STEM Murder and a Meal Virtual Lab

The Task

The task that we were given was to find out where a victim of a murder last ate so we could find out which restaurant poisoned him. We were given information from people close to the victim about the places he enjoyed to eat and what he would get from each place. At each restaurant he would get the same meal every time. We then started to do standard tests with indicator solutions to figure out what he had last eaten. The macromolecules we tested for included lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins. After testing the results showed that he had consumed lipids and carbohydrates but no protein. At this point we knew that the restaurant that was guilty was Biaggis' Restaurante Italiano because at the other two restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings and Old Chicago Pizza, our victim would order food that included protein. The meal our victim would get every time from Biaggis' was bread, olive oil, and veggies pasta. These foods matched the macromolecules found in our victims' stomach.

Content

Carbohydrate: Carbohydrates provide the body with short term energy and examples of carbohydrates include glucose, sucrose, fructose etc...

Examples: Types of foods that have a lot of carbohydrates include bread and pasta.

Lipid: A lipid is any of various organic compounds that are insoluble in water. They include fats, waxes, oils, hormones, and certain components of membranes and function as energy.

Examples: Dark chocolate, avocado, cheese, whole eggs, nuts, chia seeds, fatty fish, etc...

Nucleic Acid: Nucleic acids are the bio-polymers, or large bio-molecules, essential to all known forms of life. The term nucleic acid is the overall name for DNA and RNA. Examples: spinach, leek, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower.mushrooms including oyster, etc...

Protein: Proteins are large bio-molecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Example: spinach, leek, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, cauliflower.mushrooms including oyster, etc...

Reflection

This virtual lab went very smoothly and quickly. My group was very efficient and got our work done without much distraction. While getting into our breakout room group we discussed how we were going to share the workload and our opinions or first thoughts on the case. Throughout the project we used constructive criticism and helped each other on each slide. One way we used our strengths was one my group mates was not familiar with the indicator solution and standard tests but he did know the definitions and function of each macromolecule so we switched which portion of the slideshow we were doing. This demonstrates both collaboration and communication because we identified each others strengths and let each person take the lead on their strongest areas. One thing we could have done better was encourage team members to review the final write up and provide feedback. Overall the project went very well and it was a great lab to start on. I am really into food science and this virtual lab helped me understand and get more experience.