What's Your Problem

Image result for problem solvingIf you think back to the last time you were in the classroom did you ever solve problems? Now these problems are used to help further student learning about a specif topic. One of the more common examples is the problem of having an engine and asking yourself or your students why that engine will not run. 

This week in lab we did problems solving. I thought it would be super cool to do a lesson on cuts of beef with the problem being a specific recipe. I chose a recipe and gave it to the students, they were all assigned different cuts of beef to research to see if their cut would work the best for the specific recipe. 
In my classroom with the students I would focus on more of the quality, and the differences in the taste. I think that it would be super cool to have the students actually cook the beef cuts and taste the difference between the different quality grades. I also like the idea of actually cooking the recipe, maybe even trying it with the different cuts of meat. That way the students can get to the solution of the specific cut of meat does in fact work better than other cuts would in the recipe that they were given. After they did their own research on the different cuts and the grades of meat, student then created an assigned cut with a different grade. They then would walk around the room and grade each others cuts of meat. 

Overall I really think that the problem solving approach is a really cool way for students to be able to learn more about the topic on their own. I really like having the students learn with hands on activities and I think this is an awesome way for me to teach how beef is graded and how the fat content creates different tastes. 

Questions for you!!
Do you have any suggestions to help me better my lesson? 

Have you taught something similar? Did the lesson go as planned? 

If there is no way of cooking the meat, what are some suggestions to do instead? 

PS. You can catch a 15 minute clip of my lesson on edthena!  

Comments

  1. Kaitlin LiszkaOctober 12, 2019 at 1:13 PM

    I think that this could be a really cool lesson to try to do with maybe the Family and Consumer Science teacher or another teacher that has cooking as part of their curriculum! I like that pretty much all the students could connect this back to them personally because at some point in their lives everyone will probably have to cook, even if they never raise beef.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel FosterOctober 14, 2019 at 2:37 PM

    Britton, I think you can "hyperlink" videos if you want!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Luke KerstetterOctober 17, 2019 at 11:16 AM

    This lesson was fun to participate in. I would definitely have the students cook the meat to test their findings. I think that would allow it to come full circle in the problem solving approach!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Participation is Success

Image
This week I was teaching three classes of really amazing students. I had my two classes of introduction to agriculture and I have added a large animal science class. I have realized that teaching two classes that are the same subject can be really tricky. It all really depends on the students in the class, I realized that in the first section I don't get as far in the second section. At first it was stressing me out that I wouldn't get as far in the first section as I would the second. Then I realized that the first section seems to be asking more questions, really awesome good questions. The second section seems to be a little bit more shy ( I am working on that). The state FFA officers came in, and I am super proud of the way my students responded and participated with the officers. They did whatever was asked of them, and I think they were able to learn a lot too. I loved to see my shy group of intro students really get into the activities that were going on around them.
Read more

Visiting a Cohort Member

Image
Although Covid 19 came and I was not able to physically go to see another cohort member teach classes, I have been following my cohort members on social media. Everyone has done some really awesome things with their classes. It may not surprise all of you but Jess, and I have remained in really close contact through out this student teaching journey. Let me tell you about Jess, her and I met in 9th grade at Derry for local CDE's in the spring. Jess was the girl with the selfie stick ( I am not kidding, she carried it everywhere). We ran for state office together, went to gold toe socks together, and then ended up at Penn State together. We had our first college class together, NOT PLANNED. None of this was ever planned, but because it all happened we were able to become really close friends. When she changed her major to ag ed, we became even closer, spending more and more time together. Fast forward to student teaching we were both placed in the west, but were about an hour ap
Read more

Setting Sail at ACES

Image
I have seen something over this past week, some students when they see work they don't want to do it. This includes taking notes, taking notes is super important especially for those that want to move to higher education. I noticed this was a problem, so I made a learning experience of it. I had a conversation with my students, why is not taking important. I told them about the studies that show that taking notes helps to remember the material, it helps to be able to have a better understanding of the material.  The point is that at the first week of the ACES conference, setting sail and believing in your self was a huge theme. It was amazing to see how the state officers really made this theme come to life. I think that it is important for young FFA members to see these strong members being themselves, and really setting sail to their dreams.  The thing is, in order to set sail to be where you want to be, you need to be able to put in the work. It might starts with things t
Read more