Students play the role of enzymes, with toothpicks as the substrates. This activity demonstrates how the rate of reaction is dependent in the concentration of enzymes.

Students will see first hand the difference between the use of fresh, frozen, and canned pineapple in gelatin. They will develop a hypothesis as to why the fresh and frozen pineapple did not allow the gelatin to solidify. Ultimate learning outcome is that of enzyme denaturation at hight emperatures, which occurs during the canning process, and the idea of optimum temperatures for enzyme function.

Enzymes are important components of digestion because they break down large food molecules into smaller chemical subunits. One digestive enzyme, lactase, breaks down lactose (a disaccharide found in milk) into the monosaccharides glucose and galactose.

In this lesson, students explore the action of enzymes through a simulation in which their hands are the enzyme "toothpickase" and the substrate is the toothpick. Students will then explore factors, such as temperature, that can affect the efficiency of enzyme action in cells. Students predict the outcome of their results, create their own data tables, and design the experiment for the variable they chose to investigate.