Manufacturing grain products: learning sequence

Years 3–4

Teaching and learning sequence steps

Nutrition and healthy eating

Establishing background knowledge

Notes to support teaching and learning sequence

• Ask each student to record all the food they eat in a 48-hour period.
• Introduce the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating and discuss the foods that appear in each category.
• In groups students collate the information and allocate it to a blank Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.
• Discuss results and identify which food are grains and which legumes.
• Discuss the different examples of grains and legumes that appear on the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.
• Develop a retrieval chart for the variety of grains and legumes identified in the food audit.
• Discuss the nutrition value of grains and legumes and why they are important in the diet.

Activity: Research where grains come from.

Working in groups, students choose (or are allocated) one grain or legume to research that is significant in the diet of a particular culture. Fact files are provided to assist in this task. Find out:

• Where it is grown.
• What are its growing conditions?
• How is it processed?
• What food products are made from it?
• Why is it a staple food for the particular culture?

Groups present their research in one of the following formats:

• a written report
• oral presentation with visuals
• PowerPoint presentation.

Each report should include as a conclusion a brief summary of the importance of grains and legumes in the diet of people in many countries.

A blank diary sheet is provided as Worksheet 1.
Use Fact file 1 for background information for discussion on core food groups.

Worksheet 2: Blank Australian Guide to Healthy Eating.

Fact file 2 and Fact file 3 provide information on grains and legumes.

Fact file 4 provides background information on nutrition.

Teaching notes on forming groups and note taking can be accessed in the Teaching Strategies document.

Fact files 5–15 are included for the background information for the group research task.

GoGrains web site may be used as an additional resource.

Mass Production

Establishing background knowledge

This activity uses bread as an example of a mass produced grain product.

• Students brainstorm the different types of bread they know about. It may be possible to arrange a tasting day with as many varieties as possible for the students to taste test.
• Identify the types, where they come from and the grain used to produce them e.g. Turkish, Russian, black bread, foccacia.
• Visit a local bakery to view bread making or view a video of bread making (see unit resources) or sequence of photographs to show the process.
• Discuss the scale of production of mass produced bread compared to for example, cake making at home.
• Explore the concept of mass production including standardisation, specialisation, automation and control technology.
• Demonstrate the making of bread in the classroom.
• Discuss the differences in scale of production of the mass produced bread and the single loaf produced in the classroom, i.e.quantity of ingredients, size of equipment, hand mix versus electric mixer, amount of product produced.
• Develop a storyboard or flow chart to show the steps.
• Discuss or research how bread is distributed, i.e. delivery, supermarkets, small bakery, small shops etc.
• Discuss the implications that would need to be considered if producing a product of a large scale for a large school function.

It is important through this sequence of activities that teachers draw students' attention to the processes and differences in scale used in the mass production example and the smaller class production of bread.

Suggested bread examples include: White, wholegrain, wholemeal, mixed grain, foccacia, pita, pumpernickel, shami, baladi, puri, sour dough, kibble, gluten-free bread, Russian bread, lavash, naan.

Draw attention to the similarities in the steps of the production.

Notes on mass production can be found on the Supporting SciTech web site. Visit the Staffroom and then the Bookshelf: Resource units. Download Products and services.

Jointly construct a story board or flow chart or use a commercial resource of the process used in both productions. Record issues, e.g. target audience, group size.

To design and make a system for mass producing a grain based product for a large function at school.

Identifying needs and wants

In groups students research or identify from their own experiences other food items that are mass produced. Discuss the reasons why.

• Students review, from their research task, what grains and legumes are, where they are grown, the scale of production, why they are considered a significant part of the diet and their importance in the diet of different cultures.
• Inform the class that they have been asked to supply food for a large school function.
• Discuss the target group and the number of people who will be attending the function, e.g. parents, other students, grandparents.
• Brainstorm the types of food (grain) products they could choose to produce and develop the criteria for success.

Criteria for success:

• easy recipe to make at school
• nutritious food product
• can be served cold
• can be cooked
• reasonable cost
• ease of production for a large quantity.

This learning may have been gained earlier in the unit or prior experience or from local knowledge. The function may be an afternoon tea for parents, grandparent's day, school fete, orientation morning tea etc. Some easy to make suggestions could include popcorn, pikelets, muffins, muesli/mixed grain bars, pasta or scones. A range of easy grain based recipes are provided on this web site.

Generating and selecting ideas

• As a class discuss the possible food products they could choose. Once the decision has been made list the ingredients needed and the nutritional value. Calculate cost and determine selling price if appropriate.
• Working in groups students develop ideas for the product they will produce and ideas for a system to produce it within the resources available in the class/school.
• Each group devises and draws a system flowchart identifying the steps in the production of the product considering necessary safety issues.
• Each group presents their system flowchart to the class. The class compares and notes similarities and differences in the processes.
• The class selects, adapts or combines elements from the various flowcharts to generate a final system plan.

Remind students of the production line used in bread making or other large scale production or use a series of pictures to support the discussion.

Using resources to create products, systems and environments

• In groups, as a trial run on a small scale, students produce a product such as pikelets, muffins, muesli/mixed grain bars, scones for the class about a week before the event day.
• Ask another class to be the target group for the trial.
• Take digital photos of the different steps of the system in order to create a visual record to use later in comparing and contrasting small scale and mass production systems.

Remind students of the health and safety rules for food production.

Evaluating products and processes

• Evaluate the production against the criteria for success.
• Evaluate the trial run and identify any areas for improvement in the system.
• Obtain feedback from the target group on the product via survey or direct questions.
  • Did it look appetising?
  • Did it taste good?
  • Was the cost reasonable? If appropriate.
• Suggest modifications to product and production process for the future. Re-check quantities.

The full production

Generating and selecting ideas

• Re-visit the design task: Design and make a system for mass producing a grain based product for a large function at school.
• Students make changes to their original flowchart and document the reasons why.
• Students identify the requirements for the larger scale production, i.e. more ingredients, changes to roles so that more students are involved at particular steps of the process.

It could be helpful to make a list of the considerations for the production such as date, time, target group, quantity needs, steps in production, how the food will be presented.

Using resources to create products, systems and environments

• Make the product and provide it to the target group.
• Reflect on success of product and manufacturing process.

Take digital photos of the production for the evaluation step.

Evaluating products and processes

• Evaluate the products and process against original criteria for success. Make modifications.
• Discuss the differences in scale of the two productions, the trial run and final large scale production.
• Ask students to consider how they could produce a product such as pikelets, muffins, muesli/mixed grain bars, scones for a larger consumer market at school. List the points that would need to be considered.