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Case Study CP803: Memory Catchers


Delivery - Jo's Class

Around the time Jo first began developing the new unit, she arranged to work three days every term with food technologist Carol Pound to develop the food science side of her teaching. The pair worked on food testing techniques, regimes and protocols, and incorporated these aspects into a series of lessons involving a range of food products.

Jo laid the knowledge she gained from working with Carol (a process she describes as "intense but brilliant") over the framework of the generic memory catchers unit. The result was more tightly structured than Annie's course. While she presented her students with a range of activities and visits at the beginning of the course, Jo wanted to focus quickly on the specifics of the year's project.

Using the tourism/memory catcher as a context, Jo had her students design, make and test a chutney or a jam using local, in-season produce for a stakeholder running a retail operation in the Nelson tourism market.  

For their individual projects, students were to develop a unique food gift for a local tourist operation Simply New Zealand, using local materials/ingredients. The product thad to be packaged in a jar or bottle and have a shelf life of 12 months.

Before beginning to work on their individual projects, students made three different chutneys, sauces and jams. These were subject to a range of sensory and material evaluations. Besides taste, the students tested for consistency and chunkiness, pH level and colour. Colour testing used Resene colour charts as a reference against which products were benchmarked for consistency and desired outcome on a 1-5 scale. Testing was done at a series of workstations set up around the classroom. "Teachers should trial tests beforehand," Jo suggests.

The class discussed batch production and product positioning:

  • Where a product sits on the gourmet-budget product continuum
  • What role a product's ingredients and packaging play in the position it occupies on the scale
  • What legal requirements impact on the manufacture and sale of a product?

The class considered what practical requirements must be met to ensure a product is best suited for its target market. They learnt that if a product is sold at the site of its manufacture, labeling requirements are less onerous than otherwise would be the case.

Market gardening parents helped out in Jo's class, and the Nelson area presented a number of opportunities for class visits. Students established questions before they made visits or received visitors, but they were also encouraged to come up with questions on the day. Arranging visits was a lot of work, but the results made it well worthwhile, Jo says. "When planning these sort activities, good use should be made of parents – they are really quite an amazing resource".

Jo says she used more of a template approach to workbooks than Annie. It was a pragmatic approach, differentiated by the needs of the students. "Templates can be used to improve the focus on what evidence and reflective comments are necessary for qualification success."

One student solution involved producing a multi-layered jam featured in a student showcase.