Havelock North High School is a state co-educational day school for years 9 to 13, with a school roll of 1065 situated in Havelock North in Hawke's Bay. The school offers a wide, varied subject selection at all levels. Opportunities are given to extend students in a variety of ways: multi-level courses beginning at year 10; Skill Pathways; distance learning courses; and peer tutoring programmes. In 2003 new technology facilities were opened allowing a range of courses to be offered.
To find out more about Havelock North High School visit their website www.hnhs.school.nz
Planning part one
The unit is called “Meal in a Minute" due to the copyright attached to the programme “Food in a Minute". The idea came from a collection of triggers e.g. casual conversations with students talking about busy lives and family meals, the success of the “Food in a Minute" programme, trying to buy the specific Heinz Wattie's products in the supermarket the week a certain recipe was televised. I (Carol) then rang Heinz Wattie's and was put in contact with the food product development manager who not only gave me his time, he also put me in touch with Di Handley in Auckland, and Margot Richards in Hastings. Both came to school and set the scene accompanied by trays of Indian, Italian and Pesto style tomatoes – from there on the students developed their own brief.
Unit Focus
The focus of the unit is on providing Year 9 students with the opportunity to develop a prototype recipe that meets the constraints of a “Food in a Minute" recipe.
Technological Areas
Food
ICT
Level: 4,5
Resources
Foods Room
Access to existing recipes
Industry expert – Heinz Wattie Food Technologist
Range of Heinz Wattie Tomato Product
Planned Unit/Suggested Learning Experiences
Gateways for Formative and Summative Assessment
Introduction
Overview (explanation) of Food Technology
Introduce the unit – provide students with an overview of the unit “Meal in a Minute" so that they can see where individual tasks within the unit fit into the overall unit
Examine Technological Practice within an industry example (Chocolate Indulgence Video)
Discuss the place of the consumer in product development and the importance of the consumer to the manufacturer
Introduction of Food in a Minute programmes and an evaluation of a presentation to establish prior knowledge
Visit from practising technologist – Di Handley, Heinz Wattie Food in a Minute, to gain an understanding of:
Influence of Food in a Minute recipes on Heinz Wattie product sales/why Food in a Minute recipes are promoted by Heinz Wattie
Changing consumer lifestyles
Food trends
The process of recipe development for the programme
Tasting food product
Define criteria (class specifications) for Food in a Minute product to be designed for Heinz Wattie
Discussion of Class Brief as defined by criteria
Gateway 1
Knowledge
Links to Gateways: Nos 2, 3, 4
Learning Outcome
Students can:
Describe the attributes of a Food in a Minute product
Links to AO's: Nos
1, 2, & 8
Criteria
Descriptions describe attributes that make a Food in a Minute product
Assessment Strategies
List of attributes
Planning part two
Conceptual Statement
Develop a recipe using one of the following Heinz Wattie products: “Pesto Style" tomatoes, “Indian Style" tomatoes, or “Mexican Style" tomatoes
Specifications
Use no more than 6 ingredients
Use the whole can of one of the Heinz Wattie products
Take no longer than 20 minutes preparation time
The method should be written in no more than four points
The recipe must be written in keeping with a Food in a Minute recipe ( ie the method following the list of instructions)
Establish a focus group
Heinz Wattie “Meal in a Minute" Review existing recipesCarry out an existing recipe and evaluate it against the class briefInterview focus groupWrite an initial brief for a Food in a Minute recipe following reflection on progress to datePlan and suggest future activities and resources neededSelect recipe for trialling/plan trial and testing; carry out trial and testingModify and trial ingredients, with the help of the focus group, evaluate products and reflect on method – refine brief where necessary to reflect results from testingCommunicate with Heinz Wattie Food TechnologistWrite final brief to which prototype will be manufactured
Establish list of ingredients to make prototype
Manufacture final prototype – evaluate against final brief
Gateway 2
Practice
Links to Gateways 1 & 3
Learning Outcome
Students can:
Personalise the brief to include specifications required by an identified focus group
Links to AO's
1, 2, & 8
Criteria
Level 3
Brief has a conceptual statement that identifies the target market and the purpose (ie a Food in a Minute product for the teenage person). Specifications include those given as well as those identified by focus group. Specifications allow evaluation of prototype Food in a Minute product.
