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Science of Cooking

Mindprint Rating

Tags

Science ^Music, Art and Makerspaces ^21st Century Skills Social-Emotional Learning All Ages Website

Skills

Organization Abstract Reasoning

Mindprint Expert Review

Pros

  • The site is appealing and navigation is straight-forward and consistent for all topics.
  • Each page offers interesting facts about the topic for further understanding, and scientific terms are linked to explanations.
  • Adults will appreciate learning with students.

Considerations

  • Adult support will be necessary for most children to fully understand the scientific terminology and passages as well as for cooking.
  • Students might not read and/or retain the information without an adult to help reinforce the information.
  • There is no way to check student understanding.

Mindprint Expert Review

Science of Cooking can provide a unique and wonderful hands-on learning experience for children, provided they receive the appropriate level of adult support for any given activity or reading passage. This website is designed to teach children important science lessons through cooking. Users choose from 6 categories: candy, bread, eggs, pickles, meat or seasoning. Once they select a topic, they can begin at the Kitchen Lab where they choose a recipe or activity. Clicking on the basic bread recipe, for example, will provide the recipe with step-wise easy-to-understand directions, measurement chart, information about how different kinds of flour will affect the recipe, and, most importantly, an explanation of the scientific properties involved: “The warm water reactives the yeast, which begins feeding on the sugar, creating carbon dioxide as a by-product…” Each topic has a link to learn more about the scientific process involved in the recipe or activity as well as links explaining scientific vocabulary. However, students might still require adult support to help with understanding, unfamiliar terminology, and the cooking process. They might find the passages informative but too long to read and remember. Other features include webcasts, discussion groups, and other interesting facts and cooking techniques. All of the activities on the site can motivate students to develop an understanding of the connection between science and cooking. This site can be a great resource for adults to teach science through meaningful activity.

Academic Benefits

Improves academic skills

  • Provides sufficient and varied types of practice problems to maximize understanding and generalization of the targeted skill/concept
  • Manufacturer claims alignment with Common Core/Known Standards
  • Presents educational concepts accurately
  • Explains answers so students can learn from mistakes
  • Better for teaching the skill to new or struggling learners
  • Better for practicing or refreshing the skill
  • Skills are practiced through authentic, meaningful problems (not just rote practice)

Fun

Engaging for the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Appropriate for a broad age range to use and enjoy
  • Subject matter and problems are relevant, interesting and authentic to students
  • Visually appealing to children in the target age range
  • Provides virtual rewards or incentives after meeting specified goals or objectives
  • Provides a "break activity" between academic problem sets
  • Offers ongoing, progressive challenge
  • Overall - Enjoyable. Given the option, students would choose this option

Easy to Use

Understandable for children in the Mindprint recommended age range

  • Has a free or trial version
  • Provides teaching guidance for adults to support the child and set appropriate goals
  • Provides an age-appropriate tutorial/first time users can work independently
  • Student should be able to use independently after first use
  • Has a multi-player option to foster in-person collaboration or cooperation
  • Multiple users can save a profile
  • Student graduates to the next level or topic only after meeting a benchmark
  • Can play without sound and not distract others
  • Students can save work between sessions
  • Can effectively understand and monitor student's progress (email report or in product)
  • Requires registration before using the first time
  • Provides options to play in languages other than English/Good for ELL
  • Presents information in multiple formats (voice over, pictures and text, etc.)
  • Overall - Easy to use

Cognitive Concerns

May not be advisable for students with the following cognitive needs

  • Fine Motor Skills
    • Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
  • Gross Motor Coordination
    • Requires challenging finger movements, motor precision or physical manipulation
  • Organization
    • Age inappropriate amount of work which could overwhelm or discourage students
    • Directions may be confusing for students using independently
    • Includes long written questions or text that students must be able to read on their own
  • Self-regulation
    • Multi-player activity that requires cooperation or has potential for disagreements
  • Visual Discrimination
    • Words used during activity can be too small or difficult to read