Using ICT in the Teaching of F&N - Liping

Subject: Food and Consumer Education 
Topic: My Healthy Plate
Web Resource: Health Promotion Board http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/health-article/HPB064355

Explanation: 

The Health Promotion Board recently changed one of the nutritional tool that was commonly used. Previously, we were using the Healthy Diet Pyramid where all Nutritionist and Home Economists are familiar of. Thus, I would like to recommend the use of HPB website for students to know and understand better about this new nutritional tool called "My Healthy Plate". 

The website has various links which allows the ease of assess for students. It provides a more in-depth information as compared to the "Food and Consumer Education" textbook. 

These information are important and useful for students. Be it for their daily life or when they are tested in examinations. They will be able to comprehend the questions better as they know these information. 

Health Promotion Board also provides additional link for everyone to assess. For instance, it provides us with more information on what "My Healthy Plate" mean by 'Fill half your plate with fruit and vegetables'. It teaches us what nutrients does fruits and vegetables, the nutritional advantages of consuming fruit and vegetables in our diet. 

Referring to the Health Promotion Board website is the best, if not the best. As it is what we base our syllabus on. Where we abstract these important information from. Thus it has extremely reliable information for our students to look at and learn from. 

Furthermore, students are more interested to actually assess this websites then referring to the textbooks as it may seem boring to them. Exposing them to the HPB website can also help students to explore the website. As they may be able to find more information or nutritional tools they can use to help them in their subject. Which will help them when they are doing their coursework when they are in their upper secondary years. 

Subject: Food and Nutrition 
Coursework
Web Resource: Nutrition.gov http://www.nutrition.gov/

Explanation: 

Nutrition.gov is a website base in USA. It is somewhat similar to our Singapore's Health Promotion Board website. However, it is still different as the statistics and information are base on what is tested in USA. They have a variety of Nutritional Tools for us to use that is somewhat similar to what HPB has. 

Additionally, they provide many information and links to different website that will aid in student's learning. 

I find this website useful for students because when students are doing coursework, they will need many different websites for them to refer to. They will be able to understand and digest this information better as they can see it in different perspective. They will also be able to better analyze the information they have found and make comparisons. 

To state an example, there is this SuperTracker where I would recommend students to use to see the differences between what American and Singapore guidelines are. Where they will be able to give more constructive feedback or information for their targeted personnel in their coursework. 

As you can see from above there are various tools from'Food Tracker' to Recipe Analyzer. This website provides a variety of tools for students to use and for them to learn better. 

Thus I feel that it is important for students to look at different nutrition websites in different country to enrich themselves and be able to know the differences of the different countries websites for them to write their coursework better. However it is also important for students to keep in mind that these are just references to enhance their knowledge. They should still always give their feedback and suggestions base on the Singapore Health Promotion Board. 

Using ICT in the Teaching of F&N - Nellie

Subject: Food and Consumer Education

Topic: Money and Resource Management

Web Resource: TheMint.org http://www.themint.org/

Explanation:

I would recommend the use of this website when teaching topics under Consumer Studies. The website provides wide range of tools to help educators teach children and teenagers how to manage money wisely and develop good financial habit: the building blocks for a secure future. It contains many activities that are ideal for teachers to illustrate sound money management concepts and it would be a very fun and interactive way for students to learn about all the things people do with money: earning, saving, spending, tracking, investing, and safeguarding. 

Specifically, for the part on Money and Resource Management in the syllabus, I will use the ‘Determining Your Budget’ page found on the website to enrich my lesson. After teaching my students Budgeting, they have to put their skills into use and apply it in a real-life situation to ensure they see the relevance which will make learning meaningful. The page allows users to input their income and plan their budget accordingly. I will have the students to work out a budget plan based on an assigned annual income. Students will have to decide for themselves how much money they wish to save, how much money they will have to spend on transportation, entertainment etc. Through this budgeting activity, they would be able to identify and be aware of the different aspects that they have to consider when managing their finances. 

 

 

 
 

However, there is a down side to this website, as it is based in the United States, there are certain areas of the ‘Determining Your Budget’ page that will not apply in the Singapore context, particularly, the deduction of tax and also the interest rates of the saving accounts. But overall, it is still a good tool for students to practice budgeting and have an idea of the factors they have to consider when planning a budget. It is also more interactive and interesting for the students compared to the conventional paper and pen approach of planning a budget. 

