This is the beginning of a dream, an idea borne a year ago that has grown in scope and grandeur ever since.
Imagine high school students in a social studies course, maybe history or geography, economics or government. Unlike other classrooms, here the students are genuinely engaged – actively participating in group work, debating ideas with passion and commitment, challenging the teacher and fellow students on the topic at hand, and eagerly writing out ideas or completing assignments. The teaching method and provided content are both meaningful to student lives and challenge them to think critically about the world we inhabit. The source of such potential is part teacher and part curriculum. Let us create a curriculum to fulfill such ideals!
The goal of the Food Curriculum Project is to create an interdisciplinary and multimedia social studies curriculum on the theme of food – its history, politics and cultural contexts. The lessons and assessments within the curriculum are able to meet state standards for each of the 4 main social studies content areas: History, Geography, Government and Economics. There will also be an overarching focus on the public health implications of food in the various content areas.
This webpage will serve as a forum for ideas to begin, evolve and formalize. I have many ideas for this project, some of which have become lesson plans and assessments, others notes on scrap paper. The scope of my vision is vast and overtime it will have to narrow. I hope that commentators and participants will provide feedback and ideas to make this tangible. I will post some of my work to date to give an idea of what this curriculum would include.
The Food Forum – Questions to consider, ideas to debate and room to construct meaning for the Food Curriculum Project.
- How do you think ‘food’ can be incorporated into social studies classrooms?
Sounds awesome! Some ideas for food in social studies
Some ideas:
-The importance of agriculture in the economic history of the US.
-The history of agriculture in the US as it relates to the availability of different food types would be great. You could cover everything from pioneer farmers to the dust bowl to the rise of industrial agriculture and factory farming.
-Migration the impact of food culture in receiving countries
-Food and international trade over time
Fermentation as a preservation tool. Advances in technology that have made it ‘obsolete’ to most. As well as other ways of preserving food. ‘Preserving Food Without Canning or Freezing’ is a nice short book to browse, mostly recipes. How the advances in technology that made canning and freezing on a large scale possible also changed how people ate.
Power dynamics of how land ownership can affect people’s lives through food and how that has had an impact on communities.
GMOs and global food policies. Communities versus corporations.
oooh.. I like this.
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