“I am lucky to work with 12 students on a Tuesday morning as part of an extension programme. We have loved this school kit. The oral language, maths, science and finally trialling of their recipes has been fantastic. The three groups have to plan, cook and plate up their cakes with an information card for the staff to trial and evaluate each Tuesday morning tea. The excitement from the students as they set the plates out is high. The staff look forward to Tuesday morning tea and the opportunity to taste and evaluate. Corn and beetroot wasn't a favourite but apple and chick pea was.”
“We really enjoyed incorporating this learning into out measurement work in maths. It was really interesting looking at chemical reactions and how much is involved in baking. Taking risks and being resilient is a big goal in our class and for some students, eating a cake with peas in it was certainly a challenge. Really cool kit.”
“So much fun was had trying different types of veggies. Beetroot and courgettes from the garden made them taste better and hold the shape well rather than canned the class decided. Using bananas and their skin as well as feijoas was a hit as processed sugars were reduced. Our school chickens did ruin our plans some days as they didn't lay enough which was our biggest problem, but our garden and fruit trees helped motivate the experiments with the cake mixes .”
“My class loved exploring this kit. I was really able to build a whole unit around the kit - exploring everyday reactions through cooking. We started off by looking at what happens when sugar is heated by toasting marshmellows and making smores. We conducted experiements investiagting bubble strategy and then made picklets so we could see the bubbles forming as the picklets cooked.
Next we got into making the control cakes (yum) and using our research skills to find alternatives and writing the theory recipes (making sure all the numbers added up) - the students were mortified at the idea of using vegetables in a cake but after making and assessing the cakes they decided it wasn't so bad and were keen to try refine the recipes further.
The main learning that came out of using this kit was - "we are scientists", "cakes with vegetables in them can be yum!"and "Cake can still be yum even when there is less 'sugar'".
Using this kit was made easier by the fact that we have a kitchen set up for students to use with very little time constraints.”
“The students really enjoyed the kit and making their cakes, the ingredient substitutes challenged them to try something new and we were happy to see that the majority of the students did try the vege cake. It was great having the ready printed resources (reviews) that the students completed about the texture, taste etc it kept them focused.
We only had to provide the basic baking ingredients which made the experience less stressful and easier to run in the classroom.
We couldn't fault it!”
“The students loved learning about the science behind making veggie cakes. They enjoyed being responsible for deciding what vegetables and ratios to include in their recipe. The students had grown a variety of vegetables and herbs which they readily tried. The concept of a little goes a long way was a valuable lesson for some who used a lot of thyme! Overall a great success.”
