Our goals are to provide teachers with…

• Active learning opportunities to experience lessons from a student point of view
• Subject matter knowledge around the science of food and cooking (with a specific lens around concepts and practices aligned to NGSS)
• Pedagogical understanding around phenomena-based instruction, investigations, and building science practices
• Opportunities to discuss and adapt lessons to meet their students’ needs

A foundation for community and support throughout the school year

• Access to free instructional resources that include lesson plans, labs, student worksheets and assessments, textbook-like readings, videos, and more.
• Access to our teacher network and support group of like-minded teachers
• Training and support in instructional resources and facilitation of lessons

Week 1: Teachers engage in a series of 5 lessons and labs at the Science and Cooking Lab at Harvard University for 4 days (8-4pm). Teachers will experience lessons from a student perspective by participating in labs, activities, and assessments. 

Week 2: Teachers work virtually on their own investigation and individual planning for 4 days (4 hours/day). Each day, we will meet on Zoom for 1 hour. The remaining hours will be asynchronous. During this week, teachers will choose a lesson and step inside the shoes of a student by tinkering and designing their own investigation. On the final day, teachers will do a small presentation to share what they did. This week will also provide teachers time to consider where they will integrate lessons into their existing curriculum and class schedule.

In order to be eligible for this program, you must…

• Upon acceptance to this program, notify your school administration and provide us with documentation that your school administration is aware and supports your participation. We will provide you with a letter explaining our program that you can give to your administration.
• Be willing and able to commit at least 15 hours of class time (e.g. 15 class periods, each 60 minutes long) of the next school year to these lessons. Exact structure will depend on individual teachers needs, but this will likely entail 5 lessons facilitated over the school year. 
• Be willing and able to collect post-lesson student data to measure student impact.
  • Approaches to data collection will minimize teacher burden and time, be rooted in activities students would complete regardless of data collection, and provide practical value to teachers. Further information will be provided upon acceptance to program.
  • Permission for this work has been granted by Harvard University’s rigorous internal review board (IRB).
• Be able to attend an hour-long Zoom prior to the program to review program goals and logistical requirements. Time will also be allotted to provide technical support as needed. You must be able to meet or watch the recorded Zoom.

This workshop is free. Instead, teachers will be asked to provide data throughout this program. This includes pre- and post-workshop surveys, which will take about 30 minutes each. During the school year, teachers and students will be asked to fill out a brief post-lesson survey, which will take 5-10 minutes. Teachers are also expected to actively participate on Slack or Facebook throughout the school year.

The lessons and labs that will be used in this workshop are created by Bite Scized Education and the Harvard Science and Cooking Program. Each lesson is between 3-8 days long and centers around a food, which is framed as an anchor phenomena that students explore through various labs and activities. You can find some of these lessons here. We will go through these lessons in a sequential order as students’ understanding of concepts and proficiency in science practices builds.

Lessons are intended to be used in a science classroom and either replace or integrate with existing curriculum.

• NGSS: All lessons are aligned to NGSS standards and framework. Lessons show standards, as well as targeted disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science practices. All lessons include a CER or modeling assessment.
• Inquiry and Investigation: Lessons encourage student-driven inquiry and investigation in a variety of different ways, and provide scaffolding for differentiation. Lessons place a high emphasis on building science practices.
• Time: Lessons vary in length between 3-8 days. Lessons are intended to either replace or be integrated into existing curriculum.

Yes. All lessons are aligned to NGSS standards and framework. Lessons show standards, as well as targeted disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science practices. All lessons include a CER or modeling assessment. In particular, the following standards are emphasized in lessons:

• Middle School: MS-PS1-1, MS-PS1-2, MS-PS1-3, MS-PS1-4, MS-PS1-5, MS-LS1-1, MS-LS2-1, MS-LS2-3, MS-LS2-4
• High School: HS-PS1-1, HS-PS1-2, HS-PS1-3, HS-PS1-5, HS-PS-17

The following NGSS Science Practices are also heavily emphasized:

• Asking questions
• Developing and using models
• Planning and carrying out investigations
• Analyzing and interpreting data
• Constructing explanations
• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Yes! We are actively supporting teachers who participated in our workshops last summer in implementing these lessons this school year. According to our post-lesson surveys…

• 100% stated that they were inspired and excited by this lesson
• 100% said they would do the lesson again in the following school year
• 100% of teachers that use NGSS standards said the lesson helped them implement NGSS standards and develop students’ science practices 

Teachers reported that lessons were particularly effective in encouraging…

• Student enthusiasm and interest
• Student confidence and sense of belonging in science and students feeling like they are “doing science”
• Students to ask questions and be curious
• Connect their learning to everyday life, experiences, and personal interests

We understand it can be hard to find time throughout the school year. However, we believe that at least 15 days of these lessons is required to have meaningful student impact. If unable to meet this requirement, you are welcome to purchase the lessons yourself and use them as desired.

I’m unable to attend, but I want to learn more. What can I do?Follow Harvard Science and Cooking on Instagram, as well as Bite Scized Education on Instagram and YouTube to stay connected. You can also check out our existing lessons here.