Seventh Graders Finish Space Unit by Dehydrating Food

As the culmination of their science unit about space, and as a segue to their next unit on food science, seventh graders spent this week learning about the dehydration process and then preparing their own dehydrated fruits and vegetables. “The whole year we have been studying microorganisms, and learning about food connects back to what we’ve been studying about the cellular process,” explains teacher Gin Saepharn. This hands-on lab is a simple way to engage students in this process of dehydration, which is an accessible way to preserve food. Students dehydrated everything from fruits—including apples, mangoes, bananas, and limes—to vegetables, including bell peppers and tomatoes. Students also watched videos about space travel and food preservation and were surprised to learn that using the Space Shuttle to get a pound of food to the International Space Station can cost around $10,000. Dehydrating food reduces its weight. Next, students will learn about the science of pickling and fermentation. MORE PHOTOS