Often, it can be difficult for students to find the real-world applicability of the content that they learn in the classroom.
To combat this, as an end-of-the-year project, AP chemistry teacher Letta Meyer assigns a food project that asks students to research the chemistry behind one of their favorite recipes, she said.
“They have to take a recipe of something and do a chemical analysis,” she said. “So basically, look at all the chemistry, chemical processes that can happen to be able to make it.”
The project has three components, Meyer said.
The presentation includes a tasting component for the entire class on the day of the period’s final, according to the class’s Google Classroom.
“So they have a paper that they write,” Meyer said. “And then there is a poster with a presentation,” she added.
Most students in the past have found this project to be valuable, Meyer said.
“What students should take away from this project is that what they’ve learned is everywhere around them, and that’s brilliant,” she said.
Senior Hanna Shaiju likes the change of pace from the usual environment of the classroom, she said.
“I feel like when you take an AP class, the whole focus is on the problems you do and everything is kind of geared towards the AP test; it’s kind of easy to lose sight of the actual content or the class itself,” Shaiju said. “So, it’s kind of nice to have this project kind of remind you of how the stuff you learn is still applicable to life.”
Shaiju plans to make strawberry cheesecake for her food project, she said. Learning about the Maillard reaction in cooking was very fascinating, she added.
“There’s the key reaction in most cooking, it’s called a Maillard reaction, and it’s like in almost everything that you cook,” Shaiju said. “I kind of found it interesting how the reason that you have to cook stuff is because of the fact that it has a positive enthalpy and entropy. So therefore, that’s why it was kind of an interesting application of what we learned.”
Junior Naira Niyamathullah is excited to create her recipe and try others’ recipes as well, she said. For her project, she’s making idlis, which are a traditional Indian food, she added.
“They are steamed rice cakes, but they’re fermented as well,” Niyamathullah said. “My dad’s going to help me. He’s like the family batter-maker.”
Niyamathullah enjoyed learning about what the food she eats is actually composed of, she said.
“I didn’t know there were so many bacteria involved in making it,” Niyamathullah said. “Because of the fermentation, there’s a lot of bacteria. And I didn’t know there were so many living things on my food.”
The research aspect of the project has been the most difficult for her, Niyamathullah said.
“The fact that I had to actually search for stuff made it hard, and it wasn’t like I knew everything,” Niyamathullah said. “I had to research and find out how idlis are made. And it’s really hard because idlis are not a common food, so there’s not that much information on it.”
Niyamathullah would advise other students working on the project to start as early as possible, because it becomes much easier after the research component, she said.
“I think it’s a good conclusion to the class itself because I get to apply everything I learned,” Niyamathullah said. “I actually learned a lot from doing the project. And I think I’m probably going to learn a lot when I look at other people’s presentations, too.”