Free PD and Curriculum Kit about Science and Food

The FDA and NSTA (National Science Teacher's Assoc.) has created a professional development series and free curriculum kit about the Science of Food based on the National Science Education Standards. The site has information on the training for teachers as well as how to order the curriculum kit. The materials are for Science and Family and Consumer Science teachers in Middle and High School. It includes the science and technology of food production, transportation, storage and preparation.

The curriculum kit includes teacher guides, videos and references.  The site also has a lot of the references on it.

Select educators will be selected for a multi-dimensional professional development program, but any teacher can order the curriculum kit and use the materials on the web site.

This is a great way to apply science concepts to something all students know about: food.

Understanding Science - great resource for teachers and students

Understanding Science is a very cool site developed by the University of California Museum of Paleontology in collaboration with other partners, including Berkeley. 


The site describes what science is, what is science evidence, how science works, why science matters, science and society and has a science toolkit. It does a very good job of explaining science and why we need to understand science (and how to understand it).


One of the really great pages is The Real Process of Science which is a much better explanation of how to conduct science inquiry than the Scientific Method. It talks about scientific evidence, exploration and discovery, and testing ideas. This is a much better way to accurately describe how science works than the scientific method.


There is a page for Teachers, which has teaching tips, science tips, and teaching science tips for grades K-16, separated by K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 and 13-16. The tips include implications for instruction, characteristics of students in each grade level, and ways to introduce and explain science. 


There is also a Resource Library, which contains articles and links on teaching science, what is science, and much more. 


This is a great site for all teachers and students, including teachers who are not "science teachers" but must teach science, such as elementary teachers.