In addition, there are many other tools and games on the website that will enhance and enrich the learning of consumer studies. For instance, there are articles and quizzes on differentiating needs and wants and smart shopping, I feel that it is a very good resource for self-directed learning. I will encourage my students to visit the website prior to my lessons so that they will be better prepared when they come to class and this will also encourage them to be more responsible for their own learning.

Subject: Food and Nutrition

Topic: Meal Planning

Web Resource: Health Promotion Board http://www.hpb.gov.sg/HOPPortal/

Explanation:

I would strongly recommend my Food and Nutrition students to visit the Health Promotion Board (HPB) website to aid them in the completion of their assignments and coursework. There are many educational materials made available on the website, as well as many useful resources and tools. 

Under the ‘Resources’ tab, you can find ‘Educational materials’ where the most updated nutrition-related information and educational materials like brochures and handouts are easily accessible. You will able to find the most credible details of ‘My Healthy Plate’ and online educational booklets such as ‘Salt, less is best’, ‘Do you have high blood pressure?’ and ‘Have you eaten 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables today?’. 

Also under the ‘Resources’ tab, they have a link to ‘Games & Tools’ where a wide range of nutritional tools can be found. I would like to highlight two of them: 

1. Energy and Nutrient Composition of Food 

2. Food Intake Assessment 

1. Energy and Nutrient Composition of Food 

Using this nutritional tool, students are able to find out the nutrient contents of different food based on their respective serving sizes – all macro and micronutrients. It is a good tool when looking up local one-dish meals as the database is Singapore-based, unlike other soft wares that are based in other countries, for instance, FoodWorks that is based in Australia. 

2. Food Intake Assessment 

This nutritional tool is similar to the Energy and Nutrient Composition of Food, but students can use it to analyze their meal plans. Instead of just analyzing a particular food item or dish, this tool will help students to analyze meals of the entire day and compare it to the recommended daily allowance based on the nutritional requirements of the target individual and make recommendations on how the students can improve on their meal plans. 

I feel that the HPB website has very comprehensive information on the health-related issues, so I would encourage my students to visit it frequently to keep themselves up to date and also make good use of the extensive nutritional tools HPB provide to help them with their assignments and coursework.

Using ICT in teaching -Devi

The potential impact of computers on education is gaining worldwide recognition. The use of ICT acts as stimuli for students be engaged in lessons. In context of Home Economics there are many web resources that we as teachers could use in our teachings. Here are two examples of web resources that could be used to enhance the teaching of Food Consumer Education and Food and Nutrition.

Food Consumer Education

Topic: Balanced Diet, Nutrients in Food and Food Choices

Resource: http://focos.hpb.gov.sg/eservices/RecipeAnalysis/RecipeAnalysis.aspx

In the topic Food Choices, students are taught on how they should modify meals, based on their assumptions of the ingredients in the dish. As this topic comes after nutrients in food, students are well aware of the different types of nutrients. Thus with this pre-requisite knowledge, we can carry out an activity called Recipe Analysis. In this activity, students can make use of the Recipe Analysis software to make nutritionally evaluate and modify a dish. This lesson has to be conducted in a computer laboratory as students will have to make use of a the ‘Recipe Analysis’ software (www.hpb.gov.sg > ‘Health tools’ > Recipe Analysis’)

It is recommended that the teacher picks a few recipes from the text book students use for recipe analysis and let them choose between among the selected recipes. The purpose of this is so that when marking the Recipe Analysis, it would be easier for to check answers as opposed to a recipe that is unfamiliar with the teacher. The rationale of picking a few recipes is to provide students with the autonomy to choose from the selected recipes so that they do not feel restricted.

