The Role of a Home Economics Teacher

The preconceived notion of a Home Economics (HE) teacher is one who teaches students to cook and sew. Its sad that the efforts and hard work of these teachers have not widely gained accreditation due such a mindset of the society.

Many many years ago, I had a lot of fun during my HE classes. Yes, I did learn new dishes and skills and also learnt to sew. And the boys who went for their Technical classes would be willing guinea pigs as they wanted to try our dishes. But that was not all. There were other aspects involved as well, like home care, clothes care and child care.

Years down the road, the syllabus has gone through many changes with the removal of sewing. Prior to that, they learnt about fundamentals of design and textile which teaches them how to chooses colours, the different types of fabrics and their uses and proper use and care. In the future HE will be renamed as Food and Consumer Education (FCE). Focusing on two core areas which is food studies and consumer studies. Students will learn about meal planning, diet & health, diet-related diseases, food management, resource management, budgeting and consumer awareness.

HE is a very specialized subject and I believe that due credit should be given to the teachers. One of the reasons that I began my journey to become one could have been possibly due to the influence of my experiences during my school days and because of my teacher. Students don't just learn skills, but important life skills. Knowledge on not just how to cook dishes, but modifying or enhancing it. How food affects the body, why is food required or importance of nutrients. These are just a few to name on what the students will be equipped with. As a future HE teacher I hope to change that perception that it is not just about cooking and sewing. It's more than that......

Overview of Food and Nutrition Lesson 1

Today in class we were introduced to the overall framework of Home Economics and Food and Nutrition. We did comparisons across different streams and level. In addition, we explored a coursework question and came up with keywords and questions related to the identified keywords.

‘O’ and ‘N’ level syllabus

The comparisons, we did were in the  following sections : aims, assessment objectives, topics covered and examination format. Here are our findings:

Aims: The aims across both syllabus were the same except in the aspect of food science.

‘O’ Level : To develop candidate’s understanding of the principles of food science

‘N’ Level : To introduce the principles of food Science

Clearly, at the ‘N’ level stage, the concept of food science is fairly new  to the students and the  students may not be required to develop a deep understanding in this topic. However the term ‘develop’ as stated in the O level syllabus , indicates a higher level than introduction. Students are expected to have some knowledge of the topic and this knowledge is further enhanced during the course of ‘O’ level year. Hence students are constructing new knowledge based on their existing understanding of food science. 

Assessment Objectives : Similar to aims, we found the assessment objectives in the ‘O’ level encompassed more aspects. The following were the criteria in the ‘O’ level syllabus but not in the‘N’ level.

 

The ‘O’ level students are expected to acquire skills such as observing, recording and evaluating data.These skills are necessary when students are doing coursework B. 

Subject Content: The two are different in two aspects i.e. the topics covered and the learning outcomes. The topic ‘Digestion’ is covered in the ‘O’ level syllabus and not in the ‘N’ level syllabus. While the learning outcomes for the ‘N’ level students require them to have the basic knowledge on a particular topic, the learning outcomes for the ‘O’ levels students ,require them to understand and comprehend the topic. This is evident e.g. in the ‘N’ level learning outcomes, students are expected to define essential and non essential amino acids, while the ‘O’ level students are required to ‘differentiate essential amino acids’ . According to Bloom’s taxonomy, define requires a lower level of thinking as compared to differentiate as students need to understand and do a comparison. 

http://thinkonline.smarttutor.com/blooming-orange-blooms-taxonomy-helpful-verbs-poster/

Following this activity, we were tasked to compare the upper and lower secondary syllabus.Our findings showed that topics in upper secondary are mainly an extension from the lower secondary syllabus. Here are some interesting ideas of how we can introduce upper secondary syllabus into the lower secondary syllabus :

• Practical sessions is a good platform to introduce upper secondary to the students. During this time, teachers can  introduce macro and micro nutrients present in the food or introducing terminologies or processes related to food science e.g. maillard browning, caremelisation , gel formation, gelatinization. Students are generally engaged during practical sessions, hence, teachers should seize the opportunity to pass on as much knowledge to the students. I recalled during a practical session with the secondary one normal technical class. We were making mushroom omelette. During the demo session, while waiting for the proteins to set, and to flip it to the other side, i used the waiting time, to introduce the term coagulation and maillard browning. After the practical class, I asked the students to recall what the have learned and they mentioned the two terms. This has made me realized that students learn when they are engaged and as teachers, we should not underestimate the abilities of our students. 

-The current curriculum has provided more allowance  in the curriculum, known as the white space. Schools are encouraged to implement elective activities during this period. Hence teachers can incorporated interesting food science electives where students are taught experimental skills such as measuring, observing and drawing conclusions.

-Teachers can also introduce coursework at the lower secondary level, but we must keep in mind to make it simple, and interesting. Mrs Stevenson mentioned we can implement a mini project that incorporates certain aspect of the coursework.

Often students are not aware of the demands in food and nutrition, which lead to feeling of disappointment and regret joining food and nutrition. Most of them commented that they never expected the subject to be demanding. Hence it is important to introduce upper secondary syllabus in the lower secondary syllabus  so as to provide students with the realistic overview of food and nutrition. Having said that, Mrs Stevenson reminded us not to implement the entire coursework in the lower secondary syllabus, because we have to keep in mind that only a small percentage of the students will be taking food and nutrition. 

Lastly we were given a coursework question and  in our group, we had to identify keywords and churn relevant questions . We did a gallery walk to share our findings with the rest of the classmates. During the gallery walk, Mrs Stevenson gave us sticky notes to comment on other groups’ work. We felt that the gallery walk is a great classroom activity for sharing because it allows us participate actively, hence learning is enhanced. This is something that we will definitely incorporate in our classroom. 

 Here are some questions that we collated:

1. What are the reasons that children dislike vegetables?
2. What are the safety aspects when preparing food for children?
3. What is the appropriate serving size for children?
4. What type of food is served in childcare centre?
5. What is the effect of heat on the chosen vegetable?
6. How can food be appealing to children?

Coursework Questions

Hi everyone! We have came up with 2 questions that can be use for the new coursework. Both these questions incorporate the elements of coursework A and B.
Do read and share with us your thoughts on the questions below :)

1. It is important to include dietary fibre in the diet of the elderly. Investigate the effect of cooking on vegetables and demonstrates how they can be used to prepare and serve a variety of dishes for the elderly.

2. Cereals are nutritious and used as staple food across different cultures. Investigate the role of heat in cooking different cereals and design a variety of healthy cereal dishes for a group of people.

Here we go!

Hi everybody! Welcome to our blog on the teaching of Home Economics!

First of all, if you were able to find your way here, it could be likely because:

1) You are one of our dear teachers or classmates ;)
2) You are enthusiastic about home economics
3) You are a food lover
4) You are a fellow colleague in our same line of profession
5) You were searching for something else and ended up here instead! Just kidding =)

Nevertheless, we (Sien Long, Nisa, Simah, Rani) welcome you and hope you will find our blog interesting and informative! This blog will be an avenue for us student teachers to share with you our learning journeys in the National Institute of Education (NIE), teaching strategies, reflections, home economics,food and nutrition, and any interesting ideas which we will happen to stumble upon.

As you might have noticed, Newtrition Unplugged is a pun of the word Nutrition - which you might have probably already figured out. As for the word unplugged, some of us who love music would know that it refers to acoustic music or any music without electronic amplification or modification, in other words, music that is close to the audiences! So in Newtrition Unplugged, we hope to bring to you new,original, and close topics which we and you can both relate to!

Cheers!!!
Nisa
Rani
Sien Long
Simah