Cupcake Science – Taking it Further

Opening Discussion

What sort of work goes into a product before a company sells it? Have a conversation with your students about test marketing. Companies test market products (try them out on a few people before they sell them to lots of people) in order to decide if any changes need to be made. This marketing includes trying out different names and packaging and also helps to find out if changes need to be made to the recipe.

The Challenge

Let your classmates try your cupcakes and ask them what they think about your creation!

Doing the Activity

1. Each team should make a cupcake—people will need to taste one in order to comment on it!
2. Next, have each team survey their other classmates. The people who have created the cupcakes being tested will be called the “marketers” and the people trying the cupcakes out will be called the “tasters”. There are a few different kinds of surveys you can do—you might decide which kind to try, or have your students pick after you describe each type of survey to them. The first 2 surveys take less time and allow more students to taste and comment on other team’s cupcakes. The last 2 surveys take more time and might be best done with only a few tasters per team:
   • Simple Survey – In this survey, the tasters simply say whether they like the cupcake or not. This survey does not give much helpful information for making changes to a recipe but can still be useful.
   • Attribute Survey – In this survey, the marketers ask the tasters whether they like or don’t like each of the different characteristics of their cupcakes – the flavor, the sweetness, the texture, the color of the cupcake, etc. This survey yields much more useful information. Brainstorm with your students a list of attributes to be commented on before conducting this kind of survey so that every team is looking at the same qualities.
   • Scaled Survey – This survey will give even more information. The marketers ask the tasters how much they like each of the different characteristics, on a scale of 1 to 10. A rating of 2 on “flavor” would mean they really didn’t like the taste of the cupcake; a rating of 10 on “sweetness” would mean they thought the amount of sugar was perfect. As with the “attribute survey”, brainstorm with your students a list of attributes to be commented on before conducting this kind of survey.
   • Opinion Survey – This survey will collect the most information but also takes a lot of time to conduct. In this survey, the marketers not only ask the tasters whether they like or don’t like a characteristic, but what it is that they like or don’t like. For instance, rating “sweetness” as 2 out of 10 doesn’t tell the marketers if the taster thought the cupcake was too sweet or not sweet enough—just that they didn’t like the sweetness. Asking the taster directly will get that information. As with the “attribute” and “scaled” surveys, brainstorm with your students a list of attributes to be commented on before conducting this kind of survey so that every team is looking at the same qualities.

Let’s Talk About It

After conducting the surveys, bring your students together to talk about the process. Were the surveys helpful? Are there any changes they would like to make to their recipes? Once they make those changes, how will they let the world know about their great new creations?

Build On What They Talked About

After the discussion, have your students go back to their teams and discuss any changes that they might make. If you have time, allow them to make these changes and bake a new cupcake.