903. Real-World Lessons for Middle School Classrooms Hands On: Real-World Lessons for Middle School Classrooms in an interactive, interdisciplinary curriculum that teaches students key food safety concepts while meeting national and state curriculum standards for all core subject areas. This session presents a free, project-based curriculum through experiential learning with food science and the study of microbiology. Presenter(s): Sondra LoRe and Jennifer Richards

1. Jennifer Richards, PhD
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
@handson_class
HandsOnClassrooms

3. This we believe…

4. Cornerstones of Effective
Adolescent Instruction
• Active Student Engagement
• Metacognition
• Interdisciplinary

5. Active Student Engagement
• Elicits links to previous knowledge and
experience to promote deeper
cognition (Dewey, 1916)
• New learning is constructed by merging
student’s prior experience with new
concepts and skills (Bruner, 1960; Piaget, 1970)

6. Active Student Engagement
• Students who learn and use active
engagement strategies outperform
peers by more than 70% in math and
40% in science (Wenglinksy, 2000)

7. Metacognition
• Requires students to actively assess and
manage one’s own thinking process
(Perkins, 1995)
• Allows students to monitor their own
levels of mastery and understanding
(Bransford et al., 2000)

8. Metacognition
• Three processes for teaching
metacognition (Marzano, 1998)
• Provide students with specific learning
objectives prior to the lesson
• Give immediate feedback on strategies
students select to complete tasks
• Wait! Give students time to formulate a
thinking plan for a specific task

9. Interdisciplinary Instruction
• Allows students to integrate concepts
from multiple disciplines so they can
see greater relevance (Vars, 1996)
• More closely mirrors real-world
problem solving required in today’s job
market (Brown & Campione, 1994; Everett, 1992)
• Research shows that interdisciplinary
instruction increases student
engagement and retention (Vars, 2001;
Caine & Caine, 1991; Hart, 1983)

10. Hands On: Real World Lessons
for Middle School Classrooms
• Comprehensive curricular program
designed to model best practices in
adolescent instruction

11. Curriculum Design
• Week long instructional unit (5-7 class
periods)
• Includes comprehensive lesson plans
for math, science, social studies,
language arts, and vocabulary
• Traditional and Authentic assessments
are included
• Intended for use by an entire team, but
can stand alone in individual disciplines

12. Curriculum Design
• Lessons are built around individual state
content standards
• Designed to reinforce concepts on
NCSCOS

13. Curriculum Design
• Designed based on Gagne’s Nine Events
of Instruction
• Unit contains high-energy, hands-on,
and research proven instructional
strategies

14. Curriculum Design
• Introduce high energy, hands on
activities with real life applications into
the classroom
• Provide opportunities for critical
thinking and problem solving
• Deliver food safety education to middle
school students that is directly tied to
state standards for core subjects
• Lay the foundation for safe food
handling skills

15. USE
Since 2006, over 42,000 students across 12 states
have used the Hands On resources and materials
Pin
Color
Uses
Red 1
Blue 2-3
Green 4-5
Yellow 6+

16. Why Food Safety?
• Money!
• If we can model best practices with a
topic like food safety, we can do it with
ANY unit topic

17. Why Food Safety?
• CDC estimates annually in U.S.:
• 76 million Food borne Illnesses
• 325,000 hospitalizations; 5,000 deaths
(CDC, 2000)
• Cost to economy = $10 billion/year
(Olson, 2000)
• Many adolescents prepare snacks and
meals in the home
• % of food service workers are teenagers
• Adolescence is a critical time for
establishing life-long, healthy behaviors

18. Participation as a Project
School
• Free professional development training
for teachers
• All curriculum materials and supplies
(loops, slides, gloves, modeling clay,
petri plates, etc)
All provided at NO COST to the school

19. Why is Teacher Training
Important?
• Raises background knowledge on topic
and increases content knowledge
• Models effective instructional strategies
• Teaches appropriate handling and
disposal of microbiological agents

20. Consider this…
• On a scale of 1-10, how clean do you
think your hands are right now?
(1=dirtiest 10=cleanest).
• Make a list of 10 things you have
touched since you last washed your
hands.

21. • Introduce bacteria and examine the
growth and control of microorganisms
• Practice methods of inquiry
• Variables, experimental design,
collection and analysis of data
• Model and practice appropriate lab
safety skills

22. Bacterial Growth Lab
• Science activity designed to
• Engage students in scientific
research
• Explore concepts of bacteria,
growth conditions, & hand
washing
• Develop observation &
prediction skills

23. RAFT
• Role, Audience, Format, Topic
• Activity designed to:
• Synthesize new content with background
knowledge
• Requires creative thinking
• Differentiated for various learning levels,
styles, and interests

24. RAFT
• R- A Helpful Bacteria
• A- Teenagers
• F- Poem or Rap Song
• T- “Can I Help U?”

25. Generating a Researchable
Question
• Designed as a follow-up to the Growth
Lab
• Requires students to synthesize knowledge
• Engages students in critical thinking
• Allows students to use problem solving to
create experimental designs

26. • Explore the concept of scale
• Bacterial growth as a model of
exponential growth
• Simple statistical analysis of data
Shigella Growth
0
10
20
30
40
0 50 100 150
Time in Minutes
NumberofCells
Cells

27. Carousel Activity
• Designed to:
• Activate prior
knowledge
• Promote discussion of
topics among peers
• Provide a scaffold for
new information to be
learned in the lesson

