Rationale
This Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math, or S.T.E.A.M. teaching unit connects to Yale’s Professor Gary Brudvig “Chemistry of Cooking” seminar. Through the lens of S.T.E.A.M. this unit will explore popcorn as the focus through Psychology, Physics, Chemistry, and the Science of popcorn. We will also look at the culture and history of one of America’s most favorite snack, popcorn. Social Emotional Learning or S.E.L principles will be addressed through popcorn as an analogy. The term “the popcorn theory” will be introduced when making this analogy. The transformation process within the subject of Chemistry will be examined through a deep dive in popcorn learning. The scientific structure of liquids, solids, gases and the concepts of changing properties, mixtures, substances, chemical reactions, making changes, or transformations from one product into an entirely new product will be introduced in this unit. Students will better understand physical changes versus chemical changes from this popcorn unit. Art materials will be the vehicle for the students to drive their learning about themselves and many aspects of popcorn. Students will be able to better understand the chemist in the art studio and kitchen through this popcorn deep dive. Chemical reactions or physical changes will be discovered through color mixing. Students will see how baby kernels can get so large that eventually the hard shell explodes to turn into white fluffy popcorn. Students will come to see the transitions, transformations, physical changes, or even possible chemical changes in popcorn. Students will learn the chemistry of popcorn. The focus group is eleventh grade students that are required to take an Art foundations Art course in order to graduate. This unit will be taught to high school junior students. This unit of study will help students better understand the world around them through the small lens of popcorn. This S.T.E.A.M. unit of study will also touch on social emotional learning theories through the culture of popcorn. This unit can be easily modified or adapted for grades K-12.
School Setting
This unit plan is designed for students who attend a unique public magnet high school in New Haven Connecticut. The Sound School is a magnet school that focuses on hands-on learning. The school is made up of students from over twenty five school districts and is located on a campus in the City Point area of New Haven which is a historic district and was originally an oyster village. The Sound School is situated on a campus including five buildings. Students walk freely from building to building with scenic views of Long Island Sound always on one side of the sidewalk at all times. Approximately 330 students attend the Sound School, and the focus group will include approximately 30 students. The school is 47% female and 53% male. The student demographics include 43% White, 41% Hispanic, 12% Black, 3.3% two or more races and 57% are economically disadvantaged. The students weekly have five one-hour long classes that meet daily on a rotating schedule so one day every rotation is missed. The Sound School is known for its creative curriculum, vet tech, scuba, sailing, operating vessels, as well as traditional subjects preparing students for college, careers, and the military. This school is a part of the New Haven public school system. This school is a premier aquaculture, agriculture science, and technology education (ASTE) center school. The students’ strengths are that they are critical creative thinkers who naturally engage in S.T.E.A.M. hands-on learning as a normal weekly part of many classes. The students’ weakness I suppose could be that because of the teaching styles of the school many students' academic learning style preferences need information presented in an unique “outside the box” or varied manner.
Comments: