::A Geek in Korea::

My students were learning about "decomposers" in their science unit. The students always lack a connection to material in their science book. Trying to make mushrooms and maggots something they can relate to takes a lot of work.

I mentioned "maggots" and got a lot of blank faces. Then I explained they are the gross "crawling things in the food garbage container outside the apartments in the middle of the summer." Everyone got that nasty ,"ewww" look on their face and understood instantly. One of the students said that they saw a dead rat with maggots crawling on it.

"Good! That’s a great example! Where did you see it? A movie or something?"

"No, it was outside the elementary school near the playground."

"Why are their rats near the school?"

"It’s a very dirty school, " a girl offered as an explanation.

Jogging my memory about "recent maggot related things" sparked a memory of the clip posted above. For those of you that don’t know, if you pour some cola on raw pork and wait a few minutes, you can see some maggot like things crawl out of the meat. It’s really disgusting. (Witness the phenomenon and be prepared to be totally grossed out!)

I explained what I had seen. The students had a desperate need to learn more. This is one of rare chances where language disappointed and everyone is captivated by a topic and being totally grossed out.The more scientific students started postulating theories about that could be the cause of what I was saying.

"Teacher! What if it is beef? What if it is fish or chicken!?"

"I don’t know. I’d think any sort of animal that wasn’t freshly killed might have this problem."

"What about Cider (generic name for clear Sprite/7up drinks in Korea)?"

"I think it’s the carbolic acid in cola that causes this reaction. I don’t know if cider has this. Probably?"

"Teacher, what if I use lemons or oranges? Vinegar? They have acid in them too!"

"Well, those are common cooking ingredients. I don’t know if it would work at all. Probably not strong enough."

"Teacher! Does stomach acid cause the same thing to happen? Does it happen after I cook and eat the meat? Are they crawling inside me right now?!"

"No, I think cooking kills these worms, but if it happens in your stomach, how could I know?"

After class I promised to show them the video. The entire class gathered around me in the office while I did my google-fu. The video was grainy and a little jerky, but it had people looking queasy. I made sure to play it a few times.

The students I asked about it said they thought it was "terrible" and "disgusting" and "so-so". (One of those is an odd reaction.)

One student boldly declared, "From now on, I’ll only drink Pepsi."

::Facepalm::

**EDIT** THIS VIDEO IS FAKE.

 technorati tags:cola, pork, maggots, students, reactions, gross, lesson, video