The Hoorays and Oh man I wish I would have of Dairy Labs!

Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of this past week I conducted three labs in my vet science class.  We wrapped up the dairy unit in my vet science 1 class and what better way to do it then incorporating some labs into the mix of things!  Monday we conducted a cheese evaluation lab.  Wednesday we did flavor defects in milk and Thursday we made butter.  The response from the students was phenomenal and I was proud of the work I had done to successfully complete three labs.  However, there were many takeaways, notes written down and oh man I wish I would have done this differently! 

I will begin with the HOORAYS!

Student engagement was at an all-time high.  Students dug right into the “milk” of the material.  The hands on kinesthetic activities really cranked student engagement up at 7:40am.  Having lab worksheets for the students to use as they went through each lab activity really cut down on questions and uncertainty of what to do next.  Students communicated with their peers around them deciding which cheese was which, the flavor defect in the milk after tasting it, or just exactly what is that sweet spot for making butter. 

Now onto the OH MAN I WISH I WOULD HAVE!

During the cheese lab I wish I would have had a small activity for the students to do after they had gotten their 9 types of cheeses.  Something as simple as list as many cheeses you know describe them and then compare with a partner sitting next to you.  During this time as I was dismissing tables and making sure students were getting the proper amount of cheeses those students who had already gotten theirs had down time when they were not on task.  I also briefly spoke to the class about cheese making.  I wish I would have had a few slides about the process of making cheese and describing what curds and whey are.  During my milk flavor defect lab I wish I would have broken my PowerPoint up into two chunks.  I felt like I was losing student focus about ¾ of the way through the PowerPoint.  During our butter making lab I wish I would have allowed for enough time at the end for the students’ to wash their milk jugs.  I was stuck cleaning a few jars at the end of the period and wiping up tables. 

In closing labs are a great integration into classroom instruction.  However, they require a lot of planning and preparation.  My cheese lab would not have been nearly as successful had I not gotten the cheeses the day before and been fortunate enough to enter the school on Sunday.  Had I not been able to enter the school on Sunday I really don’t think that lab would have happened Monday morning at 7:30am.  Having everything created ahead of time lessens the amount of confusion and stress and allows for you to run through the lab yourself.