Cooking as Science:

A new take on the scientific method

Kevin MiklaszIridescent

Iridescent

http://iridescentlearning.org/programs/engineers-as-teachers/

Scientific Method?• asking

question

• creative

• innovative

• hypothesis

• experimenting

• measurement

• observations/data

• objective

• systematic

• linear

• procedures

• testable

UnderstandingScience.org

http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/0_0_0/alvarez_10

QuickTime™ and ampeg4 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

UnderstandingScience.org

Question

Hypothesis

Experiment

Results

Context

Iridescent’s Scientific Method

Question

Hypothesis

Experiment

Results

Context

Iridescent’s Scientific Method

Question

Hypothesis

Experiment

Results

Context

Iridescent’s Scientific Method

Question

Hypothesis

Experiment

Results

Context

Iridescent’s Scientific Method

IDEAS

CreativeBoring

present results

Why use our model?

•It’s more engaging!

•It’s more accurate

•It emphasizes qualities of good scientists

Question

Hypothesis

Experiment

Results

Context

IDEAS

present results

Cooking as Science:

Two implementations

Top Chef Masters

http://www.hulu.com/watch/242463/top-chef-masters-getting-all-science-y

Top Chef Posters

Find Them At:http://sciencefare.org/visualizations-science-concepts/

•Basis for classroom activities

•In-class reading assignments

•Provide discussion area for experiments

Using ScienceFare.org

Jam Band

•Carolyn Tepolt

• “Can pectin content, and thus gelling ability, be predicted on the basis of berry relatedness?”

The GreatEgg-stravaganza

•Judit Pungor

• “How do you make the perfect scrambled eggs?... Turns out, for every 10 people you ask, they offer 11 opinions... But what was the best way of doing it?”

“But inconclusive results are actually an important part of science (or so my adviser keeps reassuring me). Inconclusive results highlight areas of science that need further exploration. While the magic of scrambled eggs continues to evade me, I know at least that the magic does not lay only in what is added to the eggs.”

The Mystery of the Wet

Potato•Kevin Miklasz

• “Is it water or the starches in potatoes that cause them to get their gummy, sticky interior?”

• “The result, unfortunately, did not fit nicely into either expected answer...In other words, it seems as though both water and starches contributes to the gumminess.”

Future directions

•Develop 5-lesson after-school series

•“The ScienceFare experiment” workshop

•Ask the Scientist

•Education section

•and...