Students will be provided with a soft copy of the Recipe Analysis table as follows and they will be guided on how to fill it:

Ingredient	Energy (kcal)	Protein (g)	Total Fat (g)	Carbohydrate (g)	Dietary Fibre (g)
Total (per serving)

Table 1: Food Composition Records (www.hpb.gov.sg)

Students can be instructed to go to the health promotion board (hpb.gov.sg) website and be guided on a step by step process as follows on how to perform the Recipe Analysis: 

Before students perform their own recipes the following tips could be given to them:

• Simplify the recipe name if it is too long (you can edit it later, after the copy & paste step)
• Enter the MAIN keyword of the ingredient and click “Matches ANY Words or Close Matches”   **Note: There may be multiple names for an ingredient**
• Go to google/yahoo to search for ingredients that are not familiar to you and compare between what is in your recipe and what is available in the database
• Find a similar substitute if the ingredient that you are looking for is not available
• For the quantity, please provide whole numbers (with decimals if needed). If a certain unit of measurement is not available, you will need to convert / estimate accordingly
• Choose the cooking method according to what is stated in the recipe. If it is not possible, choose the best fit / only option given.

After  students have completed their Recipe Analysis, they could answer a few questions at the end of the worksheet to test their understanding and application of previously taught topics (Balanced Diet, Nutrients in Food and Food Choices)

1. Based on the values recorded in the table of Recipe Analysis, which nutrient needs to be reduced? Why? 
2. Based on the values recorded in ‘Table 1’ and with reference to the cooking method stated in the Textbook, suggest THREE modifications that will help make the burger healthier. Explain why you made the suggestion.    
3. If your RDA for energy is 2200 kcal, how many burgers can you eat, without exceeding the RDA? Show your workings.           
4. What can you serve the recipe you analysed (i.e. burger) with to make it a balanced meal suitable for lunch?

This exercise is flexible as it could be done via e learning where students perform self-directed learning with access to a step by step guide of how to perform the Recipe Analysis. Or, as stated earlier, they could do this in the computer laboratory with the facilitation of the teacher. While students perform this exercise, the teacher could also inform students that familiarising themselves with the Recipe Analysis tool will be highly beneficial should they move on to take Food and Nutrition in upper secondary as they will be required to analyse the recipes that they select for their coursework. Otherwise, the teacher can inform students that the use of the recipe analysis can be beneficial for personal use if we wanted to know the exact break down of the food that we were consuming. This could be informed to students either at the start of the lesson or at the end. As illustrated above, this activity is recommended for lower secondary students, nevertheless it could be tweaked to be made more challenging and be given to Secondary three students who have just begun the course of Food and Nutrition. It could serve as a form of revision for the lower secondary syllabus and at the same time familiarize them to the Recipe Analysis software.

Food and Nutrition

Topic: Digestion

Web Resource: http://kitses.com/animation/swfs/digestion.swf

In the teaching of Food and Nutrition, digestion is a common topic of which students face difficulty in as they find it hard to remember the process flow that occurs during digestion. Many teachers, show videos to students to improve their understanding, however, it is still highly likely that what has been taught is not registered in long-term-memory thus students are still bound to forget the theory behind digestion. The following web source: http://kitses.com/animation/swfs/digestion.swf shows how digestion of different types of food rich in different nutrients are digested in a step by step process. The purpose of recommending this website to students is so that so that students can familiarize themselves with the different organs involved in the process of the digestion by just hovering the mouse over the human body. Moreover, with reference to image below, students get to pick the food they wish to be digested and the differences in digestion based on the nutritional composition of the food. 

                                 

 As soon as a food product is clicked, the basic nutrients in the food is illustrated in a pop-up as shown in the example below.

                                 

Digestion of the food selected is illustrated in an animated version with pauses where students can take their time to zoom in the process and visualize what is occurring at their own pace.

                                                     

The explanations provided at each stage of digestion in this web source is not sufficient as for example, the students are required to know the different digestive enzymes in action which is not stated in the source. Nevertheless the use of this web source is still recommended as this is only meant for use after a formal lesson of teaching digestion and it could be used as revision tool where an activity could be carried out with students where they can list the missing information at each stage. Alternatively, before lesson delivery of digestion, the teacher could allow students to engage themselves in this web source and continue her lesson by filling them in with the details. This web source could be used for illustration purpose and/or for students to make use of in a computer laboratory as well. I hope you find these resources useful for yourselves. Feel free to drop a comment on what you think and share if you have even better suggestions.

Till then its, 

Devi signing off ✿✿