Too sweet to be true?

- A hands-on teaching unit about Synthetic Sweeteners

Abstract

Dealing with biological topics in school can be challenging for
both teachers and students despite a direct connection to their daily
lives and existing pre-knowledge. This applies to carbohydrates, which
can be treated in biology with regard to health education, making it
possible to combine the conveyance of knowledge with the practical
example of sugars and sweeteners. Carbohydrates are required for
energy production by both animals and plants. Their general molecular
construction, however, is similar. Sugars are also carbohydrates with the
most important simple ones being Glucose and Fructose
(monosaccharides). Due to their natural sweetness there are used in
foods, but since obesity and diabetes have increased dramatically in the
western countries, the discovery of synthetic sweeteners was a great
success. When developing synthetic sweeteners, factors such as toxicity,
stability and cost aside from taste have to be considered. This article
aims at giving necessary, yet simple background knowledge needed for
holding a thorough lesson or even teaching unit on the topic of
carbohydrates as exemplified by sugars. It is rounded off by suggestions
how to conduct the teaching with concrete experiments, for each of
which a worksheet is provided at the end.