Delivery
Introduction
All Year 9s met the four teachers in an 'Introduction to Technology' period, after which they were placed into two groups, each group to work on a separate unit. Each group was divided into two classes, this providing an opportunity to trial the teaching of girls and boys in separate classes.
The Cool Food group started with a shared lesson, in which students were introduced to the computer suite and the e-learning platform Moodle. Moodle would be used by the students as a blogging tool to share the planning, reviewing, reflections and revision of their practice throughout their projects, through the WeLCom (Wairarapa eLearning Community) site.
Geoff introduced his class to the Graphics room and some of the skills they would need, while Diana introduced hers to the Food Technology lab, where they made ice-cream sundaes and smoothies. Each class then worked through the market research phase of the unit
As each stage was completed, the classes swapped and the lesson was repeated to the second class. The longest teaching block was four weeks, which ensured each class received the knowledge/skills in the same general time frame. See Course Outline: Cool Food Project
Market research
Students spent two weeks on market research.
Class 1: This class examined current products and looked at product testing, legislation, technological principles such as aesthetics, and the four 'p's – product, price, place and promotion.
Class 2: This class concentrated on labelling, advertising and packaging. Students used design principles to evaluate current market products, and also considered product, price, place and promotion. As part of their skill development they worked on the use of colour and texture, typography and white space, this being likened to a 'hook, line and sinker' for getting consumers to look at and buy a product.
The classes combined for two periods to consider brief development. They brainstormed target niche markets within the teenage market sector, and in groups of three or four chose a niche market for which to develop an ice-cream product. Each student completed a survey in which they explored their own opinions and identified likely consumer requirements.
Brief development/Technological knowledge and skill development
'Nerdilicious' student work board
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Each class spent four weeks with one teacher developing technological knowledge, and then the classes swapped for the next four.
Class 1: This class worked in the food lab and considered ice-cream formulation, production and preservation. They had to think about both the manufacturing process and HACCP requirements for these products.
Sensory attributes testing on ice-cream products currently in the market is always a popular activity, and this was no exception – especially with the boys!
Students developed their ice-cream using a variety of recipes - based on evaporated milk, condensed milk, custard, and as a semi freddo version. Diana covered basic skills such as separating eggs and each group trialled recipe variations. Sensory attributes testing was done on these home-made formulations, focussing on smell, appearance, texture and taste. Students compared each dessert to commercial products and considered which formulation would appeal to their target market.
Students also considered ice-cream inclusions and why some ingredients are particularly suitable while others should be avoided. They then trialled an assortment of inclusions (fruit, biscuits, lollies, apple crumble, cordial powder, cheese cake, rocky road) which each focus group commented on and ranked. The class also created new flavours of ice-cream, trialling different additives with a commercial vanilla ice-cream base.
Creating the perfect ice-cream didn't stop there! The class worked on adding some 'crunch' to their dessert. They used basic recipes, sometimes incorporating their own variations, to make waffle cones, maple syrup cones, chocolate chip biscuits, brandy snaps, chocolate brownies and almond tuiles.
This was followed by the making and testing of sauce formulations – fudge, chocolate, chocolate coconut, butterscotch, and toffee. For their sauce formulation testing the students made three batches of each sauce; one was stored in the fridge, one in the freezer while the third was to be sampled immediately. Sensory evaluation was performed to rank each batch on appearance, smell, texture and taste.
Class 2: This class had to consider the importance of packaging and labelling in both a general context and for their own project. Geoff found the online pac-it resource helpful in teaching students about packaging – the video showing how early Māori wrapped muttonbirds in kelp and flax and the vast array of packaging available in the 21st century, led to a good class discussion on the subject.
Geoff reviewed existing ICT skills and taught the new ones that the class would need to use for their labelling. After reviewing what they knew about design sketching and freehand design skills, he taught the students to use 2D and 3D freehand design sketching techniques, including orthographic projection.
After drafting their designs the students were introduced to CAD (Computer-aided design) and the use of SketchUp in modelling their work. They also had to make a physical model of their label.
Idea generation
Class 1: This class concentrated on generating ideas for an ice-cream product, keeping in mind their key factors and the results of their survey. Each group took their best idea and generated a revised brief.
Class 2: This class looked at ideas for packaging and labelling of their product, again considering the key factors and survey results, and using their ideas to produce a refined brief.
Product Development
During the three weeks of product development both teachers covered the same process with their classes. Students included conceptual modelling of the packaging and labelling for their product when they made their prototypes.
After refining and completing their final brief, each group prepared a presentation of their product using a mock-up, story board display or PowerPoint presentation.
'Chocolate Coconut' student work board
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Presentation of outcomes
Each group presented their product to the class, giving out samples and explaining its features, its proposed place in the marketplace, price, and how they would promote it.
Diana and Geoff photographed all the project presentations and chose 20 for display at the school's options/careers night and Year 8 open night.
