ERIC Number: EJ1044094
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Sep
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-9120
EISSN: N/A
The Kitchen as a Physics Classroom
Rowat, Amy C.; Sinha, Naveen N.; Sörensen, Pia M.; Campàs, Otger; Castells, Pere; Rosenberg, Daniel; Brenner, Michael P.; Weitz, David A.
Physics Education, v49 n5 p512-522 Sep 2014
Cooking is a tangible, familiar, and delicious tool for teaching physics, which is easy to implement in a university setting. Through our courses at Harvard and UCLA, each year we are engaging hundreds of undergraduate students, primarily non-science majors, in science concepts and the scientific research process. We find that weekly lectures by chefs and professors, paired with edible lab experiments, generate enthusiasm and provide strong motivation for students to learn physics. By the end of the course, students are able to conduct independent scientific research and present their results in a final science fair. Given the considerable broad appeal of food and cooking, the topic could be adapted to other post-secondary as well as secondary-level courses.
Descriptors: Science Instruction, College Science, Undergraduate Students, Nonmajors, Scientific Concepts, Teaching Methods, Cooking Instruction, Laboratory Experiments, Student Motivation, Equations (Mathematics), Food, Energy, Thermodynamics, Heat
Institute of Physics Publishing. The Public Ledger Building Suite 929, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 215-627-0880; Fax: 215-627-0879; e-mail: info@ioppubusa.com; Web site: http://journals.iop.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: California; Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: DBI-1254185; DMR-0820484