Baking Cupcakes – Sustainability Issues in Science Education

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Descrição

The “Cupcakes” teacher manual, developed by educators and researchers from Utrecht University, offers a hands-on module that allows students to explore sustainability through baking. Working in groups, students bake cupcakes incorporating a specific ingredient—cacao, vanilla, blueberries, or honey. Alongside the baking process, they research the sustainability of their assigned ingredient by examining its impact on ‘people’, ‘planet’, and ‘prosperity’. The module emphasizes the complexity of sustainability issues and encourages students to connect personally with these global challenges.

After gathering their findings, students create a short video using their smartphones to present their research. They summarize key sustainability aspects of their ingredient, explaining its social, environmental, and economic implications. This multimedia approach encourages creativity and digital literacy while reinforcing their understanding of the topic.

The module concludes with a reflection phase, where students discuss what they have learned about sustainable food production, the challenges of balancing economic, environmental, and social factors, and how their choices as consumers can make a difference. This final discussion encourages critical thinking and personal engagement with sustainability topics, making the lesson both interactive and impactful.

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Como utilizar este recurso

Use an everyday activity to make pupils aware that even the simplest of activities have a sustainability context by baking cupcakes.

Guide students through researching the sustainability of key ingredients (cacao, vanilla, blueberries, or honey) by examining their impact on people, planet, and prosperity. After baking, students create a short video to present their findings. Conclude with a reflection discussion on sustainable food production and consumer choices.

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Os recursos

Cupcakes Teacher Manual

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Cupcakes – And what they are made of

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Cupcakes – Summary worksheet

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Cupcakes: Info sheets

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Making cupcakes – Recipe card

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Cupcakes – Script worksheet

Link to the resource

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Learning Outcomes (Teachers)

• Obter conhecimentos prévios e aprofundar o conhecimento e a compreensão dos conceitos-chave da Cidadania para a Sustentabilidade, desafiando as visões do mundo e os valores estabelecidos.
• Aplicar uma série de ferramentas e quadros adequados para promover a Cidadania para a Sustentabilidade dos estudantes

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Competências verdes

• Incorporar valores sustentáveis: Valuing Sustainability; Promoting Nature
• Abraçar a complexidade na sustentabilidade: Pensamento sistémico; Pensamento crítico; Enquadramento de problemas
• Perspectivas de futuros sustentáveis: Adaptability

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Creative Commons

This workshop is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) License by Michiel van Harskamp, Marie-Christine Knippels, and Wouter van Joolingen, Freudenthal Institute, Utrecht University. It may be shared and adapted for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution and must be distributed under the same license.

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ODS