Elective for students Gr. 10-12
Prerequisite: Instructor Consent
Required Supplies: None
Offered: Independent Study Upon Request
High School Credit: .5 credit/semester
College Credit: None
If you enjoy food, science, and cooking, this is the course for you! Experiences in Food Science focus on the various relationships between food science, nutrition, and food preparation. This hands-on course will apply scientific concepts and procedures to the food science industry through a variety of laboratory activities and experiments focused on the principles of chemistry. Students will understand how the physical and chemical properties of food products and nutrients are related to atomic structures, elements, chemical bonding, molecular structures and formulas, and concentrations. Students will study a variety of chemical reactions that occur in the processing and storage of food products and describe the factors affecting the rate of reactions. Students will also understand the relationships between energy, the motion of molecules, and states of matter in the development and improvement of food products, processing, and packaging. Learning experiences and laboratory skills developed in measuring, recording, and analyzing data are used as well as experimental methods to analyze food mixtures, food microbiology, food chemistry, food preservations, and complex food systems, which all apply to practices used in the development of food products. Food science is a quickly expanding career field. Students are given insight into career possibilities with the education and training needed, as well as up-to-date information regarding technological advances and future trends in food preparation, preservation, evaluation, and utilization of food. Students will spend time developing and creating new food products.