Florence, SC
Diced Challenge!
The driving question was, “How can we use science to create tasty mixtures and solutions in the kitchen?” Students worked together to plan a Diced-Cooking with Science competition, similar to the TV show Chopped. They used science and math skills including collecting data, entering data, analyzing data, and reporting results. Students were given rubrics, planning sheets, and higher-order thinking problems to complete as they created their mixtures and solutions. Quizzes were given throughout the 9-week unit. Parents and community members helped by donating items that students needed such as food items for the challenges, hot plates, kitchen utensils and supplies, and by attending the cook-off.
Four teams of four students each wore different colored aprons. Judges included an Education Professor from Francis Marion University, a local news reporter, and the Moore cafeteria manager. The principal served as the MC and the STEM Coach asked challenge questions. The team answering the question correctly earned a 30-second advantage on the challenge.
The competitions required the student teams to create a Lunch Sandwich Outside the Box, a Delish No Bake Dessert, and an Out of this World Milkshake. After the judges tasted, scored, and discussed each challenge, they eliminated (“diced”) one team. This continued until only one team was left and declared The Palmetto Chefs. Each winning team member received the prize of a red “Diced-Cooking with Science Champion” apron.
Family Counts—Math Night
“When are we ever going to use this?” is a question lobbed at math teachers everywhere. At Moore Intermediate School, students got some good answers when school officials invited parents and students to show how math is used in real life. The Family Counts—Math Night was held in a local grocery store where students helped their parents calculate prices and compare brands.
At the store, students and parents were given a clipboard, pencil, and grade-specific math challenges. They checked prices of store brands, compared other brands, explored bulk purchasing, and accounted for costs by volume. They exchanged their completed challenges for a prize of candy, pens, math-related bracelets, or other awards, which were purchased with a small grant from the school’s partner on family and community engagement at Francis Marion University. The math challenges and scenarios were developed by Moore’s STEM coach and math teachers to address 5th and 6th grade math standards.
Teachers and administrators were on hand to address questions from students or parents. Students from two local high schools earned community service credit for providing extra support at Moore’s math night. Most students’ questions were answered by the parents, themselves, because they had a great deal of experience using math in grocery stores. A local newspaper reporter came to interview students, parents, and teachers for a feature article the next day.
This activity is featured in Promising Partnership Practices 2018.
