Welcome. In this course, you will learn about oats. Check out the instructor guide in the material tab.
Start with the Oats on the Farm section and learn how farmers plant, grow and harvest an oat crop. Then follow the oats from the farm to a mill to find out about different products made from oats. Finally, learn why oats are a healthy choice and cook along as we show you basic kitchen skills in the Oats in Your Kitchen section.
Course content & objectives
In this course, you will learn about oats. There are two sections:
Oats on the Farm – Learn how farmers plant, grow and harvest an oats crop. Then follow oats from the farm to a mill to find out about different products made from oats.
Oats in Your Kitchen – Learn why oats are a healthy choice and cook along as we show you some basic kitchen skills.
Course Delivery
Using the content on the Canadian Food Focus website, the material can be shared with students through a variety of methods, including:
- Lecture-style presentations by the instructor
- Student group presentations on each of the topic areas in the course
- Individual students selecting a specific topic to write about using information provided on the website and other resources
- Self-guided study with students completing quizzes at the end of each topic
- Team competitions at the end of each course to see which team gets the most quiz answers correct
Suggested Activities
- Invite a farmer to talk with your group about growing oats. Ask about the different varieties and how they choose the specific variety to grow. What is some of the field preparation that is involved in seeding? How do they look after the crop during the growing season? Ask the farmer to talk about harvesting oats, how they know when the crop is ready and what harvesting the crop involves. Where do they take their oats to sell them?
- Take a field trip to a grocery store to look for oat products on the store shelves. Where did you find steel cut oats, rolled oats, quick oats and oat bran? What are the different uses for each type? What sort of recipes are included on the packaging? What other food products in the grocery you can you find that contain oats? If you are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease, how do you know the oats in the product are gluten-free?
- Purchase the ingredients for “Double Date Oatmeal Cookies,” watch the video and prepare the cookies as a group. Discuss the types of oat products used in the recipe and why. What are the nutritional and health benefits of oats? Discuss which types of oats are the healthiest and why. Have participants look for other recipes using different types of oats.