Purdue News
Purdue News
The pilot course will be taught in each school's family and consumer sciences foods laboratory by teams of science teachers and family and consumer sciences teachers. Students can receive credit in either foods and nutrition or science.
"This program has been growing in popularity across the country," said Wanda Fox, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction at Purdue and one of the coordinators of the teacher institute. "Indiana has embraced it because of its good fit with other education reforms, such as applied academics, tech prep and school-to-work connections.
"Research has shown that students learn best when what they are studying makes sense or has meaning. Because food is familiar to all students, it provides a perfect foundation for connecting prior knowledge and experience to scientific principles. This course will provide students with authentic tasks, encourage teamwork, build self-esteem and diminish science phobias. That last item is an important element -- students who have had failures or problems can learn that they are able to learn science."
Thirteen family and consumer sciences teachers and five science teachers from 12 high schools attended the "Chemistry of Foods and Nutrition Institute" at Purdue July 22-26. The course emphasized food chemistry content and teaching methodology. The teachers also developed instructional resources, demonstrated teaching approaches, and completed an outline for their high-school courses.
The institute was a collaborative effort of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in Purdue's School of Education, the Department of Foods and Nutrition in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences, and the Indiana Department of Education. Participating teachers and schools receive funding from $40,0000 made available through the federal Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Act.
Purdue coordinators for the institute were Fox and Karen Jamesen, assistant professor of foods and nutrition, in cooperation with Peggy Wild, state specialist for family and consumer sciences education with the Department of Education.
The teachers, and their schools, are:
Jane Baker and Paula Carlisle, Tecumseh Junior/Senior High School, Lynnville ; Jan Barger, Blackford High School, Hartford City ; Kay Eagleman, Jenny Wallace and Cheryl Dieckmann, Columbus North High School; Alice Leux and Olympia Mejia, Warren Central High School, Indianapolis ; Joyce McCoy and Venetta Franklin, Roosevelt High School, Gary ; Amy Rice and Diane Bowersox, Penn High School, Mishawaka ; Mary Jo Nieman, Southwestern High School, Shelbyville ; Rita Nolan, Oak Hill High School, Converse ; Carol Plew, Warsaw Community High School; Judith Settles, Hamilton Heights High School, Arcadia ; Connie Sproch, Eastern High School, Greentown ; and Karen Whitesel, Frankton Junior/Senior High School.
Sixteen teachers from 12 other schools attended a similar institute a week earlier at Indiana State University.
CONTACTS: Fox, (317) 494-7290; Internet, wfox@vm.cc.purdue.edu
Jamesen, (317) 494-8235
Wild, (317) 232-9100
fjk/fox/no
