The Philosophy of Education in Baking

Many years ago, while I was on a flight to attend a job-related conference, I met an educationist who served in the Ministry of Education. He sat just right next to me and my colleague in the same row of the plane aisle. Being friendly and courteous people of Malaysia, we introduced ourselves briefly and struck a conversation over any general topics. Thoughout the flight, we actually had quite a meaningful conversation about education. As I was working in the healthcare training industry back then, so I was considered partially an educationist too. Therefore, education was a common topic for us.

The most remarkable point I can recalled from the conversation was about how to make education more effective and relevant for the learners. I remembered vividly this senior educationist veteran mentioned about teaching mathematics via baking, how the learning and teaching process can turn out to be inspiring moment and thus sparks the learning enthusiasm among the students. I can't agree more with him back then and even until now.

After so many years, now I have become a mother of two young children. Those umpteen hours of input on teaching methodology through seminars, conferences, short courses and continuous professional development (CPD) have made the core elements of education deeply ingrained in me, despite having left my profession in healthcare training industry. Both my husband and I still share the same passion for education, to ignite the joy of learning in ourselves and our children!

One afternoon during the MCO, I have grabbed the opportunity to conduct a baking lesson for my 6 years old daughter. Since it was her first baking experience, I chose the simple one ~ chocolate chips muffin as the object lesson (baking product as well). To set up the right tone for this baking lesson, the physical aspect is important: I helped her tied up a neat hairdo and made her wore a kitchen apron. With all these set in place, she was more than ready for the lesson!

This baking experience was so valuable for her as she gets to learn three vast domains of education. These are the summary of the learning outcomes she has achieved from the baking lesson:

1) Knowledge Domain:

[Language and Vocabulary]

When she read out the instructions from the recipe book, she managed to learn language and enlarged her vocabulary (of course, as in baking recipe term). For example, she learned a new word: whisk and its meaning by actually whisking the eggs.

[Mathematics]

When she measured the ingredients (flour, castor sugar and butter), she observed how the weighing scale works to measure the weight of the ingredients in numerical form; she also learned about addition and subtraction to get the accurate amount as required according to the recipe.

[Science]

When she mixed ingredients, she observed how the texture and consistency changed accordingly; she also observed how the muffins were baked till done in the oven.

2) Skills Domain:

[Fine Motor Skills]

She learned to master her fine motor skills as she engaged with these activities in baking: scooping ingredients into measuring bowl, cracking eggs, whisking eggs, mixing batter, sieving flour, scooping batter into muffin cup case, and topping muffins with more chocolate chips.

3) Affective Domain:

[Follow Instructions]

She learned and appreciated the importance of following instructions. Not following instructions, the muffins could turn out to be a gourmet disaster which is distasteful for eating and leading to wastage of resources. This simple rule applies to all including adults, for example: if someone violates the instructions of the traffic light, car accident may happen.

[Patience]

Baking needs patience. In the fast paced world we now live, everything can come and go instantly. Because of the constantly instant environment we are in, we easily get impatient, restless and irritable. We need to learn and relearn patience even more than before. After spending a good one and half hours of sweat, then only she got to savour the fruit of her hard labor. Through this baking lesson, she learned that good works require patience.

"Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” ~ Aristotle

[Curiosity]

The baking lesson has sparked up her enthusiasm in learning. It created more space of curiosity in her little mind. Curiosity is crucial in learning. Inquiry and questions trigger an opened mind for breeding new ideas. Curiosity also allows meaningful engagement of a learning process.

The process and outcome of our baking lesson are both rewarding. We get to enjoy some of these muffins for afternoon tea. The rest were kept as breakfast for the next day. And I bet, these muffins would probably be the most tasty muffins to her. Because these muffins were baked by her with the guidance from her mom. It must be her most memorable first baking experience, as well as her great one-to-one bonding moment with mommy!

Parents, never assume your child will automatically know how to crack an egg; never assume your child will learn the skill of cracking an egg from school. Education has to begin right from home since the birth of your child. I leave with you this quotes of Winston Churchill for your reflection.

"Schools have not necessarily much to do with education… they are mainly institutions of control where certain basic habits must be inculcated in the young. Education is quite different and has little place in school.” – Winston Churchill