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                         What Can Food Teach Children?

   by Faiza Elmasry

   Food is a powerful motivator. That's what [1]Ann McCallum believes. The
   author and high school teacher, who started her career in an elementary
   school, says food can help little kids understand abstract concepts.
   Plus, it's fun to play with. McCallum uses that premise in a series of
   books, called "Eat Your Homework." She also visits schools, using food
   to give students a different taste of math and science.

   ''Bringing Food to Classrooms

   At Glenallan Elementary school in Maryland, McCallum is explaining
   Friedrich Mohs' Scale of Hardness to a group of eight-year-olds.
   Two-hundred years ago, the German geologist ranked minerals by their
   physical characteristics, specifically how hard they are, from the
   softest, talc, to the hardest element, diamond.
   McCallum runs a string across the classroom, and hands out - not
   minerals, but food items. She has the youngsters line up along the
   string, based on the firmness of their food. The ones holding
   marshmallows and cheese gather at one end of the string, while students
   with onions and apples are the other.
   Second grade teacher Zulay Joa can see how her students are benefitting
   from this experiment.
   "It's a very difficult concept to learn," she said. "I definitely liked
   the visualization of the line where they saw `1' as the softest and
   `10' as the hardest. And right now I'm teaching chemical engineering to
   3rd grad and I think that specific lesson will be really a good one to
   teach students a little bit more about states of the matter."

   '''Eat Your Math and Science'

   Tying food to math and science is the idea behind two of McCallum's
   latest books: "Eat Your Math Homework" and "Eat Your Science Homework."
   "Not all the kids can relate to math, not all the kids can relate to
   science, but they certainly can relate to food," she explained. "So if
   we can make that connection, I feel like you can make kids really
   interested in both math and science."
   Her math recipes are simple, but explain what might be difficult
   numerical concepts when presented on a chalkboard.
   "I've got fractions, I've got geometry. There is some pre-algebra.
   There is some sequence pattern," she said.
   Her science recipes cover gravity, atomic particles, inherited traits
   and - a personal favorite - invisible ink, made of baking soda, sugar
   and water.
   "I had to do quite a few experiments in the kitchen before I found a
   recipe that you can actually paint onto pizza dough, place it in the
   oven under the broiler for a minute or two, then, the ink would
   magically appear," she said.
   This recipe, she says, can be used when kids are learning about acids,
   bases and neutral liquids.
   Food Lessons Everywhere

   Through workshops, McCallum explains her approach to other teachers.
   Zulay Joa plans to take some of McCallum's recipes beyond classrooms,
   and send them home for her students to do with their parents.
   McCallum is now busy writing another book to this series: "Eat Your
   U.S. History Homework."

   "It's got different elements of the U.S. history," she said. "So it
   starts with `Thanks for the Succotash' and it's the pilgrims landing in
   Plymouth and the whole story of their introductions with Native
   Americans who were here and of course there is the recipe of the
   succotash. So readers will be learning history while they are also
   making this interesting recipe."
   With studies showing only about 16 percent of U.S. students proficient
   in science and math, and raising that number is a priority, McCallum
   hopes her recipes will be a useful tool for teachers and parents,
   giving young kids a taste for knowledge.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [2]http://www.voanews.com/content/what-can-food-teach-children/2546403.
   html

References

   1. http://annmccallumbooks.com/
   2. http://www.voanews.com/content/what-can-food-teach-children/2546403.html