Applying 4DEE in the Classroom: Using Taste Testing to Teach about Food Systems
Tuesday, December 16 from 1 – 2 PM ET
Everyone eats food, which makes it a great topic to apply 4DEE in the classroom. Using a visual demonstration of different varieties of brassica oleracea (i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts) and a taste testing of conventionally versus organically raised strawberries, we connect students’ personal experiences with food to the 4DEE concepts of biodiversity/human interaction with the environment. The use of tangible fruits and vegetables will help transition from the role students understand (i.e. what foods look like in the grocery store and on their plates because they are consumers) versus the process that might be distant for many of them: the resource and input-intensive agricultural methods to grow those foods, the labor involved in harvesting the foods, and the traits selected by breeders for farmers, distributors, and grocers versus consumers. This activity helps students consider the whole food system, and in so doing, lets the instructor apply the 4DEE framework.
Read more about David Blodgett’s 4DEE-aligned activity: Class Activities to Explore Biodiversity Loss through the lenses of Artificial Selection and Monoculture
Presenters:
David Blodgett, Babson College