The energy level of the Grade 5 students on Back-to-School Night was high – they were so excited to be sharing their culinary creations with their parents and invited judges. The night was the culmination of their Blue Zones Project inspired “No Bake Challenge”, their first project-based learning (PBL) of the year.
“The student leader of one of the teams came up to me at the end of the night and said ‘Thanks Mr. Villaluz for doing this because this is the most exciting thing that I’ve ever done at school’,” shares Joe Villaluz, Grade 5 teacher. “And I thought that was so cool, because I think for the students it’s so motivating for them to be able to experience something like this and want to come to school.”
In project-based learning (PBL) students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. They demonstrate their knowledge and skills by creating a public product or presentation for a real audience. For the students, the learning comes alive and they develop deep content knowledge, as well as soft skills like critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and effective communication.
“PBL is so powerful because it gives meaning to what the students are learning,” shares Lisa Uesugi, Grade 5 teacher. “It also teaches them soft skills, and they pull in content from so many different areas and connect it all together so they understand it better. And it’s fun! When learning is exciting and fun and meaningful, it sticks.”
For the “No Bake Challenge” PBL the students were challenged to take a delicious no-bake dessert recipe and recreate it using healthy ingredients. Students heard from guest speakers Pam Emery, Nutritionist, and Crystal Robello and Keolamaile McComber from Blue Zones Project Hawaiʻi – Kapolei/Ewa about nutrition and healthy eating. They got expert advice from Chefs Jason and Kat from Kalapawai Market, and Chef Aaron from The Queen’s Medical Center – West Oʻahu. And the whole PBL was kicked off by a virtual visit from Chef Lance Nitahara, Assistant Professor of Culinary Arts at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and the 2010 winner of the Food Networkʻs Chopped.
The young chefs worked as teams and researched healthy substitutions for ingredients, learned about diet and disease, and used their math skills to come up with the healthy no-bake versions of their desserts. They held a tasting experience for the younger students to get their feedback and make improvements before the big night.
Back-to-School Night was the culminating activity for the PBL, where students present their learning to the community. The Grade 5 students, in chef’s toques, prepared 50 individual servings of their healthy no-bake desserts and set up their serving stations with their iPad presentations and signs. Parents and guest judges crowded the Elementary building, sampling the many delicious desserts and learning from the chefs about their creations.
“The public product part of the PBL was so much more than just having the students judged on their desserts,” explains Villaluz. “The students had to use their speaking and listening skills and create a pitch to a group of adults to explain why theirs was a healthy alternative and how it fit in with the Blue Zones Project guidelines.”
“The students were in the zone,” adds Uesugi. “They were so prepared and they knew their stuff. They were eager to tell everyone what they learned, and they were on a mission to educate the parents and they were excited to showcase what they’d done.”
“I feel so proud of them,” says Villaluz. “I always want the kids to look forward to coming to school, and with PBL it’s always exciting. And seeing the pride they have when they create something or do something they didn’t know they could actually do, it makes me happy to come to school because of those student outcomes.”
Blue Zones Project Kapolei/Ewa was a valuable partner, helping to bring in guest speakers, supporting the students, and printing recipe cards of each of the desserts to be displayed at different eateries in the community. And the Grade 5 students were also supported by the Elementary specials teachers who helped mentor the students.
