Education Resources

Chemistry concepts can be challenging for high school students, particularly when abstract ideas lack tangible connections to their everyday lives. Food provides a familiar, relevant, and engaging context through which core chemical principles can be explored. As an assistant professor of food chemistry, I am developing open-access, classroom-ready lesson plans designed to support high school teachers in integrating food-based investigations into their curricula. These recently developed resources translate foundational chemistry concepts into inquiry-driven, hands-on experiences.

These were developed by Audrey Girard (unless otherwise noted) and are free to use. Please provide any feedback or ideas/requests for other instructional aids to algirard@wisc.edu!

Investigating the pH sensitivity of natural food colors. Full lesson plan with instructor notes, student lab worksheet, and post lab reading & reflection.
Introduction to fermented foods and beverages. Full lesson plan with instructor notes and evaluation questions. (Lesson developed by Dr. Victor Ujor.)
Protein denaturation using egg proteins. Full lesson plan with instructor notes, student lab worksheet.
Turning food waste (banana peels) into food packaging. Full lesson plan with instructor notes. This was intentionally written to be open-ended, allowing for student exploration.
Building up the flavor of cola. This is a demo rather than a full lesson plan, but it could be further developed to connect chemistry of volatile components with perceived odors.

Here is a recently developed primer on Food Science, including what it is, what food scientists do, how to study it at UW-Madison, and more.

What is food science?

Check out our department’s website as well as the discipline’s biggest professional society, Institute of Food Technologists, aka IFT.
IFT Why Food Science Matters. A webpage chock full of real-life, sharable examples of how important food science is to ensuring our global food system is safe, nutritious, and sustainable.
IFT Food Facts. This web site is full of consumer information and videos about food science to help consumers learn about nutrition, food safety, and other food related issues.
IFT Toolkits. Helpful, online science-backed resources providing information to help dispel common misconceptions around important food-related topics designed to be shareable as a thoughtful tool in promoting knowledge.

What do food scientists do?

IFT Careers in Food Science. A webpage full of great resources exemplifying the exciting options and opportunities a career in food science and innovation can bring. Resources include different job opportunities, salary ranges, and “Day In the Life” videos. These videos feature food scientists at places like NASA and Disney, and show why they enjoy their work.
Here’s a full copy of the book, Careers in Food Science, edited by Rich Hartel (UW-Madison Food Science Professor), Christina P. Klawitter, and Abigail E. Thiel (UW-Madison Food Science alumna).
Career paths for UW-Madison Food Science alumni, including some specific examples.
There are also a couple of great podcasts that specifically interview food scientists:
- Wolfing Down Food Science from NC State
- My Food Job Rocks from Adam Yee

Where can I find food science news?

ACS magazine, Chemical and Engineering News. Specifically articles related to food.
A couple of websites to see the latest news in the food business world:
Culinary-based websites with a science inclination:
- Serious Eats
- America’s Test Kitchen/Cook’s Illustrated

Resources for specific food science topics

Cheese Science Toolkit. Great info on dairy and cheese science.
Food Engineering. Website from Paul Singh (UC-Davis Emeritus Food Engineering Professor). Includes an online Food Engg course circa 2020, videos, textbook, and virtual experiments.
Tetrapak Dairy Processing Handbook.
Food Science Toolbox Food science info for students and teachers.

This is a curated collection of resources that detail food science demonstrations.

IFT K-12 Teaching Resources. Organized resources from around the web. Demos grouped by age range. Includes resources from:
- UGA Extension – Science Behind Our Food. Demos and explanations.
- Science Buddies. Food science projects, along with lots of other science.
- Ag in the Classroom. The National Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix is a free database of standards-based lesson plans and resources for K-12 educators that use agriculture as a lens for teaching science, social studies, career and technical education, and nutrition.
- Similar demos and lessons from Food Science or Chemistry programs:
  - University of Nebraska-Lincoln Food Science Extension. Multiple innovative demos. They also offer a collection of NGSS-aligned high school lessons focused on teaching food science.
  - Penn State Food Science Extension. Links to lots of good sources.
  - Cornell offers a high school food safety curriculum.
  - K-State offers middle and high school Food and Nutrition Science curriculum.
  - Mount Mary Food Science Experiments. A few demos.
  - University of Sheffield, Chemistry Outreach – Edible experiments.
Wheat2School Curriculum & Lesson Plans. These were developed as part of a project that supports hands-on agriculture and nutrition education.
Experiments from ACS (American Chemical Society). Educational page mostly for K-8.
ACS Reactions. Great videos/articles in general about chemistry stuff, and quite a bit on food.
ACS ChemMatters Teacher’s Guides. Resources to help incorporate ChemMatters articles into your classroom.
Abbey the Food Scientist. Abbey offers some free and affordable resources for teachers.
Science Demo Guy – Making ice cream. Plus, his site has all kinds of general science demos.
Science is Fun. Broader chemistry outreach work on Bassam Z. Shakhashiri (UW-Madison Emeritus Chemistry Professor), with some food science included.
Broader food science and nutrition educational resources.
- Pilot Light. Program in Chicago to develop food education standards. Much more on health and community than just food science. Example lesson. Other free lessons.
- USDA Nutrition, Kids corner. Interactive websites & games.
- Healthy eating games and activities from the Australian government.
- Action for Healthy Kids has lots of resources. As an example, here is one page on nutrition-based physical activity games.

Massive online open courses (MOOCs) that are freely available for anyone online.

Rich’s Academy. Sort of a MOOC. More culinary than science.
The Science of Gastrology from Coursera. This course introduces several basic scientific principles underpinning the methodology of cooking, food preparation, and the enjoyment of food.

Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (chemistry) from edX. Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how everyday cooking and haute cuisine can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about food molecules and how chemical reactions can affect food texture and flavor.

Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (physics) from edX. Top chefs and Harvard researchers explore how traditional and modernist cooking techniques can illuminate basic principles in chemistry, physics, and engineering. Learn about elasticity, viscosity, mayonnaise, baking, and more!

Food Fermentation: The Science of Cooking with Microbes from edX. Explore the roles that microbes play in the production, preservation, and enhancement of diverse foods in a variety of culinary traditions, and learn about the history of food fermentations.

Food for Thought from edX. A course that offers a scientific framework for understanding food and its impact on health and society from past to present. Largely a chemistry approach to food and health
FAO e-learning Academy. Explore wide variety of free, multilingual courses in the areas of food and nutrition security, social and economic development and sustainable management of natural resources, all supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Teaching in Nature’s Classroom: a free online course for educators presented by Rooted, Life Lab, and Wisconsin School Garden Network. This course, developed as a companion for the book Teaching in Nature’s Classroom: Principles of Garden-Based Education, provides opportunities for educators to consider different methodologies when teaching in garden-based settings. Presented by Rooted, Life Lab, and Wisconsin School Garden Network.

Information relevant to food sustainability. Thanks to Andrea Noll and Brad Bolling for sharing this list!

SAFETY