, coordinated by the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Harvard’s Public School Partnerships team. Together they were learning that chemistry plays an important role in the properties that make chocolate bars so appealing. For example, heating chocolate to a very precise temperature creates the “snap” you hear when you bite into a bar, explained Frank Mooney, a recent graduate of Stonehill College, who runs the program with Kathryn Hollar, director of educational programs at SEAS. To see the effects of this chemical process, called crystallization, the children heated chocolate to two different temperatures and then compared the properties of the candy after...