High oleic oil from soybeans is a modification to traditional soybean oil that has an increased level of monounsaturated fatty acid. This oil has more desirable chemical and physical properties than conventional soybean oil. Why? It is due to the number of bonds and the shape of the molecules in the oil. These lessons and the eLearning course give students in chemistry classes a concrete example of covalent bonding and molecular shape and the difference that shape makes on the function of the molecule.
GrowNextGen Teacher leader Andrea Harpen developed these lessons after attending Commodity Classic last year. Students will learn about the different characteristics of high oleic soybean oil as compared to traditional soybean oil.
Sarah Vacek, Corn Systems Launch Lead of Monsanto Company, said, “Agriculture offers a wide range of opportunities for young people to make a mark – from helping farmers utilize data better to traditional breeding to learning how agriculture can conserve water efficiently. Education outreach is a great way for those of us in the ag industry to help explain the newest technologies and science that help provide nutrition for a growing global population. Now, more than ever, people want to understand more about food production, starting on the farm. Vistive Gold and high-oleic soybean oil are a great way to tell the story of agriculture to consumers because it uses the latest science and technologies to improve the oil in our diets.”
Teachers needing the oil for experiments in the classroom can order Vistive Gold bottles online at this site.
This unit includes the lessons for classroom use, the e-learning course and four video lessons that explain Lewis dot structures of formulas, predicting molecular shape and understanding how the shape of a molecule (high oleic oil) can impact its function.
