Family Science: Food Science Elective

 I’m a big fan of electives—especially for kids who have completed their core courses: Biology, Chemistry, and either Physics or Physical Science.  Often teens have completed Algebra I and II and Geometry before their senior year.  Some kids just don’t want an AP or higher level math course.  (We created a Consumer Math elective for high school we plan to teach again.)  Many teens are interested in Food Science.  I’ve been looking for material.  

1. The Food Education Center has eLearning Lessons for pre-K to Grade 12.  Here is Eating Pasta Together, a sample lesson for grades 9-12. Another here is about potatoes.  (I had to search the links separately, such as Southern Living’s What are Root Vegetables? and Harvard’s The Pros and Cons of Root Vegetables. The content has a mix of background, history, writing, and recipes.  There is a bit of nutrition information.  (I consider nutrition a science.)

2.  IFT has a few resources for your curriculum: Careers in Food Science, Why Food Science Matters (videos), and K-12 Teaching Resources.

3.  National Agriculture in the Classroom has a plethora of lessons.  Just look at the associated vocabulary. The lessons, such as A Tale of Two Burgers tend to be more on the order of topical  lessons, rather than a complete curriculum.  Although the lessons are replete with resources.

4. NY has Food Science Curriculum, Food Preparation Curriculum, and a teacher’s homepage.  Teachers sometimes use Weeblys to organize their coursework, such as this teacher’s Foods for Life course.  Often, the teacher includes her notes, links, slide decks, and videos—all in one place.  This can be invaluable as you plan.

5.  OER Food Science and Nutrition have loads of free, online textbooks. Sample Chemistry of Food and Cooking.  

6. Do you want a few test banks?  Here is Iowa’s FFA Food Science Question Bank. Here are FFA questions organized by year. Here  is the Arkansas workbook with questions.   This appears to be part of an annual competition.  Here is the 2025 handbook.  These types of question banks are useful as a final exam.

7. You need some experiments for the lab component: Experiments in Food Science, Experiments in Food Science, Vol. 2, Cookies (white sugar vs. honey), Acid Bases, and this whopping  436 page series, What’s on Your Plate?