AA2

= = =Working in a Cooking Wiki= Anngelia Allen

//Abstract//
Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts will work in groups in a Wikispace to decipher a complicated cooking recipe. Then they will work together to make the recipe more appropriate for junior-high students, in terms of cooking techniques and ingredients.

//Learners & Context//
The learners in this project are Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts. They are typically computer literate and willing to explore all things internet. They are working on this project to complete one portion of the "Creative Cooking" interest project.

Before this lesson, they would have been introduced to various cooking resources, such as: the [|Food Network website], the [|Wikibooks Cookbook], and [|Wikipedia]. They would have been taught how to search these sites looking for information on recipes, cooking techniques, and substitute ingredients.

//Learning Goals//
The goals for this project are:
 * Analyze an existing recipe to determine what changes can be made to the ingredients to make it more junior-high student appropriate.
 * Explain why certain changes are being made, in terms of ingredients and cooking methods.
 * Create a new recipe based on the existing recipe.
 * Edit the recipe created by other groups for content, grammar, and spelling.

Some of the higher level skills the girls are learning are to work in a wiki and analyze a piece of information based on some criteria.

//Required Resources//
This activity should take about eight hours. Hour 1-2.5: Decipher the recipe. Hour 2.5-3.5: Modify the recipe and post it. Hour 3.5-4.5: Take a quick trip to the grocery store for supplies. Hours 4.5-6: Cook the modified recipe and taste it. Hour 6-7: Each group edits the recipes as necessary. Hour 7-8: The other groups peer review the recipes, adding opinions on taste, ease of cooking, and substituted ingredients.

For every six girls (two groups of three), I would recommend one adult to act as mentor.

The class site will need a kitchen of some sort, with enough room for multiple groups to work.

Necessary learning resources include access to the internet, specifically the sites listed above. The girls will also need job aids on how to work in the Wikispace and what to look for in a recipe that can be modified to fit specific needs.

//Tools and Models//
In order to use the exegesis model of ecollaboration when deciphering the recipe, this lesson uses Wikispaces.

//Process//
Before the lesson: The instructor finds a recipe for each group of girls to decipher. These recipes are posted on the Wikispace. The recipes should be complicated enough that they have cooking terms the girls may not have heard before, that contain ingredients with which they may be familiar.

During the lesson: The girls are grouped in threes. Each group of three is given a recipe. They are asked to provide definitions for all cooking terms and descriptions of the ingredients in the recipe, using the Food TV, Wikipedia, and Wikibooks Cookbook websites. These definitions will be linked to new pages, with the cooking term or ingredient as the new page name.

The girls are then asked to use their other resources to modify the recipe to make it more junior-high girl friendly. This is left relatively open, since each girl will bring different tastes and opinions to the group.

Once all the recipes have been modified, the groups will take a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase supplies.

Back at the class site, the girls will test out their recipes. When the dishes are complete, the girls get to eat!

After eating, the groups will be given the opportunity to revise their recipes as necessary.

Each group is then assigned to review and edit one of the recipes posted by another group. They will be expected to check the recipe for spelling and grammatical mistakes, however they will not be asked to wordsmith the recipe. They will also be asked to comment on the substitutions made in the recipe and whether or not they liked the recipe enough to make on their own. Once the recipe has been finalized, it will be posted to the Wikibooks Cookbook.

//Rationale//
Due to the girls’ lack of experience with cooking, collaboration seems to be a good choice, since the skills one girl is lacking may be made up for by another. The idea of ecollaboration is a natural extension when most of the information they will use will be referenced from the internet. Theoretically, they could get cookbooks and other references in hard copy, but finding enough hard copy materials for the girls could be problematic. Allowing the girls to use a Wikispace to decode the recipe encourages the use of technology in other areas of their lives. Posting the finished recipes allows the girls to find them, and use them, again. This may also encourage them to try out their skills on other recipes.

It will be interesting to see whose opinions and tastes are reflected in the modified recipe. Will it be the girl who is more popular? Will the girl who really likes a certain ingredient come out on top? Will they work together and make compromises?

The point of feedback I have received most has been about having the girls making the recipes more healthy. I'm not as concerned with making the recipes more healthy at this point, rather, I'm looking to help the girls become excited about cooking. Once they have the concepts down, they can work on their own to develop more healthful recipes, which they can then share with friends and family.

//Evaluation//
I will know that the lesson is successful if the girls end up with dishes that they can eat! If the dishes are edible, it will mean that they were able to understand the cooking terms in the recipe and they found suitable substitute ingredients. Determining whether to do it again would depend on the reactions of the girls throughout the day. Did they seem to find the process worthwhile? Were they able to make a successful dish? Did they enjoy themselves? Because this is a project through Girl Scouts, the girls do not have to attend the activities, so it is important that the girls find the projects worthwhile and entertaining at the same time.

//Reflection//
Without a real classroom need this was a challenging project. I enjoyed thinking about situations where I could use the new tools described in this course, but actually finding a reasonably suitable situation was tough. However, I do feel like this project would be worthwhile and entertaining for the intended audience, so for that I'm pleased.

I would like to investigate this process more when I have a real world need. I would also like to pass this information on to some of my teacher friends who work in school districts that have not been bitten by the technology bug. I think the idea of ecollaboration could be very useful, based on the ideas of some of my fellow students.