Niu Liberal Arts and Sciences Center for Science and Math Education

A partnership between the P-20 Center, in the NIU Partitioning of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development, and the NIU College of Wellness and Human Sciences improves math and science pedagogy by bringing food into the classroom.

When NIU Professor of Wellness and Human Sciences Melani Duffrin began FoodMASTER as part of her Ph.D. research in 1999, she had no idea it would still be going strong more than 20 years later. The programme – which uses food as a tool to teach mathematics and scientific discipline to Grand-12 students from all backgrounds – has been housed at three different universities and won more than 3.5 one thousand thousand dollars in National Institutes of Wellness (NIH) Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) grant funding over the past two decades. FoodMASTER is bachelor as a set of free online lessons for simple through college, and it has been used in schools throughout the U.S. and across.

Throughout the evolution of FoodMASTER, Duffrin has held business firm to several guiding principles even while expanding the program'southward content and achieve. One principle is that food appeals to the emotions and makes science and math concepts relevant to all students – non just those with potent academic backgrounds.

Melani Duffrin, Ph.D., NIU professor of health and human sciences and founder of FoodMASTER.

"Equally I've observed diverse classrooms over the years, I've found that bringing in nutrient can immediately modify the classroom dynamic," Duffrin says. "Oftentimes, students who might not be academically excelling with traditional assessment measures are confident and successful working with nutrient.  You get a new grade of interaction amongst the students where they're starting to appreciate private talents and experiences. Food is such a bang-up mechanism for building community and belonging and bringing out multiple forms of intelligence."

This focus on community building and hands-on learning is one reason why FoodMASTER has plant such a fitting new home in the NIU Center for P-20 Engagement, which brings together partners from across the university to increase educational attainment beyond the continuum from preschool through college and career. While Duffrin volition continue to work with students in the NIU Higher of Health and Human Sciences to conduct inquiry and develop FoodMASTER curriculum, the P-20 Center will take over the programming and administrative side, relying on their experienced STEAM (scientific discipline, technology, engineering, arts and math) educators and extensive network of G-12 teachers and schoolhouse administrators to bring FoodMASTER to more than students and teachers throughout Illinois and beyond. The P-20 classrooms volition likewise serve as a living laboratory to test and better new FoodMASTER curriculum, likewise every bit to train Illinois teachers to finer employ nutrient-based lessons to improve math and science learning.

Amy Jo Clemens, Ed.D., director of the NIU Centre for P-20 Appointment.

"We're very excited to expand our partnership with FoodMASTER," says Amy Jo Clemens, Ed.D., director of the NIU Center for P-20 Appointment. "FoodMASTER provides exactly the kind of hands-on, project-based learning that we know is effective for pedagogy scientific discipline and math content, as well every bit edifice student confidence and engagement at schoolhouse. Nosotros've used FoodMASTER lessons in our STEAM summer camps and Stalk Fest, and nosotros're looking forwards to integrating FoodMASTER into our school programs and teacher professional evolution."

The popularity of food and nutrition science programming has prompted the P-20 Heart to hire Kelly Furr, an NIU graduate student in nutrition and dietetics, to serve as a full-time STEAM educator. In this position, Furr is developing and leading camps and classroom lessons related to food and nutrition. She'll also aid to link the P-20 Center to health and science bookish programs on campus in an endeavor to guide the P-20 team in developing more health and biomedical science programming.

For many years, according to Clemens, the NIU STEAM Health Careers camps have sold out quickly to high school students seeking data and experiences in health and biomedical science. "Health Careers is our most popular camp," she says. "Our promise is to expand our health and biomedical sciences learning and career exploration opportunities to more than students through the pursuit of military camp scholarship and programme funding for those in need of financial assist."

NIU STEAM Educator Kelly Furr taught the FoodMASTER lesson "Flour Ability" to visitors at the Illinois Country Off-white. FoodMASTER lessons piece of work well in both classrooms and informal educational settings to teach math and science concepts such as measurement and density.

As a get-go-generation college student and a mother of two, Furr appreciates the journeying that nontraditional students and people from underserved populations must take to navigate their way into Stalk careers.

"I'm passionate about diversifying STEM fields, and in particular food and nutrition scientific discipline," Furr says. "Nutrient is a mutual ground – we all need to eat, and food and nutrition scientific discipline is a not bad way to engage learners with relevant subject field matter."

"Professor Duffrin has the gift of helping students find their passion and discover their talents," Furr continues. "Through FoodMASTER I was able to go to Stem education conferences and connect with experts, even every bit an undergraduate student."

Moving forward, Clemens, Duffrin and the NIU P-xx Center staff will continue pursuing grants that focus on innovations in education that aid underserved populations.

"That's really where FoodMASTER originated," Duffrin says. "From the question: how do nosotros create more robust educational opportunities for underserved populations, where more factors of intelligence can be observed and assessed to promote student success? Our main assessment – our main measure of the program'due south success – continues to exist, how do you cultivate a love of learning in any student at any historic period?"

Larn more about FoodMASTER and get lessons at foodmaster.org. Learn more than about NIU STEAM and the NIU Heart for P-twenty Engagement online. Learn more about the SEPA program, supported past the National Plant of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the NIH.

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Source: https://niutoday.info/2022/02/22/foodmaster-program-finds-a-new-home-in-the-niu-center-for-p-20-engagement/

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