Planning the Project - Backward Planning

1. Backward Planning

2. Key Factors in Planning

Please open or download the attached STEALTH Tookit as you will need to refer to it during the planning phase of the project.

Before deciding upon specific activities with which to explore food as cultural heritage, it is important to decide upon a final output or product that students will be required to arrive at.  This final product may change or evolve during the project delivery, but is will provide a focal point around which students’ inqury or investications will take place. Deciding upon a final product should take into account the following two key factors:

1. The inquiry focus

2. The final product

3. The Inquiry Focus

This is very much a general objective statement that drives teaching and learning.  The focus may be very specific or more generally formulated to allow wider inquiry or facilitate investigation by small groups or individual students which can be collated in preparation for the final product.

Examples of inquiry focus statements might include:

• To investigate the fat content in locally produced milk
• To inquire into the way meat is processed in our country
• To expore the nutritional value in our national dish
• To understand origins of our national dish
• To investigate the mineral content in our favourite breakfast cereals.

The possibilities for developing an inquiry focus are endless and teachers should therefore consider what would be of most relevence for students and what sort of inquiry is most likely to motivate them.  It might be best to agree on one or more objectives with students in order to give them a sense of ownership in their learning and thus enhance engagement.

4. The Final Product    

Having decided upon a main focus for inquiry, it is necessary to decide or agree upon the nature of the final product. The final product could take many forms and may include one of the following suggestions:

• PowerPoint presentation
• Website, social media page, etc.
• Written research document
• Video presentation such as an explainer video, documentary or promotional video
• In-person presentation to a live audience which could be filmed to record the event
• Scientific journal or magazine including written articles and images
• Posters, info-grapics and photographic evidence posted around the classroom or school
• One or more of the above presented as an exhibition which parents and other stakeholders may attend.

The final product is an extremely important component of the process as it provides students with the opportunity to communicate their learning with others and develop a sense of purpose and pride in their work.

When the inquiry focus and final product are decided upon, it is necessary to discuss and explain these to the students.  At this stage, students’ input should be elicited and final tweaks made.  

5. Inquiry Statement

Students should be asked to formulate an inquiry statement, whether in groups or individually, in order to inform the direction in which their investigation will progress.  The inquiry statement is arrived at through combining the inquiry focus and the final product statement.  An example of an inquiry statement might be:

1. We will produce a video documentary on the processing and preparation of our national dish.

2. I intend to discover whether my regional dish is more or less nutritious than that of another region and present my findings in a written report.

6. Choosing Activities

At this stage, teachers and students should decide on which activities would support their investigations and provide them with evidence that can be meaningfully communicated in the final product.  

In some cases, the teachers might identify gaps in students’ learning that need to be filled before investigations, research and experiments can be carried out effectively.  Students may wish to investigate the energy value in the food they eat, but require guidance on how to do so.  In such a case, the teacher can demonstrate a experiment using a different food type while addressing safety concerns and explaining the appropriate us of materials and equipment.  When student have a secure grasp of what is required to investigate energy content in food, they may proceed to replicate the experiment on their target food with a higher degree of independence.

In the 1^st Element of the STEALTH Toolkit (Nutrients Knowledge and Understanding Page 19), a wide range of activities are suggested with which to fill gaps in students learning.  In this section, the main focus is on developing or consolidating students’ knowledge and understanding of the key nutrients that are found in the food they eat. A list of key terms and definitions can also be found in Appendices.  

Teachers are invited to use these or other activities only if necessary.  In some cases, teachers might feel that their students already possess the knowledge and understanding required to carryout their investigations and have no need for additional prior-learning.