Level 4
Brief has a conceptual statement that defines a need or opportunity for a specified target group(ie a Food in a Minute product for the teenage sports person). Specifications include those given as well as those identified through ongoing consultation with focus group. Specs allow evaluation of prototype Food in a Minute product.
Assessment Strategies
Written brief
Gateway 3
Practice
Links to Gateways 1,2,& 4
Learning Outcome
Students can:
Evaluate a final food product against identified specifications
Links to AO's: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 7 & 8
Criteria
Student's evaluation states compliance and deficits of the prototype Food in a Minute product against specifications – suggestions are made to eliminate deficits
Assessment Strategies
Observation of prototype, written evaluation
Plan presentation of recipes
Identify design presentation features used to communicate Food in a Minute recipesDesign presentation
Present presentation including evaluation of prototype Food in a Minute product manufactured.
Examples of "Meal in a Minute" dishes
Delivery
1. From the Food Industry's perspective:
Food Products must meet the consumer needs by being:
A quality product
Appealing to the consumer
Competitive price
Good shelf life
Safe to eat
Food Products must meet the needs of the manufacturer by being:
A quality product
Economical to produce
Competitive
Make a profit
Good shelf life
Meets safe codes of practice
2. To have a successful product the students had to be aware of the knowledge and skills required to develop a Food Product:
a) People:
who is it for
what do they want
where etc
b) Accessing information – existing solutions
c) Knowledge and Skills in Food Preparation
Measuring
Reading a recipe
A range of technical skills
Safe and hygienic practice
Examples of "Meal in a Minute" dishes:
The students then worked to a given recipe to practice measuring, following a recipe and, safe and hygienic food handling practices. They were then given an evaluation sheet which then led to their changing recipes by adding or substituting ingredients.
Student Example of product development
Click on each page to enlarge
Before developing their own recipe the students had to evaluate an existing Food in a Minute recipe and check against the class brief.
Outcome
"Meal in a Minute" Review.
How long did it take your group to prepare the meal?
How many different ingredient were in the recipe?
How many points were in the method?
Were there any other commercial products used. If so what?
If you were presenting a "Meal in a Minute Segment" what preparation would you do before the broadcast and what would you do in the allocated 60 seconds.
We only have the students for 40 periods so were hard pressed for time and interacted with target groups (usually family) rather than Heinz Wattie's. Unfortunately, we were unable to receive feedback from Heinz Wattie's on the final photos and/or the students' products. However, there were several worthwhile solutions. Next time I would set the scene differently and involve Margot more – the offer was there but I simply ran out of time. The brief was tricky as it required us to use whole cans of product which meant that large quantities were produced. There were also rooming and resourcing problems due to the technology facilities being readied for an upgrade, so there is plenty or room for improvement of a similar assignment in the future. The students had heaps of fun and gained a lot of valuable product development knowledge from the unit.
Student Example
Date
Task to be done
Resources/Goods/ Equipment required
Decisions made and why
10/05
Plan for practical No 1
Plan shopping list
Decide on ingredients we bring
Pen and paper
We chose our recipe and we will get families to try it and make changes
We chose the recipe because our aim was families and not a huge meal
15/05
Trialled practical
Decide what needed to be changed
Food and utensils needed for recipe
That it was good and turned out well
We need to add breadcrumbs to cheese because it was too soggy
Add side salad for a bit of light stuff
23/05
Trialled different practical
Decide if this recipe is better
Evaluation
Food and utensils needed for recipe
We chose to not have the top hash brown because it was too much potato
It tasted better and we'll keep it like that
Salad made it better
We need to add more spice to the mince, but otherwise great
29/05
Decide what to do tomorrow
Partners
We are going to plan and organise our next practical
Get people to fill out a survey for us to find out about what teenagers like. (If they would like our meal)
30/05
Got people to fill out survey
Survey
That our meal is good and most people will like it
We are going to add red or green pepper to our mince
05/06
Final evaluation
Production Profile
Books
To do our plan of our meal in a minute
Practise on Tuesday and the actual one on Wednesday