28. Carousel Activity

29. Understanding Scale
• Math activity designed to
• Provide a hands-on learning
experience to make the
abstract concept of scale
more concrete
• Allow students to draw
connections between their
scale models and the
magnification of microscope
objectives (4x, 10x, and 40x)
• Practice accurate
measurement

30. Understanding Scale
Question 2 Inches Feet’
Inches’’
Centimeters
1”=2.54 cm
Magnification
A. How tall are
you?
64” 5’4” 162.6 cm
This is how tall
you are at 1x.
B. Multiply
height by 4
How tall you
would be at 4x.
C. Multiply
height by 10
How tall you
would be at 10x
D. Multiply
height by 40
How tall you
would be at
40x.
256” 21’4” 650.4 cm
640” 54’ 1626 cm
2560” 214’ 6504 cm

31. Understanding Scale

32. • Read non-fiction source materials for
detail and comprehension
• Practice verbal and written
communication skills
• Write expository texts

33. Jigsaw Cooperative Learning
• Students become “experts” on one
topic of safe food handling
• Groups are reconfigured so that there is
an expert on each topic
• Experts teach the rest of the group
about their topic

34. Finding Food Safety Mistakes
• Designed to allow students to apply
their newly acquired knowledge
• Students read a scenario and identify
critical food safety mistakes
• Students predict possible outcomes of
those mistakes
www.clemson.edu

35. Writing Press Releases
• Allows students to practice
expository, process writing
• Specific activities to teach
revision of one’s own work
–Rainbow Writing
• Provides opportunities to
write to audiences outside the
classroom

36. • Practice informational research skills
• Identify primary and secondary sources,
credible sources, etc.
• Bring outbreaks of food borne illness
and their consequences into a geo-
spatial context

37. What’s the Cause?
• Social Studies Activity designed to
• Apply knowledge of pathogens, their
symptoms, and onset time to identify
causative agents in Food borne Illness
scenarios
• Evaluate students’ own understanding of the
risks and preventative measures of food
borne illnesses.

38. • 7.H.2.4 Analyze the economic, political,
and social impacts of disease (e.g.
smallpox, malaria, bubonic plague, AIDS
and avian flu) in modern societies
• 7.G.2.2 Use maps, charts, graphs,
geographic data and available technology
tools (i.e. GPS and GIS software) to
interpret and draw conclusions about
social, economic, and environmental
issues in modern societies and regions.

39. Standards of Living
•Social Studies Activity designed to
– Promote informational research skills
– Allow for synthesis of knowledge across
the disciplines
– Bring standards of living concepts into a
geo-spatial context

40. Outbreak Maps
• Social Studies activity designed to
- critically analyze connections between
standards of living and food borne illnesses.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the
characteristics of maps and geographic tools
- Apply knowledge of location of places and
geographic features to create an outbreak
map

41. • 8.H.1.1 Construct charts, graphs, and
historical narratives to explain
particular events or issues.
• 8.H.1.2 Summarize the literal meaning
of historical documents in order to
establish context.
• 8.H.1.3 Use primary and secondary
sources to interpret various historical
perspectives

42. Extra! Extra!
•Students will research one of three topics:
–Native Americans
–Immigrants from Europe
–Westward Expansion
•They will use this information to create
time-period newspapers describing the role
disease played with these populations

43. Participation as a Project
School
• Free professional development training
for teachers
• All curriculum materials and supplies
(loops, slides, gloves, modeling clay,
petri plates, etc)
All provided at NO COST to the school

44. Supplies

45. Contact
Jennifer Richards
Jennifer.Richards@utk.edu
865-976-1089
www.handsonclassrooms.org
@handson_class HandsOnClassrooms

46. References
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (2000).
How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school
(expanded ed.). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Brown, A. L., & Campione, J. C. (1994). Guided discovery in a
community of learners. In K. McGilly (Ed.), Classroom
lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom
practice (pp. 229-272). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Bruner, J. (1960). The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Caine, R. N., & Caine, G. (1991). Making Connections:
Teaching and the human brain. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Dewey, J. (1916) Democracy and education. New York:
MacMillan.

47. References
Everett, M. (1992). Developmental Interdisciplinary Schools
for the 21st Century. The Education Digest, 57, 57-59.
Hart, L. (1983). Human Brain, Human Learning. New York:
Longman.
Marzano, R. J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of
research on instruction. Aurora, CO: Mid-Continental
Regional Educational Laboratory.
Olsen, S.J., et al. (2000). Surveillance for foodborne disease
outbreaks United States 1993-1997. Morb. Mortal. Wkly.
Rep. 49:1-51.
Perkins, D. N. (1995). Teaching for creative thinking. Paper
presented at the Sixth International Conference on
Thinking,. M.I.T., Boston, MA.

48. References
Piaget, J. (1970). Piaget's theory. In P. Mussen (Ed.),
Carmichael's manual of child psychology (Vol. I, pp.703-
732). New York: John Wiley.
Vars, G. (2001) Can curriculum integration survive in an era of
high-stakes testing? Middle School Journal, 33(2), 7-17.
Vars, G. F. (1996). The Effects of Interdisciplinary Curriculum
and Instruction. In P. S. Hlebowitsh & W. G. Wraga (Eds.),
Annual Review of Research for School Leaders, pp. 147-
164. Jefferson City, MO: Scholastic.
Wenglinsky, H. (2000). How teaching matters: Bringing the
classroom back into discussions of teacher quality.
Washington, DC: Educational Testing Service.