Two years later...
Diana took a break from teaching at the end of 2007 although she is still involved with education – through her educational contract work.
In May 2009, two years after this case study was published, Diana was asked to comment on developments.
What factors contributed to the success of the unit?
Diana says that Batters in a Bottle is a useful unit for teachers wanting to introduce more Technological Practice into their programmes, and that the variety of activities is a key factor in making it successful. She points out that it's not just about making pikelets and muffins, that there is a lot of Food Technology knowledge and skills involved – sensory testing, storage testing, and quality assurance. It also provides an opportunity to look at packaging and labelling, and students have the option to make a cutter in the Hard Materials workroom.
The unit is popular with students because of the large practical component, and because they come in equipped with an existing knowledge/skills base as they are already familiar with making pikelets, scones and muffins. The aim of the unit, to perfect a product, is achievable because students can make these items easily and therefore find it a straight-forward process to develop a quality version. They are encouraged by seeing the improvement in their own work, and creating an end-product focuses students on their own success at the end of the unit.
Ensuring students covered aspects of Technological Practice, such as planning, was a major focus of the unit. The class was assigned, as a task, the requirement to plan/review/reflect/revise. Some students were able to do this really, really well, Diana says, while others just wanted to "cook". However, being able to record their practice in workbooks (another focus of the unit) helped students "step up" into Year 11. "It gives them a feeling of 'If I do stuff like this, I can achieve' and feeds their success, so they don't feel they're stepping into the unknown at Year 11".
How has the unit evolved?
Diana taught Batters in a Bottle three times (2005-2007) and says that it hasn't evolved much, any changes have depended more on the students she had in front of her and what they had to bring to the unit. In the first year she concentrated on students developing a good product but in the second year, when her own confidence had increased, she incorporated more labelling work, making use of her ICT skills and computer software. Not much changed otherwise, she says, as it was a pretty good unit.
What have you learnt from this unit that has influenced future planning and delivery/ongoing teacher practice?
Diana says that the unit supported her own progress in teaching Food Technology, by helping her recognise what stage the Year 10 students were at in their learning and how this related to her other classes. She could clearly see what stage her Year 9s should be at by the end of the year and where the Year 11s would be starting in the following year. As part of their ongoing collaboration, Diana discussed her programme with Jacquey Neilson (Bush Primary Schools' Technology Centre) who, in turn, was then clear about the level she wanted her Year 7/8 students to be by the end of the year. See the Links with a practicing food technologist case study.
The unit also helped Diana and Carol Pound develop their Food Technology Toolbox. They divided the Food Technology knowledge outlined in the Toolbox into three levels of progression – Years 7/8, 9/10, and 11/12. Carol and Diana decided that the knowledge covered in Batters in a Bottle was best taught within the Years 9/10 level. This contributed to their understanding of where Food Technology knowledge should be covered through Years 7-12. See the Food technology toolbox case study.
Any comment for other people using this unit?
Diana comments that this is one unit she feels she wouldn't tire of teaching, because it can be changed depending on the students in the class. Students could be extended by, for example, developing a biscuit mixture (which is more complex than a batter), or by looking at sauces. Diana says she didn't have the opportunity to do development on this and relied on the more able students to take the initiative and do it themselves. However, she did do jam-making with one class, and those who wanted to could use that in their batter development.
If the unit appears too complicated for a class or group of students, the teacher could restrict the range and have students concentrate on one aspect, such as making pikelets and developing their own mixture
The unit would work equally well with other types of food if a teacher wanted something different, although Diana notes that batters work particularly well at Year 10 because they fit neatly into a one-hour format, whereas cakes or biscuits require more time for baking and testing. And the product doesn't need to be a gift; it could instead be developed for a target market, for example, to meet the nutritional needs of a particular group.
Students could do parts of the unit, rather than the whole thing – says Diana. The teacher could look at the Technology Toolbox, to see what could be done, and then at the unit to see how it would work for the students in their class and with the resources in their school. Based on this, they could decide which sections of the unit would move their students forward in the knowledge, skills and Technological Practice appropriate for them.
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