20 / 24
20
FoodTechnology is a specialist subject inYear
6 -12 where students develop their practical
skills, work independently and as a team and
learn about food related issues. Some issues
that students have explored this term have
included the importance of good nutrition,
diet-related diseases, multicultural foods, the
benefits of eating seasonally grown foods
and food product development. Learning
‘hands-on’ practical skills that will help our
students improve their health and reduce
the incidence of diet-related diseases later in
life is important.
Students who study this subject enjoy the
opportunity to design, prepare, present,
eat and share what they make. Most of
our assessment tasks require students to
design and make a unique and creative food
product. Technology is incorporated into
each topic and learning tasks are designed
to develop their ICT and practical skills.
Some theory lessons are used for tasting
and discussing various foods, for example
sustainability and cost comparisons of
organic and non-organic foods, sensory
comparisons
gluten-free
commercial
products with home-made food versions
and assessing the benefits of fortified foods
with non-fortified foods.
Middle School students have been following
the design process to make their own burger
usingseasonal andnutritious foods. Students
All of our
courses are
constantly
being
modified
and updated
to reflect
current
trends...
are sometimes apprehensive about tasting
and using a variety of nutritious ingredients
in their own cooking. Surprisingly, many of
these students end-up designing and using
ingredients that they were once reluctant to
taste in their healthy burger design task.
Year 10 Food Technology students have
recently used an ICT database, utilised
in industry by dieticians, to calculate the
amount of nutrients in their favourite ‘fast
food’ meal and compared this with the
nutrients in a healthier version. Students
then designed and made the healthy ‘fast
food’ version in class. This was a student-lead
assessment task where students decided
the nature of the task and what meal that
they were going to make. Similarly, our Year
11 students also used this ICT program to
develop a meal plan for an individual of their
choice and then produce sample of these
meals in class.
Earlier this term the Year 12 students visited
Green Olive Farm at Red Hill to discover more
sustainable and organic farming. The farm
grows olives, grapes, herbs and veggies,
raises sheep and chooks and turns amazing
produce from local farmers into a range of
goodies. The students learnt more about the
‘farm-to-table’ concept. Such excursions link
academic studies with real life scenarios.
Mrs Carolyn Mittra
-
Food Technology Coordinator
and Head of Technologies
foodtechnology/