By Sidra Miller
Cooking and baking are something that many people do daily. It can connect to STEM because of measurements, conversions, and chemistry. Combining ingredients to make something new is chemistry. Freezing, boiling, and cooling, are used in both the laboratory and kitchen. Making mac and cheese involves chemistry. For water to boil, it needs to be heated. The hotter the temperature, the weaker the intermolecular forces (IMF), and the faster the particles move. When you add the mac and cheese shells to the water, it takes the water a little longer to boil because the particles' IMFs are being interfered with a solid. Measurements and conversions are also related to both math and science. For example, when you have instructions that say 3 ½ cups of milk, and your measurement device is in fourths, it requires a little bit of thinking. Measuring in itself is related to STEM. It may not seem obvious, but it’s almost impossible to avoid STEM in our everyday lives. It may seem like it’s not there, but surely it is.
Being in the kitchen can easily be connected to SEL (social-emotional learning) because it teaches us one-on-one experiences with the food and with who we’re interacting. SEL is designed for people to live better, healthier lives. Research shows that 70% of our body weight goes back to our diet, so SEL in the kitchen is one of the first steps to a sounder lifestyle. Self-awareness is one important SEL quality. It applies to cooking because as opposed to eating out or fast food, you are aware of what you’re putting into your body, and teaching yourself to live a healthier lifestyle will have its benefits overall. It can help teach self-management as well, for example, if you decide to eat something bad and feel guilty about it, you’ll reflect on yourself and do better. Cooking or baking can be fun, with the unlimited amount of recipes and the people you do it with. Whether it be with your friends or family, it helps develop those social skills that are a necessity in life.
Works Cited
Kimball, Katie. “Social and Emotional Learning through Cooking.” Kids Cook Real Food, 27
Nov. 2018, kidscookrealfood.com/social-emotional-learning/.
Thompson, Chris. “Kitchen Science: Everything You Eat Is Made of Chemicals.” The
Conversation, theconversation.com/kitchen-science-everything-you-eat-is-made-
of-chemicals-56583#:~:text=Cooking%20is%20chemistry.
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