CP911-pikelets

A range of outcomes adapting the basic pikelet batter

Reference: CP911
Classroom Practice: Year 7
Title: Unlocking some secrets of Food Technology using basic pikelet batter
Duration: three weeks
Overview: Year 7 students in the Food Technology class at Remuera Intermediate adapt a basic recipe to create a biscuit or dessert. They apply the knowledge and skills learnt in a four-session introductory unit to their product development in the eight-session pikelets module.
Focus Points:

Measuring
Sensory testing
Adapting a basic recipe
Modelling and trialling
Terminology
Teamwork

Judith and students

Remuera Intermediate School is a decile 9 school in Auckland. Year 7 students have four six-week Technology rotations as part of their specialist programme – Food Technology, Electronics, Hard Materials and Soft Materials. Year 8 students select three Technology subjects – from these four options plus Multimedia Technology – which they take for two hours a week over a twelve-week rotation.

Remuera Intermediate is one of six schools involved in a Growth and Innovation Fund (GIF) - Technology Education initiative – The Resource Development and Facilitation: Years 7-10 Technology Project. The Technology team has been exploring the two new strands (Technological Knowledge and Nature of Technology) and trialling them in their classrooms.

When Judith Sigglekow arrived at the school in 2008, Food Technology was still at the beginning stages – some aspects of Technology were starting to come through but the programme involved mostly cooking.

Judith had originally trained in Home Economics which she taught for some years. She started making the shift to Technology when the first Technology curriculum was introduced, followed by the completion of a postgraduate Diploma of Technology Education through Massey University. In 2003 she continued her learning in Technology during a Royal Society Teacher Fellowship year when she worked as a product development assistant at Hubbards Foods Limited. After deciding to leave teaching, Judith worked full-time at Hubbards, further valuable experience in the food industry which she was able to utilise in her programmes when she returned to the classroom.

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.

Students combining ingredients

Introduction to Food Technology

The students learn about Food Technology and build up a 'skills bank' during the first four lessons – which includes simple skills such as how to wash dishes! They are introduced to sensory testing and the hedonic scale

, then conduct their own testing and complete a ranking chart on smell, appearance, taste and texture. They also construct a star diagram with a product profile, as well simple charts and tables. Food Technology terminology is presented in the form of laminated posters, which Judith says the students use for inspiration as they write up their results and conclusions.

When sensory testing, Judith doesn't use the same food with each class – the selection may depend on what's left in the store cupboard or on sale in the supermarket, but she will often use a range of commercial yoghurts, chippies or dried fruit. This sensory testing also provides an opportunity to discuss nutrition. For example, when a class tests dried fruit, Judith talks about where it might be appropriate in a healthy diet, the students taste samples of commercial snacks based on dried fruit, and discuss the ingredients and how healthy, or not, the product might be. All the samples are of foods relevant to this age group, which increases student interest in the discussion.

In another sensory testing lesson the students make dough from flour, salt and water, which they cut into chips. Each group is given an unidentified flavour (generally flavours that would be familiar to them) and when they taste the baked chips the students try to guess what it is.

The final lesson concentrates on the interaction of ingredients and the students learn some food chemistry, along with cooking skills, when they make hokey pokey.

Sensory testing

Pikelets

The Pikelets module is largely focussed on measurement – students learn the abbreviations and the importance of accurate measuring when they make their pikelets, using a basic recipe. Having successfully accomplished pikelet-making, they move on to modifying a recipe. Working in teams of three or four, half the class makes a pikelet mix using less milk while the other half uses more – the students with the thick batter make biscuits, and those with the thinner batter make an upside-down pudding.
Judith says that changing the proportion of just one ingredient teaches the students that if they make a mistake at home, such as putting in too much milk, they can still turn their mixture into something successful.

Each team then decides whether they want to use a thick or thin batter in their product development. They can substitute ingredients such as honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, jelly crystals, or Raro, for the sugar; or use flavoured milk, juice, yoghurt, cream cheese, or crème fraiche, in place of the milk. The substitutions must be the same quantity as the original ingredients, and Judith notes that the repetition in the unit is really good for the students' measurement skills.

The teams are encouraged to use two additional ingredients, which means that the final products can vary substantially. Judith points out that despite her suggestions for healthier or more interesting options, most of the students choose some form of chocolate. She has decided that although it's not the ideal ingredient, if that's what makes a product better to 11- and 12-year-old tastes, then she can live with it: "It's the process that we're looking at."

During the planning stage each student comes up with six ideas for their biscuit or dessert-type product to discuss with their project team, which selects six team concepts to develop further. After modelling these, they will choose two to trial further and, after making any modifications, choose one to develop as their final outcome.

The students note the ingredients for each concept in their worksheet which serves as a reference tool when they're deciding on the two concepts to develop further, and gives extra practice in using measurement abbreviations.

The students also need to decide how each concept should be cooked and choose from the variety of cake tins, muffin tins and gem irons in the store cupboard. This provides another learning experience – the team that uses a big cake tin and ends up with a thin, tough cake quickly realises the need for a smaller tin in their next trial.

Each team has a two- to three-minute meeting at the beginning of the lesson, which helps them get focussed and organised – some students arrive early so Judith encourages them to put on their aprons and get started straight away. She doesn't necessarily start every lesson with instructions and reminders, preferring that the students concentrate on what they are already doing. Instead, Judith will gather them around for a demonstration if she needs to show them a skill which will help in their product development. "I do that for the basic pikelets, and the thick/thin recipe, and after that they're basically on their own. It can be a bit scary, but when I ask them 'Who's really nervous?' the hands sort of go up, and when it's 'Who's really excited?' the hands fly up."

A finished product

Changing the development process so that students now go from six models to two then one, instead of six to one, made the unit more difficult because students have to fit an extra model into the time period. While this new process means students might create two or three models in one session, it has made the final products and the overall module more successful. The students are enthusiastic about developing their concepts and work harder to complete their work – Judith says that some teams are "down to the wire" when finishing, but everyone does achieve it.

One aspect of the module that students find challenging is the teamwork; Judith notes that occasionally a team's first model isn't particularly good but they will pick themselves up and turn out some good products during the rest of the cycle.

Instead of being instructed every lesson on what they should be doing, students are encouraged to be independent in their work and use the relevant skills and knowledge they have been taught. Although apprehensive at the beginning, they enjoy this challenge and the need to work efficiently to complete their work – Judith comments that "if you set the benchmark high, the children will rise to it."

The students often want to take their outcomes to other classes to get other student stakeholders to taste them. This would, says Judith, be better Technology than students tasting it themselves, but it is too time-consuming getting them to organise stakeholders and record their comments.

If time permitted, Judith would modify the six-two-one ratio further, so that the students might go from six to five which, she notes, is how the product development process works.

Year 8 students work on a similar, although more difficult, process. They develop a new popcorn flavour in the first project, in which they do market research and work with classmates as their stakeholders. In the second unit, students develop healthy muffins (no chocolate allowed!) and learn more about the interaction of ingredients.

Judith talks to the students about potential careers in Food Technology, and the need for Science and Maths. She is enthusiastic about the knowledge and skills her students gain during their work: "I don't spend a whole lesson on safety in the kitchen and how to turn on your oven, I do it in context; and I think that's the whole thrust of the Technology Curriculum – that it's relevant and in context".

Judith would repeat the module in the same circumstances, as it fits well within the time-frame and illustrates to the students the technological process, teamwork and the use of ingredients. Given more time, she says, she would develop the project into a more challenging assignment and incorporate some Nature of Technology tasks.