“I just realized there’s no way I can cook twenty eight cakes for the Chemistry Quest Exhibition. It’s simply too expensive.  And I can’t reduce the recipe any further, because I need one egg yolk per 1/2 cake.”

“So what are the choices?”

“Well, I have to keep the experiments that deliver the most learning about Chemistry.  Those are essential.   I could drop a few where the substitutes for products like salt and vanilla aren’t likely to work.  But I need to keep the experiments that substitute for ingredients like eggs, that most often will be in short supply, because that will have the largest practical impact in the real world.”

The next day…..

“Good news.  I’ve reduced the list to ten experiments that will prove ninety percent of what we need to know, and I’ve dramatically cut the budget.”

Just a cooking lesson?  No.  It’s exactly the same critical thinking process a real science would use when forced with budget limitations.

Repeating decades old experiments may demonstrate the Scientific Method, but at the risk of boredom and turning bright minds away from science.    Far better to tackle more complex real life challenges, like needing to deliver a Wedding Cake as promised, even after you’ve discovered that some critical ingredients are no longer available.