Cafe tour teaches food, math, and science concepts to early childhood students

The Food Math and Science Teaching Enhancement Resource (FoodMASTER) initiative is a compilation of programs aimed at enhancing food, math, and science education for individuals of all ages and backgrounds. As a component of the FoodMASTER initiative, a restaurant/cafe tour was developed for early childhood students to experience food, math, and science concepts in a quantity foods setting. Students toured through a quantity foods setting while a tour guide addressed subject matter such as food safety and sanitation, equipment, facility management, and the Food Guide Pyramid. Respectively, this subject matter reinforced knowledge competencies in the areas of microbiology, measurement, scientific method, and nutrition science. The purpose of this poster presentation is to share the cafe tour curriculum, the math and science standards addressed as a result of the tour, and the preparation for the tour. The observed outcomes resulting from this program suggest that students were engaged in the learning process and the food, math, and science education experiences were enhanced. K-12 teachers and nutrition educators can use information from this project to take their students on a field trip through their own school cafeterias or to a restaurant. This example tour can easily be adapted to address math and science standards for various age groups and provide students with fun, active learning to fulfill proficiency standards.