EDC’s TV411 What’s Cooking? taps the appeal of popular TV cooking shows by putting on the front burner the biochemical, physical, and mathematical processes at play in our kitchens.
The project aims to reach the much-neglected audience of undereducated adults in the United States, about 70 million strong, who have reading and math skills between the fifth and eighth grade levels.
The TV411 project will produce six short videos starring a professional chef who blends healthful recipes with fundamental science and math concepts. The videos will be available as part of a redesigned multimedia website—TV411.org—originally created by the Adult Literacy Media Alliance in 2002 to complement its Emmy Award-winning public television series TV411.
“Our goal is to help adults understand the science and math that they encounter in the news and in everyday life. We also hope to help parents support their children’s science and math learning,” says EDC’s Alex Quinn. “Because our project lies at the intersection of adult informal learning, math and science content, and new media, what we learn will make significant contributions to the knowledge base of all three fields.”
The first segment will dispel common misconceptions that Salmonella and Escherichia coli (E. coli) scares are all there is to the role that bacteria plays in our lives. “Our chef will whip up a recipe with chicken and yogurt and talk about how bacteria are essential players in our diet and in our world,” says Quinn. Other segments will cover such topics as radiation and microwave cooking, photosynthesis and vegetables, and carbohydrates.
“TV411 What’s Cooking? will help millions of undereducated American adults improve their science and math understanding,” says Quinn. The program is funded by the National Science Foundation and builds on a planning grant from the Starr Foundation.
Originally published on April 30, 2011
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