Cooking Up Science

About the Teacher

Mr. Calderon is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelors degree in Psychology (Pre-Med) and a Masters degree in counseling from St. Edwards University. He has been a middle school teacher for Pflugerville I.S.D. at Westview Middle School for 7 years. He has taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade math and science. He has also been a cheerleading coach and a boys soccer coach for at Westview for 4 years. The Westview Middle School Cheerleading team achieved a National Championship in 2010 and a Regional Championship in 2012. The boys soccer team also recently won the district championship for P.I.S.D. in May of 2012. Mr. Calderon is also a GED instructor for Austin Community College where he has personally achieved over 120 graduates from program. Mr. Calderon’s philosophy in teaching and coaching is to create a positive, comfortable environment where students have the ability to learn and excel. He is an avid chess player and always enjoys a quick game to keep his students engaged. During his off time, Mr. Calderon enjoys spending time with his daughters (Victoria -15 and Isabella-7) bike riding, swimming and golfing. As an ongoing project of 6 years, Mr. Calderon has volunteered time to collect blankets and clothing for Austin’s homeless as well as donations for the Boys Scouts Club #2 in his home town of Chihuahua, Mexico. He is excited to join this wonderful organization and looks forward to spending time this summer with his new students.

A note from the teacher & some of the things the campers learned while in camp

Objective– To familiarize campers with the metric and standard systems of measurement. This will be done by a lecture showing the differences along with a hands on activity in which the students will learn to use a pipette and appropriate glassware to measure certain quantities of liquid. Young People will also learn lab safety by taking a tour of the school to identify safety equipment. Campers will then use this knowledge to observe different types of food and to create food on their own by cooking up science.

Day 1– Campers began their exciting week with learning about the glasswear involved in measuring as well as the different states of matter(solid, liquid and gas). Campers then began experimenting with water and different food coloring. Campers obviously tasted their different concoctions to see the difference that color gives. Most were disappointed to find out that green water doesn’t always taste like lime 🙁

Day 2– Campers began Tuesday with a lesson over the effect of heat upon solids. Every Camper had an opportunity to make an egg and to see it change from a liquid to a solid. Students then added some food coloring and cooked some ham to have the Dr. Seuss breakfast of choice. Green eggs and ham!!! Students also experimented with different tasting powders to see what the effect of adding water had.

Day 3– This day, we moved on to the big leagues an began actually baking with a full size oven. Campers read the directions and made batter for a cake which they then made into cupcakes. Campers had to monitor cooking time, ingredient amounts as well as temperature of the oven. Watch out moms, here come the scientific cooks!

Day 4-Campers used a small oven on Thursday to make cookies. The first batch was, a bit like charcoal, but part of experimenting is making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. Therefore, we went back to the mix, checked cooking temperatures as well as time and we were able to make some yummy cookies for all.

Day 5– On the last day of camp, we brought all our new found knowledge and Campers used carbonated water to make their own sodas. Students used beakers, pipettes, flasks and the oven to make an entire meal. Campers also learned how to make popcorn from scratch. Students put it all together throughout the day and they made meals for the entire school. Congratulation campers on a job well done!

Click here to download the 2013 YPW Camps Catalog