Teacher workshop focuses on food

Betty Scott (right), who teaches at A. I. duPont High School in Greenville, observes as Pamela Neidig, from Camden Catholic High School in Cherry Hill, N.J., tests the pH of pectin during the “Fun with Food Science” workshop.

2:13 p.m., July 23, 2004--Thirty-one local educators spent Tuesday, July 20, learning how to make gummy candy and pickles at a University of Delaware “Fun with Food Science” teacher workshop. In the process, they discovered how these everyday foods could 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,” University research associate and workshop coordinator Adrienne Shearer said. “‘Fun with Food Science’ gives educators teaching materials that can be easily implemented and are very appealing to young people.”

Sponsored by the department of animal and food sciences, the workshop, now in its fifth year, draws high school and middle school educators from Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. Workshop topics included 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 said at the start of a food chemistry lab that culminated in the gummy candy-making demonstration. The UD alum is a family and consumer science teacher at H.B. duPont Middle School in Hockessin. Although the majority of workshop participants were science teachers, many family and consumer science teachers also attended. Behringer said she signed up for “Fun with Food Science” because she wanted to find new ways to teach food safety to her students. Midway through the morning activities, Behringer said she already had picked up lots of additional information that she planned to incorporate into her curriculum.

One of Behringer’s lab partners was Maggie Mann, who teaches family and consumer science at Middletown High School in Middletown.

“I’m always interested in cross-curriculum materials and this workshop is giving me a lot of good ideas,” Mann said.

After the lab, Mann and Behringer brainstormed on the best way to tailor the food chemistry exercises to their classrooms, which aren’t equipped with laboratory equipment. One possibility discussed was to present the gummy candy experiment to their classes and then team with their schools’ science teachers to conduct a related pectin gel experiment that requires the use of Bunsen burners.

“We look carefully at the program evaluations each year to see if we are meeting the teachers’ needs,” Shearer said. “And, we check in with the participants midway through the school year, as well. Our implementation results are excellent. The teachers tell us that they are going out and using what they learn here.”

“Fun with Food Science” also has evolved into a small-scale outreach program to high school students. Three years ago, a teacher asked if one of his students could accompany him to the workshop. The student had an interest in food science and wanted to learn more about the field. Shearer said she was happy to oblige and designed a daylong student tour, with the help of Karen Aniunas, assistant dean for student services for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

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 said. “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, field buyers, flavor experts, engineers, packaging specialists, product developers, production managers and statisticians. “Currently, food science graduates earn median starting salaries of $45,000 and jobs are plentiful,” Shearer said. “We hope teachers talk to their students about the career options that exist in food science.”

But finding the next generation of food scientists isn’t the primary goal of “Fun with Food Science.” Shearer said she considers the workshop a success knowing it helps make science more understandable to students throughout the region.

Not to mention making science more fun. As participant Stacy Cook, a chemistry teacher at Smyrna High in Smyrna, said, “Anything to do with food, kids will definitely enjoy.”

By Margo McDonough
Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson

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