Are gummy bears permeable? Gummy Bear Osmosis

Have you ever seen the poster of a very famous fat cat (with a love of lasagna) that has a pile of books on its head and the caption is learning by osmosis? It isn’t osmosis.

In fact, my high school biology teacher had that poster in her classroom to make the point that while the orange and black cat was cute he didn’t know much about science.

I’ve taught science a long time and in lots of settings and just like the artist who made the poster, kids find osmosis confusing. That is why I like to use a gummy bear osmosis lab to give them some hands-on science experience.

Vocabulary Confusion

Osmosis is one of those words you might see or hear but is often used incorrectly (see above) causing kids to be confused about what it means and how to apply it. This barrier between the vocabulary and understanding the concept has to be removed.

I always suggest tackling the vocabulary first. When possible go back to Greek and Latin roots to break the word down as much as possible so that we’ve simplified the vocabulary. You can do this on a case by case basis or use a Greek and Latin dictionary or reference.

Make Diffusion and Osmosis Approachable

Next is trying to get kids to see diffusion and osmosis in action. Osmosis is just a special case of diffusion where the water is being moved (rather than the solute) from an area of high water concentration to low water concentration.

This is a passive process. I like to use LOTS of examples.

I can’t think of any way to make a scientific concept more approachable than a gummy candy lab. Most kids have at least a passing familiarity with the popular candy and they look like teddy bears. They are cheap and the answer to the question, “Are gummy bears permeable?” is yes they are.

Gummy Bear Osmosis Lab

There are lots of ways to demonstrate and experiment with osmosis, but the focus here is gummy bears.

First and foremost, you have to decide if you are letting the kids just explore, experiment, or observe. Keep in mind that this is best done over a 24 hour period, so plan in advance.

Explore Osmosis

In an exploration exercise, you might simply have gummy bears available with different solutions and ask them to pick two (make sure to label) and see what happens.

The amount of exploration depends on you and the time constraints that you have. I don’t worry too much about measurements because I want them to focus on using their senses to experience what happens.

This focuses on look and feel of the gummy bears after they spend some time in a solution bath. They are really using those observation muscles to see osmosis in gummy bears.

Observe Passive Transport

In an observation, you have set everything up for the kids to see what happens. You might use a data sheet to help them analyze the numbers and make sense of their observations.

They can still use their senses, but you have made the decisions and done the experiment without the kids present so they just see the data and gummy bears after they are dipped in the solutions and osmosis has occurred.

This method can be easier to set up and clean up and is much more time-efficient, but it doesn’t let the kids have a real hands-on experience.

Experiment with Gummy Bear Osmosis

In an experiment, students will use their senses to observe differences AND record changes on a data sheet.

They will use actual measurements to record changes whenever possible. You can then use the data to calculate percent change and explore how the data is used as evidence.