In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, I've been seeing blog posts from FCS education related businesses on why Thanksgiving is all about the food (I disagree), tweets from foodies talking about the perfect pie crust (Pillsbury makes a pretty good one, too), and requests on discussion lists for Thanksgiving recipes. But what I haven't seen are discussions from family and consumer sciences educators about teaching topics such as family, culture, traditions, communication, and science in relation with a national holiday that is nearly universally celebrated in our culture. I guess that gets lost in the hoopla that becomes "the holidays."
So....how does one integrate those topics into the family and consumer sciences classroom in ways that engage students? I'm going to guess another lecture or PowerPoint will not be what will get a teacher through the lack of an attention span (teachers and students) right before a holiday. But what if you could do a demonstration, involve students, and reinforce science in the context of family and consumer sciences at the same time? Thanks to Bytesize Science, here's an example of just how to do that. It might have to be modified a bit for high school level, but then again, maybe not. Hope you enjoy this video "Thanksgiving and Chemistry: What's the Connection?"