Thanks to a creative North Vancouver elementary school teacher, students are learning life and educational skills that they can take outside of their classroom and into their own kitchens.
For the past 10 years Mark Dotto, a Grade 7 teacher at St. Edmund’s Elementary, has been putting on the annual Iron Chef event, where the students work collaboratively together to produce a real dining experience for their invited guests.
“The event this year was one of our best!,” says Dotto. “The students were well-organized and quite professional in how they prepared and presented the meals.”
Dotto says at the end of the project his students end up possessing a handful of skills such as teamwork, creative and critical thinking skills. But for him, the most rewarding part that comes out of Iron Chef is the sense of accomplishment that students come away with.
“It’s so rewarding to see them succeed together. They realize what they are capable of, and that breeds self-confidence,” Dotto says. “For Iron Chef, I feel that hands-on learning is a big motivator for kids, and that, as educators, we have a responsibility to engage our students, as their engagement directly affects their learning.”
Principal Diana Silva, who oversees the project, says Iron Chef is integrated with other educational subjects, which allows the students to hit several curriculum objectives. The students learn math by budgeting and shopping for their own ingredients, Applied Skills and Technology through learning how to cook their own dishes, and even Internet Technology skills because the students have to create their own website that gives information on their meal planning and how-to cooking videos.
“The life skill of where it could be taking them, I think, is what is really important for us to see, that they made that connection,” Silva says. “You know, when you become an adult you’re going to have to cook for yourself… so we were really pleased at how the kids’ buy-in was definitely there.”
The project also opens the 12-year-olds eyes to what they’re capable of doing on their own.
“Sometimes they might not always have that responsibility . . . now that they proved it to themselves that they can do it, they’re more open to doing that at home, which has been great,” Silva says “Just the concept of using the fresh ingredients and creating something that you don’t necessarily put in a microwave.”
Iron Chef is one out of four major projects that students work on in Dotto’s class, another being Dragon’s Den. Dotto started Iron Chef because he wanted to find a creative way to engage students and allow them to take the lead in their learning, which is something Silva says educators struggle with in the school system, since every student learns differently.
“It’s just a classic hands on approach and truly because they’re cooking they get that hands-on experience, they get that ability to collaborate together, to bring in so many different points of view, perspective and skills,” Silva says.
St. Edmund’s staff were not the only diners impressed by the dishes the students produced, parents and community members also attended the event, that took place on Wednesday, April 18, and were floored by the results. Silva says two years ago they even had a food critic attend the event, which really made the experience for the students more authentic.
“When the (parents) actually came to the seating, so many of them were saying ‘Oh my goodness, this is great, I can’t wait to have them do it at home!’
“One of the other parents actually said that as a process of doing the project they’re saying that their children are coming home wanting to help make dinner.
