Many adults in the U.S. have memories of selling chocolate bars as elementary school students to rai

Many adults in the U.S. have memories of selling chocolate bars as elementary school students to raise money for their school. How many of these fundraisers were an outgrowth of classroom curricula? The Chocolate Project offers an intensive four-week curriculum that uses chocolate as an entrypoint for students to consider how they can be stewards of the environment while building a sustainable economy. Since 2017, the Brooklyn Museum School Programs Department has partnered with The Chocolate Project and PS 119 to support fourth and fifth grade students in deepening their knowledge of the relationship between nature, art and economy. Students experiment with building environmentally sustainable businesses through responsible entrepreneurship with the production of their own chocolate bars.While chocolate is adored by many, the history of chocolate manufacturing has been controversial and in some cases, destructive and disruptive to the peoples and ecosystems where raw materials are produced. Our work with The Chocolate Project founders, Chris Coburn and Yuliya Ilizarov, as well as classroom teachers at PS 119 sought to reveal that history through art-centered discussions and investigation of environmental science so that students could study the past with a critical lens while envisioning new ways of working that protect people, places and culture. Students and teachers visited the museum multiple times, working closely with Teaching Artist, Midrene Lamy to study the history of cacao and sugar, by looking at works like Peter Beckford by Benjamin West and Man Carrying a Cacao Pod, as well as reflecting on how an environmentally conscious New York may look like through artmaking in the Museum’s studios. The result of students’ research has been the production of three distinctly flavored, and sustainably sourced, chocolate bars! Students gave their input throughout production of the bars, from design to marketing. The bars are wrapped in paper designed with artworks created by students in the classroom (sourced from Brooklyn-based Li-Lac Chocolates) with arts educator Hawley Hussey Having the opportunity to have project-centered exploration has had an incredible impact on students, teachers and our museum community. Not only will students will have an opportunity to sell their chocolate bars to family and friends, but anyone can come to the Brooklyn Museum and purchase the chocolate from our gift shop. This gives new meaning to the term, “shop local.” For every bar that is sold, 49% percent of the profits support the school’s art programs while the other 51% is put into programs that promote sustainable farming practices in the cacao country of origin. This allows the curriculum to come full circle so that the students’ role in the economy goes to  enhance the quality of life of cacao farmers, and sustain the environment that they rely on.Consider picking up some of these chocolate bars this winter, and be part of the sustainable economic model this project and the students are promoting. They’ll be available in the Brooklyn Museum shop, while supplies last.Posted by Stacey Kahn -- source link

More pics about