Chocolate - Educators' Resources

Use the enticing subject of chocolate to teach your class about the intriguing relationship between nature and culture.

Cocoa Connections: From Beans to Bars - A Resource Kit for Educators contains 12 lessons—six lessons on chocolate and the environment and six lessons on chocolate and culture—that will increase your students’ understanding of the connections between humans and their environment. Each lesson outlines learning objectives, a list of materials needed, and instructional activities. The full curriculum also includes extension activities, an overview of the Chocolate exhibition, a suggested reading and film list, and classroom-friendly recipes.

Student activity sheets for each unit are provided in both English and Spanish. A hard copy of the curriculum is also available when you borrow The Story of Chocolate exhibit case from Harris Loan center. For more information on this case, download the Resources for Educators section listed below or call 312.665.7555 to speak with the registrar.

Using chocolate as a framework, students can:

	discover the botanical source of chocolate, Theobroma cacao, a small tree of the tropical rainforest interior;
	explore the ecological connections between people, plants, insects, and other animals within the tree’s habitat;
	investigate cultural interactions and conservation concerns resulting from the cultivation, processing, exchange, and consumption of cacao and other foods; and
	recognize the changing economic and cultural roles of cacao and chocolate in local and global economies over time.

To Download* and print the Coaoa Connections: From Beans to Bars - A Resource Kit for Educators Curriculum you will need will need Acrobat Reader

Download Introduction:

Overview, Table of Contents, Exhibition Overview and Chocolate Introduction

Download Chocolate and its Environment lessons:

	Reference Material (832K)
	Lesson 1: Where does the story of chocolate begin? (864K)
	Lesson 2: What is the anatomy of a cacao tree and how is it cultivated?
	Lesson 3: What other natural products are connected to chocolate?
	Lesson 4: What are the connections within the cacao ecosystem and how are they being threatened?
	Lesson 5: How is cacao harvested and fermented? (960K)
	Lesson 6: How does cacao change over time?
	National Reading Standards
	National Mathmatics Standards

Download Chocolate and Culture lessons:

	Reference Material (3MB)
	Lesson 1: Who grows cacao and how does it affect their lives?
	Lesson 2: How did the Maya and Aztec use chocolate?
	Lesson 3: How did the Europeans use and influence the development of chocolate?
	Lesson 4: How did the technological advances of the past century affect the use and future of chocolate?
	Lesson 5: How is chocolate manufactured?
	Lesson 6: How has chocolate changed through the ages?
	National Reading Standards
	National Mathematics Standards

Download Resource Materials:

	History Highlights
	Fascinating Facts
	Chocolate Quotations
	Chocolate Recipes
	Glossary
	Resources for Educators
	Book List
	Periodical/Journal List and Website List
	Film List

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