Abstract
The physics of food and cooking (PHY 2220) is a relatively new general education course offered in the physics and astronomy department at Appalachian State University and connects our food system to climate change. Requiring no prior physics knowledge and taught in a mainly conceptual fashion, it attracts students from diverse backgrounds to become agents of change for the climate change solution. This course content provides literacy of basic thermodynamics such as specific heat, modes of heat transfer and phase change using the approachable topic of cooking to which most students can easily relate. Once this basic literacy has been established, it can then be applied to the climate system, providing firm foundational knowledge of the climate crisis. Additionally, the evolution of this course has had farther-reaching impacts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this course had to be converted to an online course. Students purchased basic laboratory equipment and met on zoom, each from their kitchen as we cooked together and gathered data. This provided a community at a time when student communities were especially difficult to foster. Based on the success of this online transition, a new program has been initiated on our campus to help improve the cooking skills of a broader student population via zoom cooking classes. These voluntary classes target food-insecure students. Our hope is that this class can be scaled to other campuses to improve climate literacy and make students more resilient in their food knowledge, lessening food’s negative impact on our planet.
Presenters
Carla RamsdellPractitioner in Residence, Physics and Astronomy, Appalachian State University, North Carolina, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Technical, Political, and Social Responses
KEYWORDS
Physics, Greenhouse Gases, Students, College Course, Food Insecurity, Community, Resiliency
