Pre-planning
Students cutting dough
During her two years at Remuera Intermediate Judith has established Food Technology as a Technology subject and has educated students to understand that it involves so much more than 'cooking', explaining that they won't necessarily do this in every lesson. In practice, the Year 7 students, who have Technology twice a week for approximately six weeks, will usually work on some practical skill during each one-and-a-half hour lesson.
Judith sent letters home to every parent in 2008 explaining what Food Technology is and how it differs from Home Economics and cooking. This helped parents understand what their children would be learning in Technology and Judith finds that there is an increased expectation amongst students that they won't just be 'cooking'.
Each Year 7 class has four introductory sessions in skill development and Food Technology knowledge, which prepares them for the eight-session Unlocking Some Secrets of Food Technology module – which is based on a pikelet recipe. This module was first delivered in 2008, and has been modified at various stages since. The students are encouraged to make some ingredient substitutions and in mid-2009, in response to student feedback, Judith changed the module so that they now select two models to develop, before working on their final outcome.
The unit focusses on pikelets, says Judith, because it is a food students are familiar with and that they can make successfully, the base ingredients are inexpensive, and although it is a simple recipe it can lead to a broad range of outcomes. "Pikelets are successful and you can't really ruin them, even if they do beat them to death! The texture may not be what we would eat but it still works, and even if it's tough the students will happily eat it. I could have used a scone dough, but they're more difficult for the students to make well."
To allow students sufficient time to get through their work, Judith lays out all the trays of food before each class. "The module involves a huge amount of work but the rewards are enormous – you can just see student confidence growing."
The module is designed to support students working at Level 2 of the Technology Curriculum. Judith was already providing the opportunity for her students to work from the Technological Practice strand, and she has continued that, ensuring students cover the Planning for Practice, and Outcome Development and Evaluation components.
The Pikelets module also incorporates the Technological Knowledge strand, and students work on the Technological Modelling component when they model their project team's six concepts, then the two selected products, before creating their final outcome. Each of these functional models provides the students with evidence to help them select their final outcome. If Technological Modelling was to be a major focus of this module, students could also identify other forms of Technological Modelling they have done (such as sensory testing, recipe writing) and discuss the different evidence each form of modelling provides.
Judith also brings the Technological Products component into the module. She provides students with a range of products and discusses the properties and attributes of these products during sensory testing. When the students make ingredient substitutions and additions they need to consider the functional properties of the ingredient to ensure the final outcome will be successful.
