Volume 13, Number 1, 2004
Thirty-one local teachers spent a day at the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources this summer, learning how to make such goodies as gummy candy and pickles at a "Fun With Food Science" workshop. In the process, they say they discovered how everyday foods can be used in the classroom to teach kids about science.
"Students gain a better understanding of scientific principles when you choose familiar examples as teaching tools," Adrienne Shearer, research associate and workshop coordinator, says. "The workshop gives educators teaching materials that can be easily implemented and are very appealing."
Sponsored by the College's Department of Animal and Food Sciences, the workshop, now in its fifth year, draws high school and middle school educators from Delaware and nearby states. Topics include food chemistry, product development, food safety, processing, packaging, biotechnology and microbiology.
"Uh, oh, I haven't conducted a science experiment since I was a student here," Betty Behringer, CHEP '67, said at the start of a food chemistry lab that culminated in the gummy candy-making demonstration. Behringer, a middle school family and consumer science teacher, says she signed up for "Fun With Food Science" because she wanted to find new ways to teach food safety to her students.
"We look carefully at the program evaluations each year to see if we are meeting the teachers' needs," Shearer says. "And, we check in with the participants midway through the school year. Our implementation results are excellent. The teachers tell us that they are using what they learn here."
The workshop also has evolved into a small-scale outreach program to high school students. Three years ago, a teacher asked if one of his students with an interest in food science could accompany him, and the College designed a daylong student tour. This year, seven high school students attended the workshop, but instead of taking a tour, they participated in the day's activities side-by-side with their teachers.
"The tour gave students a great introduction to the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and to the entire University," Shearer says. "But, we've decided to engage the students in all the labs and activities so they can directly see what's involved in the field of food science."
Occupations in food science include biochemists, flavor experts, engineers, packaging specialists and product developers.
--Margo McDonough, AS '86, '95M