Mary Dean Coleman-Kelly, PhD, MS, RDN
Associate Teaching Professor in Nutritional Sciences
My name is Mary Dean Coleman-Kelly and I am the instructor of this class, Science and Methods of Food Preparation (NUTR 320). I love teaching this course because I get to combine two of my favorite interests — Nutrition and Cooking! Nutritional Science majors take this course to learn basic culinary skills and the science behind why changes occur when cooking and apply their knowledge to modify recipes to meet dietary needs of individuals with health conditions or to prevent future health problems.
My class is complicated — the content is complicated and the design of the course of combining a 2-hr a week lecture with a 2 hr a week cooking lab into a 3-credit course is challenging! While teaching students basic cooking skills, I am also challenging them to understand the science behind why the changes occur when cooking. The students walk in the door with varying cooking skills and knowledge. I thought the blended design would allow me to reach students at all levels to bring them to the same level by the end of the class.
I’m excited to create a course that will allow students the flexibility to learn and review content and techniques they need to be successful in both the class discussions and in the cooking lab. I think the Blended format is the perfect fit to accomplish my goals!
This webpage chronicles my journey to transform my course into the blended format.
Course Design and Development
Blend LT Cohort Acceptance and Grant Award Recipient
After being accepted to the Blend LT cohort, Dr. Coleman-Kelly also was informed she was a recipient of the Schreyer Teaching Project Grant that she applied for through Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence. The Teaching Project Grants program is designed to provide support for Penn State faculty, departments, and degree-granting programs to engage in projects that support teaching and learning endeavors in undergraduate education.
The acceptance of the grant application and the Blend LT cohort provided a way for both opportunities to come together. By using the grant award to purchase media equipment for the design and development of videos for both the Cooking Lab and the online didactic portion of the course. For the cooking lab, we are creating instructional videos that will show students the proper techniques to use such as knife handling skills, fundamental cooking techniques such as how to mix batter to make muffins, foaming an egg white, and other skills students need to be successful in the lab. For the didactic portion, I am creating screen casts of her lectures to help students understand key concepts from the readings. I also plan to create “Khan Academy” screencasts to communicate complicated chemical reactions that take place during cooking and use this medium to explain how students can use this knowledge to improve their cooking and modify recipes.
Working with Media Commons at University Park’s Pattee Library, four different models of knife cuts were designed and then printed with the 3D printer. From large diced to julienne, students will use these models to learn several of the most common knife cuts in the companion food lab course.
Planning and preparation before filming the corresponding videos for students to learn the most common knife cuts went smoothly with the support of Media Common’s Library Media Specialist Trace Brown (front), Dr. Coleman-Kelly (right), and doctoral student, Matt Cady (back).
84% stated they agreed or strongly agreed that the videos provided in the module were valuable to their learning.
Students are provided with a variety of videos that demonstrate specific cooking skills. For the lesson on thickening agents, this example of creating a roux is very specific as a Food Lab assistant describes each step of the process
We are working with a Computer Science student who is completing his internship hours to help us edit our instructional videos we are shooting. He is editing the videos to make a complete, easy to view video. Our plan is to share these videos with the students in both NUTR 320 and NUTR 119 (Basic Food Preparation) to help them prepare for the weekly cooking labs. I am excited about what we are going to learn from this process and the improvements we will see as we continue to create more videos this year!
Sample Videos
Above: A videocast about what starches to use when making suaces.
Below: A videocast about the different types of potatoes.
Evidence of Success
Learning objectives, assignment and assessment descriptions, scoring guides or rubrics, student artifacts, and performance data
Course Objectives and the Blended Learning Design
Course Goal
My overall goal is to turn my class into a blended format that will engage students to develop their cooking skills as well as have them walk out of my class with a deeper understanding of how cooking chemistry can be used to improve and modify recipes.
Course Learning Objectives
- Discuss reasons why people make food selections.
- Explain the role of sensory evaluation and the different types of sensory evaluation to examine food quality.
- Identify the components found in foods and explain their role during recipe preparation and how they effect the outcome of the products.
- Explain the food science principles that affect the outcome of the finished product of prepared foods
- Demonstrate correct sanitary and safety procedures when handling food products, utensils, and equipment in lab
- Demonstrate correct sanitary and safety procedures when handling food products, utensils, and equipment in lab.
- Alter recipes to improve nutritional quality or to meet the needs of individuals with dietary restrictions.
Student Thoughts About the Blended Learning Design
“I think it is a lot of work to complete each week, however, I like the blended class method. The blended class method provides more flexibility in my schedule.”
“I feel that the blended class format is a good tool for learning and I have used it in other courses before. I feel that it can sometimes become overwhelming.”
“The blended format creates a higher level of responsibility when it comes to education. I like being responsible for the readings and watching the videos prior to class.”
“I honestly do not like the blended format as much as a I though I would. The online component is a lot of work and information more than what we would have time to cover in class.”
Sample Course Module Design
Below is a screenshot which highlights the tabbed content that students use to navigate the course content.
Week 3: Cooking Fundamentals: Chemistry of Water and Heat Transfer
“The organization is very easy to follow. It is easy to know what is due. It is the most organized blended class I have. The tabs for each week make it easy to navigate and figure out what is due and what needs to be done before lecture and lab.”
“I find canvas to be very organized and easy to use. I like the way each module is set up, as everything is in one location and is properly labeled. The canvas portion of this class is very well done.”
“I think this class is one of the most organized classes through canvas that I have ever taken. It is so easy to navigate and know exactly what to do each week because of the tabs at the bottom of each module. I think that more professors should be using this kind of format!”
