I have always been interested in the science of cooking. Most times when we cook we add ingredients to the recipe not knowing why it is done. Asking ‘WHY’ something happens when you add an ingredient and understanding the science may or may not improve your cooking but for me it is a learning experience….
Category: Education
Disappearing Ink
Imagine getting a secret note which only you can read. I would love that. As I was researching about this, I read that spies used lemon juice, milk, vinegar, onion juice or even urine as an invisible ink during the 1st World War. Low tech intelligence, I guess. Try this fun experiment with your child…
Salad Dressings and Density of Fluids
A salad dressing always heightens the taste of a salad. The simplest salad dressing is oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. You could add honey to sweeten it or some dijon mustard. Have you noticed that when you pour oil and vinegar, they do not mix? Have you ever wondered why? I had written about density…
Kitchen Science – Sink or Float – Bobbing for Apples (and other vegetables and fruits)
It is almost Halloween and this game is often played by children. So the question is do all apples float? That led to more questions – what about pumpkins, lime, banana, pomegranates or coconuts? Why do they float or sink? Inspired by the thought, I decided to check it out on my own. I started…
Kitchen Science – We are all Chemists! Yeast Talk
I wonder if I can add chemist to my profile which includes baker, cook, teacher. While writing the blog post on pizza, the teacher in me started wondering about the science behind making pizza. This morning I made appam and stew and seeing the small holes in the appam, I was explaining why it had…
The Tenth Rasa – An Anthology of Indian Nonsense
Many many years ago, as part of a language class, we introduced gibberish and nonsense to shatter inhibitions in learning a new language. We used the navarasas (the nine emotions – laughter, compassion, anger, courage, surprise, love etc) and a line of gibberish to act out and play different ‘nonsense’ games. Students loved it and…
Read!
Read! Just read!
‘Wonder’ in Teaching Science and My Personal Mastery
It has been two years since I started this journey of exploration and learning. I started an MA in Design in Education from Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology. I knew before I even started that I will be in for an exhilarating roller coaster ride; The potential energy- excitement and fear of the…
This is where I go to think…
I was just writing a blog on mindfulness and working on a MOOC course on the same topic. I have been working on assignments, reading and rereading, understanding some and trying to figure out the others (for my MA). Also, planning for classes and writing reports… Sitting in one position the whole evening did not help…
Inspired by M.C. Escher
He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder. – M.C. Escher A few years ago when I was teaching tessellations, I came across Escher. Escher was a dutch artist who was also a designer, print maker, illustrator and muralist. He was interested in space, illusion and Math. He is best known for tessellations, reality bending shapes…
Chai With Preethi 