Training teachers to use food to teach science

Abstract

In January 2006, every science department chair in U.S. public, private, and parochial high schools received information on food science, including a DVD, poster, and experiment guide developed by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), IFT Foundation, and Discovery Education. To promote the experiments and to encourage implementation of the program's components in secondary schools, the IFT K-12 Career Guidance Committee presented a teacher training session at the national IFT Annual Meeting + Food EXPO® in Orlando, Florida, on Monday, June 26, 2006. Twenty Orlando-area science teachers were treated to 3 h of activities, during which they performed and learned how to teach 3 experiments from the areas of physics, chemistry, and biology, demonstrated by the committee. In addition, to extend the effects of the session beyond the Orlando area, IFT member Food Science Ambassadors were invited to the training session so that they could become proficient in demonstrating the experiments, and to equip them with the knowledge to host a training session in their own geographical area in the future. Fifteen Food Science Ambassadors attended the session. After lab time, K-12 Career Guidance Committee members and IFT Student Association (IFTSA) chapter presidents led small groups of teachers on tours of the EXPO floor to learn more about how science is applied in the food industry. © 2007 Institute of Food Technologists.