PPOACT Assignments
The purpose of the PPOACT Assignment was to help students integrate the scientific principles they learn from the online readings/videos and in lecture with what they see when they prepare the recipes in lab. Another goal was to help students develop their problem solving and critical thinking skills by using the scientific method to predict what they thought the recipe outcome would be, then prepare the recipe, and then analyze why they saw the outcomes from lab.
54% of students who strongly agree/agree and 33% of students were neutral in responding that the PPOACT assignments were helping them understand and apply the scientific principles of cooking.
“The PPOACT helped (me) to apply the ideas being taught during class to real life situations and recipes. It was useful because you could apply what you were learning to help solidify the information.”
The information below provides more detail about the PPOACT activity shown in the schematic above.
Prepare: Students use the online readings/videos to learn terminology, cooking techniques, and the scientific principles of the topic for the week. They take a quiz to check their understanding of the key concepts.
Predict: During the class session, students spend the last 15-20 minutes working in groups of 2-3 to fill out the “Predict” assignment for the recipes that have been chosen for the PPOACT activity for the week. I have provided an example of the Predict – Culinary Dispersions
Observe and Analyze: During the lab session, students assigned to make the recipes associated with the PPOACT activity make the recipes and document their observations. I have provided an example of the Observe and Analyze – Culinary Dispersions worksheet the students fill out during lab.
Critically Think: After the recipes are prepared, the students assigned to the make the recipe work together to complete the Critically Think activity, In this activity, the students explain the scientific principles that explain the outcomes they observed. For some recipes, they describe the sensory characteristics they observed. The example I have provided includes the questions and example of the student’s work for the Critically Think – Culinary Dispersions assignment.
Reflection: Once the students assigned to the kitchen unit that prepared the recipes submit their Critically Think assignment, I grade the submissions and choose the best answer. I then upload that response to the Discussion board and ask the students to do a 3-2-1 Takeaway reflection activity. I have provided an example of the questions I asked and one of the student responses for the Reflection – Culinary Dispersions.
PPOACT Rubric Examples
I created Rubrics to assess the student’s work for the PPOACT assignments.
PPOACT Critical Thinking Rubric
PPOACT Reflection Rubric
NUTR 320 Corresponding Lab Course
88% of students stated they agreed or strongly agreed that the lecture and lab material are well integrated.
A corresponding food lab course that matches the instructional content of the NUTR 320 course is attended by students in order to observe the science that occurs through preparation of ingredients and cooking of foods.
Jennifer Meengs, the Cooking Lab instructor has chosen recipes that have ingredient “modifications” that relate to the concepts that are being covered in lecture. The final outcome of the food that is prepared by the students should highlight the characteristics changes that occur when ingredients are substituted. For example, when I cover the concept of cooking with Starches, she has the students make a Strawberry sauce using 3 different starch types: Potato, Arrowroot, and Wheat Flour. The chemical composition of each starch will influence the thickness, clarity, and flavor of the final sauces.
Jennifer also teaches the students fundamental cooking techniques and food safety principles that will help the students maintain a safe environment while they are preparing the recipes.
Gluten-Free Options
During the Foods Lab Course this lab group made gluten-free donuts and had a little fun in the process.
The Recipe Modification Project
Part 1-Recipe Idea
This part of the recipe modification project involves generating three ideas of recipes that the student will modify for this project. The goal is to use the knowledge skills they have learned in lecture and in lab, to modify the “Standard Recipe” to be a healthier, while still tasty, “Modified Recipe”.
Part 2-Proposal
Generate a nutritional profile of the recipe by “yield (or serving size)”. How is the student trying to make it healthier? (e.g., Lower the sugar? Saturated fat? Total fat? Sodium?), accommodate an intolerance or allergy (e.g., remove gluten, dairy, etc) or make it appropriate for a diet type (e.g. vegan diet). Create a table that lists all of the ingredients for both recipes,describe how the student thinks the modifications for each ingredient will affect the product. They will create an evaluation tool to provide to their classmates to taste their final product when they make the recipes in lab.
Lab Day! Making the Standard and Modified Recipes in the Cooking Lab
During one week of the semester, the students spend their lab period making both their standard and modified recipes side-by-side. While making their recipes, the group members observe the changes they see during preparation and the differences they see in the final product and document their findings with photos. They also create a sensory evaluation tool where they have their classmates taste test the food made from each recipe and provide their feedback. The student groups take this data and use it to write their final report and create their in-class presentation.
Part 3-Final Recipe Modification
After the students have prepared their two recipes and taste tested each recipe, the next part of this project is to write a summary of their findings describing their success (or lack thereof) of their modified recipe.
Part 4 – In-Class Presentation
At the end of the semester, each group presents the results of their recipe modification project findings and taste taster results to the rest of the class. The students enjoy this part of the class because they learned about their classmates recipes and how the modifications to those recipes worked out.
Rubric
I have rubrics created for each part of the Recipe Modification Project. I have provided the rubric for the Final Report (Part 3) below.
Rubric for Recipe modification Project Part 3
Example of a Completed Recipe Modification Project
Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta
Unmodified Recipe (L)
Modified Recipe (R)
To learn more about the Recipe Modification process and to find out how the Creamy Vegan Mushroom Pasta was created access the group’s presentation.
Recipe Modification Taste Testing
Assistant Dean of Education & Outreach in HHD, Doug Ford, tasting a group’s project- a gluten free apple/pumpkin muffin vs. a regular flour muffin.
Which one do you think he preferred?
“The objective questions for each module and the study guide worksheets helped me learn better. I also liked the RMP project, so definitely keep that!”