Teacher's professional development day @ the shack

[stoweski]

Hi everyone,

My short story. I've been making syrup for seven years now. Started with 50 buckets and an old 1/2 pint, now working with 250 taps and a 2x6, along with many other expensive equipment to help the job go smoothly. It's going great.

Anyway, in my spare time I'm also a middle school technology teacher. And we have an upcoming conference day. Part of the day will be broken into sessions for professional development, taught by fellow staff members. We submit a proposal and, once approved, start planning for the presentation. My thought was to have a small group of teachers join me in my shack for a "STEM in Maple Sugaring". In case you haven't been drilled in STEM already, that would be Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Of which there is a ton.

My question to everyone on this forum is, what topics would you consider presenting that teachers of those subjects might be able to use in their middle school classroom? I have quite a list so far but instead of posting would rather hear what comes to mind from you, without a list first. This would be anything for drilling the first hole to bottling the final drop. I don't have a ton of time to show them the operation and talk but if I could leave each department with five or so suggestions each that would be time well spent.

Thank you for any suggestions you can provide, and if you need more info let me know.
Keith

[Cedar Eater]

Science would be how and why hydrometers work to show sugar percentage.
Technology would be channeling the sap to establish a gradient.
Engineering would be sap level control.
Math would be calculating cost per tap for different sized operations to guestimate how many decades it would take to break even. :D

[SDdave]

Science (assuming general): Biology with tree identification, tree mechanisms to heal wounds. Chemistry with % sugar in sap/sweet/syrup, hydrometers-reading correctly with temp variances. How vacuum works on tubing systems.

Technology: Advancements in the syrup industry. Big pot with hot rocks to a channelized pan. Use your RO and explain that (it always amazes people).

Engineering: RO again, anything that you have done to make your life easier is pretty much engineered like your auto draw off.

Math: Rule of 86, cost of syrup per gallon, calculating average amounts of sap/tap, and lastly how to inflate other household item purchases to sneak in a few more maple toys.

Feel for you as most of my family are teachers,

SDdave

[stoweski]

Thanks guys. Had some of what you posted but not all. I forgot about the channelized pans. I was thinking more flue vs flat pan setup.

Keep them coming! I could use a few more.

Approval is pending but it looks like a go. I already have a pretty large interest, enough to run the same session again in the future with another group. Only problem now is the temps on Thursday & Friday were suppose to top off at 40. Now they're saying 28 & 33. Guess I'll be boiling water in the flue pan and some sap I saved for the front.

[MN Jake]

Field trips!! I had spoken to a couple teachers that had thought me 22 years ago and it sparked an interest in them. The shop teacher was interested in making taps and having the kids install them and go from there. The biology teacher was interested for obvious reasons.

[heus]

I'm a junior high/high school teacher of 22 years, and I think your idea for professional development is great. I don't think I saw it posted, but you could also talk about how bacteria affects the taste and color of syrup.

[Snappyssweets]

Never was a teacher, Worked for a while as a DNR Naturalist and taught in the schools.

One thing I would do is immediately seek the help of the High School Student Council and see if they would like to participate.

This would give you the ability to do a round robin type format with stations for multiple classrooms. Keeping it smaller.

Station one. Introduction.
Station two by a student walk out to identify and learn how a tree is tapped. (through example)
Station two walks them to station Three, a collection point. (bucket or drop line)
Station three explains the number of gallons and variances and types of collection. Bags, Buckets, lines
Station Three walks them to station Four.
The boiling stage where you are. You explain the process's and things involved. Then pass them off to a Final station where they see and learn about the bottling, the different devices used through the whole process.

This would allow smaller groups of students and make it transition smoother. Could be done for any age school education program.

For giggles hollow out an old log, Build a fire and get some old field stone. Have someone heating rocks and dropping them into the log filled with liquid (water) to show how the Natives used to make syrup and sugar. LOL