An Award-winning SBAR Biofuel Lesson

Arisbeth Ibarra Nieblas is a third-year doctoral student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona. She is also a third-year SBAR Fellow. Arisbeth presented her lesson “Exploring Bioproducts: Glue for Piñatas” to five groups of students, grades 6-8, at the 2020 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) K-12 STEM Outreach Competition. She won 2^nd Place in the Professional/Combined category for her innovative lesson.

The lesson introduced bioproducts and one of the goals was for students to have the experience of using a bioproduct. The bioproduct used was engrudo (wheat paste), which is made from wheat starch and hot water and is traditionally used to glue paper. The lesson calls for students to use the engrudo to make a piñata.