'A Decent Meal': A STEAM Learning on Softmeal Preparation

Overview

With the dysphagia problem, the elderly could only have the unpalatable pureed diet in the past. Recently, there is an innovative idea inspired by the Japanese. They provided a new option for the elderly — ‘softmeal’, a jelly-like food that keeps the original apperance and taste. With Food Science as the theme of the STEM course, our school would like to make the delightful and delectable cuisine to the elderly so that they could enjoy a decent meal. Hence, the school hopes to create a STEAM course, which integrates the subjects of Ethics and Religion, Life and Social Science, Science, Mathematics and Visual Arts, for our students. The course is divided into 7 stages. In addition to improving students' STEAM ability, the course can also help to cultivate students' empathy, which entirely reflects our school's spirit—love and caring. To ensure the cuisine prepared by the students can meet the needs of the elderly, each group of students needs to devise a testing method for the softness, smoothness and coagulation of the food, and quantify the test results. After a consent is reached within a group, they need to record their results and determine whether the results meet the standard.

This open lesson mainly covers the fourth stage of the softmeal making process, with the demonstration of food making, which provides an unusual learning experience for participants. During the class, participants not only can understand the scientific principles of making softmeal, but also apply their mathematics knowledge. Finally, students can experience the true spirit of science in the food test experiment, and have a test of the food texture.