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Highlights - ‘Rating 1’ (the highest rating) has been awarded to Food Choices the IT Way by the Software Rolling Fund of the Victorian Department of Education and Training.
- ‘Highly recommended’, Review in Technology Focus: Integrating ICT into the Curriculum, Vol 4, No 3, 2002, Department of Education, Western Australia
- ‘As a practising home economics teacher with a passion for IT and a desire to assist students make wise food choices, this is one of the most exciting resources I have seen.’ Review by Miriam McDonald in Journal of Home Economics Institute of Australia, Vol 8, No 3, 2001
Food Choices the IT Way Review
By: Miriam McDonald,
Home Economics Teacher/Assistant Principal, Taminmin High School NT
From: Journal of Home Economics Institute of Australia, Vol 8, No 3, 2001
Food Choices the It Way is a wonderful new package for schools, aimed at students aged approximately 13-18 years. The package is designed to encourage students to make healthy food choices and increase their food literacy. It is based on the FoodWorks nutritional analysis computer program and includes a teacher's manual, and a student workbook - Procedures & Exercises using FoodWorks. It also includes a CD-ROM containing FoodWorks as well as the teacher's manual and student workbook in PDF (portable document file) format.
Food Choices the IT Way enables students to use information technology to make in-depth dietary analyses of the foods they eat and the foods they purchase. By using the computer program, students can make these analyses quickly, easily and accurately.
FoodWorks CD-ROM, nutritional analysis program has a host of features that allow it to be used in a dynamic and creative way to support nutrition education.
Features include: - Extensive database of food items and immediate feedback on the nutritional breakdown as you work. Additional items can be added to the database either as foods or recipes.
- Graphing function to calculate and graph, for example, the percentage of energy derived from protein, fat, carbohydrate and alcohol. Graphs can be presented and printed in a range of 2D and 3D formats.
- Comparisons of food intakes to RDIs.
- Quick and easy navigation around food diaries, meal plans and recipes.
- A range of printing options. For example, when printing a recipe analyses, either all nutrients, or a selection of nutrients can be printed.
- Folders to organise food diaries meal plans and recipes.
The teacher's manual includes a wealth of information to support the teaching/learning process. It has four parts: - Part A - (Understanding Food Choices the IT Way) explains the resource and identifies its relationship to students' current and future life roles and to good pedagogical practice, with emphasis on food and nutrition education.
- Part B - (Understanding FoodWorks) explains how the FoodWorks computer program works. It includes a set of procedures commonly used when using the FoodWorks computer software program. Most procedures are accompanied by an exercise for students to test their mastery of the procedure. These procedures and exercises are also presented as a student workbook Procedures and exercises using FoodWorks. The procedures are clearly explained, with graphics to support the instructions. Student exercises provide opportunities for students to master the basic procedures before undertaking the more challenging tasks in Part C.
- Part C - (FoodWorks in the classroom) explains how to use FoodWorks for dietary analysis, meal planning, food technology and consumer education. It includes overviews for eleven units of work for use with students. The tasks are rich, provide a range of teaching ideas, extension activities, and a breakdown of processes and skills. For example, the unit of work titled 'IT Checks out lunch' challenges students to analyse and evaluate lunch foods eaten by their peers and develop and implement recommendations for improving the lunches. Learning experiences are clearly explained and supported by the student resource sheets in Part D.
- Part D - (Supporting resources) included forty-nine resource sheets to support the classroom units of work in Part C. Each unit of work is presented initially as a Student Challenge which outlines the challenge and lists the steps to work through. Each challenge has resource sheets to support the learning process. These are clearly presented with appealing illustrations, the purpose of the task, and the steps required to undertake the task.
As a practising home economics teacher with a passion for IT and a desire to assist students make wise food choices, this is one of the most exciting resources I have seen. The units of work provide a diverse range of relevant, contemporary challenges which can be used 'as is' or adapted to meet the requirements of particular classes/students. The resources sheets are beautifully presented, and contain explicit references to the skills being targeted - for example, summarising, evaluating, drawing conclusions, analysing , researching. The teacher is supported throughout the teaching/learning process with clear explanations of the purposes of each challenge and task.
I believe this will prove to be a 'must have' resource for all schools and other organisations undertaking nutrition education.
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