Delivery
With the initial brief the class was given the conceptual statement: 'You are to develop and make a gift for someone special within the context of 'Batters in a Bottle." Most of the class chose a parent or other family member as the stakeholder for their project. The final product would be the ingredients for a particular batter, presented in jars.
The cooking focused on basic recipes. The class all made pikelets, scones, pancakes and muffins to identify the desirable key attributes for each and apply these to their product investigations. Diana encouraged the class to connect what they were doing with the conceptual statements and terminology they had been introduced to at the beginning of the unit.
Students made profiles establishing a need or opportunity related to their stakeholders and established their preferences for the basic recipes through a survey.
Storage tests were done in groups using recycled jars. While this is not a big part of the unit, it introduced testing for storage - knowledge required for future projects. Various samples were put into small containers: a control sample of flour, baking powder and sugar plus one of layered ingredients; one with water; one with milk; and some with added ingredients such as chocolate chips or nuts. When asked "What about cream?" Diana got them to test this as well. The samples were described on the storage test chart before labelling and storing, with weekly checks made over the following month. At the completion of the test students analysed the results and decided what containers to use for their product development.
In the materials workroom the class was given a demonstration of how to make a shaper or cutter if they decided to use this in their project. Time was also spent discussing the benefits of labelling and its usefulness for product presentation.
Diana Eagle: "With pikelets, scones and muffins you can see what's gone wrong quite easily and there are ways to fix it quite easily. There's a wide range of recipes they can choose from when they want to experiment and change things, so it's a good starting point."
Moving on from investigation to brief refinement had the class identifying key factors they needed to consider: stakeholder needs, costs, hygienic and safe production of the product, packaging and labelling.
As they worked on their concept development students were guiding their own practice with stakeholder consultations - each time they made a product they got stakeholder opinion of a sample.
Students trialled recipes before deciding on their favoured one to suit a bottle product and their stakeholder's preferences; the latter established with sensory testing using the hedonic scale as well as the feedback comments. A ranking test was also used to get stakeholder opinion on ingredients.
In the final product development phase students continued to consult with stakeholders and to develop the packaging to suit their product. Computer time was booked to enable the class to produce their labels.
After making their choice of shaper or cutter the class worked in the materials room to make them. Those who were making muffins and therefore didn"t need a shaper were able to do this activity as an extra.
Students then did a final revision of the constraints and performance specifications of the product for their stakeholder. The selected product was made, with variations, for the stakeholder to comment on their preferences.
After presenting their finished product to their client each student did a small presentation to the class about their product.
Students got written feedback from their stakeholder about the presentation and the product. They then evaluated the outcome with the requirements of the brief.
Finally students evaluated their technological practice, compared with their Term 2 projects, and discussed any improvements they could have made to Batters in a Bottle if given more time.
