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Phenomenom

A free digital food education program for primary schools designed to change the conversation around vegetables for kids

Phenomenom brings together the latest research in societal trends, student engagement and positive psychology to make fresh food (especially veg!) an exciting part of every classroom. Rather than teaching food in isolation, these 25 live-action-plus-animation webisodes provide an engaging spring-board to curriculum-aligned resources designed to integrate across key learning areas for gr. 3-6.

Victoria Australia
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Overview

HundrED has selected this innovation to

Victoria, Australia

Web presence

2018

Established

-

Children

1

Countries
Updated
January 2018
A lot of the language around food education can feel worthy at best, and didactic at worst, teaching kids *what* to think about food, rather than how to think about it,” Zaslavsky explains. “Our format means that the audience is learning through kids their own age on the screen - vicariously absorbing better attitudes to food and to school!

About the innovation

Less than 1% of Aussie kids are hitting their RDI of vegetables

Building on a decade of experience across food media and pedagogy, food educator, television host, and best-selling children’s book author Alice Zaslavsky, reckons she’s found it. Zaslavsky plans to enlist the help of fellow Australian teachers to get the message out there, by arming them with a fully curriculum-aligned food education resource and digital series that can be integrated into their existing lessons across English, STEM, the arts and the humanities.

Set in a classroom of ‘the very near future’, Alice is joined by a class of Super Natural Learners. “The best thing that we did was cast curious, sparky kids,” Alice explains. “Then let them be themselves and learn and follow them around with cameras. Even if they started at a point where they hated all vegetables (and honestly, some did) by the end, they were tasting ingredients and smelling and touching - a significant step forward. That was so heartwarming for me, because the whole point is to affect as many kids as possible. We've already done that with at least seven.”

So how does Phenomenom differ? Well, it zooms light-years away from the typical worthy health message and focuses on the fact that vegetables are, objectively, pretty darn amazing. Every sprout has a story that binds soil and seeds. The key is in creating situations for kids to discover the wonder for themselves, whether that be doing pushups with an olympian, or exploring space with a real  astronaut, or learning to garnish with a MasterChef Judge.

This sort of experiential, student-led learning is carried over into free integrated teaching resources for grades 3-6, aligned to specific Learning Outcomes on the Australian Curriculum. Hands-on, entertaining lessons and activities will encourage further inquiry and deeper retention of information through a multi-sensory approach. 


Impact & scalability

Implementation steps

For Teachers
Webisodes are designed to be mashable and integrate into your lessons the way that you choose. Show one at the start of a lesson to get kids thinking, screen an episode after an activity is done to reinforce learnings, or set a "choose your own adventure" deep dive of episodes for students to explore and enjoy at home. 

Resources are searchable via curriculum codes and topics. Lessons are designed to be experiential and hands-on, so might include a recipe, a taste-smell-discuss or experiment of some kind. Kitchen facilities are not a requirement, to ensure that as many schools can participate as possible. 

For Students
Although these 25 Webisodes are designed for ease of use in the classroom, they're also entirely watchable and engaging for home, too.

Hop onto the interactive website and introduce yourself, then interact with the  Super Naturals, Alice and Tuberman as you explore the segments optimised to your interests. 

How To Guide: Phenomenon

An Overall How-To Guide By HundrED Spotlight on Victoria

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