Our Executive Director June S. Wasser has agreed to serve on the advisory panel for a new initiative of the Grocery Manufacturers Association Science and Education Foundation (GMA SEF). In this capacity Wasser will be an external reviewer of the next instructional unit being developed for the Hands On: Real World Lessons for Middle School Classrooms program. The current curriculum, often referred to as Hands On: Food Safety is being used in over 30 states and has reached more than 64,000 students, and 1,000 teachers since its inception.

The next instructional unit is “Food Fundamentals” which teaches students about how a food makes it from farm to fork, and enables them to learn how a product becomes a ready to eat food, and all of the steps it goes through along the way. Interestingly, this unit is intended for middle school English, Language Arts and Social Studies classes where decoding informational texts from factually accurate and credible sources is key to the students’ better understanding of the world around them.

Food Fundamentals is modeled after the previous units in the Hands On suite of curriculum, and is currently in pilot testing, with full availability for interested school systems for the 2019-2020 school year. The program also provides the lesson plans and key materials necessary for its implementation in the classroom setting. GMA SEF also provides training to teachers, upon request, for schools new to the Hand On program.

“I am glad to support our colleagues at GMA SEF as they find new and innovative ways to educate students and consumers about important food safety and production methods and practices,” said Wasser.

For more information on Food Fundamentals and Hands on Classroom, or if you know of a school that may be interested in piloting Food Fundamentals, please visit this page.