Cooking Perfect Cupcakes: Freeing Curricula Context Gives Student-Centred Pedagogy for Course on Experimental Design

Abstract

A new subject in postgraduate coursework at UNSW Australia at the Australian Defence Force Academy campus provided a curricula opportunity to allow students to do structured collaborative learning and to choose their own context for an investigative research. The student-centred investigation is necessary to reinforce formative knowledge of advanced optimi z ation and test techniques. The course developer knew from his own educational research [ 1 ] that such pedagogy should be inherently inclusive of diverse abilities, interests, learning styles, cultures, prior studies and genders; however, the positive effect on this inaugural course was well beyond the expectations of both the teachers and learners. This paper presents the research of just one of the 15 students to exemplify the inclusiveness of such pedagogy in tertiary curriculum development, in this case for gender-inclusion, however other students benefitted who had less ability for such tertiary concepts, and in one student’s case the pedagogy helped overcome significant cultural barriers. The context chosen by the showcased student’s work was to optimi z e the baking of cupcakes. Ever wondered how to bake the perfect cupcake? Ever wondered if the recipe you are following is actually correct? How did they come up with the temperature and time for cooking? Her normal work is in highly classified and compartmentali z ed electronic warfare and so she opted instead for a topic that could be shared with her military colleagues and the public; itself an inclusive and possibly reciprocating gesture. Many people who ordinarily do not associate with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, either through gender, academic ability or culture, can relate to trying to perfect baking of a recipe such as cupcakes. As such, this case study offers a timely and interesting reminder of the inclusive benefits of student-centred context in curricula development, particularly for STEM subjects, reinforcing previous research from the literature reviewed.