Special Notice: This combines the EDTC 300 post and Learning Project because I applied AI to my cooking and classroom responses.
Pizza is a favourite food of many individuals, from children to young adults to seniors, for its combination of toppings and flavours. What was your first exposure to pizza? For me, it involved the tussle between Saskatchewan Bar Pizza and a local Greek restaurant. I would always have/order either a cheese or pepperoni pizza and eat two slices with my family as a classic, reliable meal on a Friday. Meanwhile, I would watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles salivate in pop culture for their weird pizza toppings like Chocolate Fudge and Extra Garlic Pizza. I will pass and just stick to the originals, hahaha! Then, my love of pizza-like creations would not fade in the summer with a bush pie cooked around a campfire at the lake. If you have not had them, they are two-breaded pizza sandwiches to die for, and I would kill for one right now! In this segment of Kade’s Kitchen, I will explore an Artificial Intelligence take on the famous pizza pie through ChefBot GPT and later educationally with Magic School AI.
The history of Pizza starts with the consumption of flatbread in ancient civilizations. Fast-forward to the city of Naples in modern-day Italy. It was a food of the working class, who needed a quick meal customarily described as a flatbread with toppings like cheese, tomatoes, garlic, anchovies, and oil. Margarita pizza is a story of royal tastebuds and unification, with Queen Margarita loving an Italian flag-inspired topping of mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes in 1889. Immigrants from Naples brought it over to New York, and the broad North American cuisine world loved it from the slice shops or pizzerias. So, during World War Two, American Allies introduced Pizza to the rest of Italy and Europe, unlike yesterday’s flatbread! Becoming commercialized in fast food with Pizza Hut and other competitors. I hope you enjoyed and learned something in the last food fun-fact section of my learning project blog post!
My inspiration for AI cooking comes from online food videos, which show how AI can genuinely beat human-created recipes. Also, this blog post using AI for beading by Briana Leibel was inspirational, as was how I thought during this experience. It challenges the chef or person to compete against technology in a domain that bots can search in a wim. Here are a few examples that you should watch for fun:
ChefBot GPT is a unique source of learning how to cook because it does not have the soul or drive that human recipe blogs create on the Internet. It is all up to the prompt engineering of the user and the ways they ask the question. I asked the bot if they could provide me with the best homemade pizza dough and sauce. I would use it again if I were in a pickle for a recipe or needed specific tips in the kitchen because that adds to the reliance on this technology.
Here are the Ingredients and tips it gave me for each recipe lifted from the AI Chef. It also came with instructions, but I will write out my steps and reactions during the cooking process:
Homemade Pizza Dough
Ingredients (makes two 12-inch pizzas):
- 3 ¾ cups (450g) all-purpose flour (or bread flour for a chewier crust)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 packet (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 1 ¼ cups (300ml) warm water (110°F/45°C)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Homemade Pizza Sauce
Ingredients (makes enough for 2 pizzas):
- 1 can (14 oz) crushed tomatoes or whole San Marzano tomatoes, blended
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, for balance)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil (or 2 teaspoons fresh, chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional, for heat)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Tips for Assembling and Baking
- Preheat Oven: Heat your oven to 475°F (245°C) for at least 30 minutes. Place a pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet inside to heat as well.
- Shape the Dough: Roll or stretch the dough into a 12-inch circle on parchment paper or a floured surface.
- Assemble: Spread a thin layer of sauce, leaving a ½-inch border for the crust. Add your favorite toppings and cheese.
- Bake: Transfer the pizza to the hot stone or baking sheet using the parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling.
- Finish: Let the pizza cool slightly before slicing.
Enjoy your homemade masterpiece! Let me know if you want topping ideas or additional tips.
I started by focusing on the dough because I tried a method different from the one I used with the buns. I used the traditional hand method of activating the yeast for ten minutes in a small bowl with warm water and sugar. Next, I got a large mixing bowl and added the activated yeast and olive oil to some salt and flour, stirring until it had an uneven-lumpy dough texture. Kneading the dough is a fun process with the white powdery flour surface, and I handled it appropriately by adhering to the nine-minute time frame the bot told me to do! Now, you roll the dough into a ball shape and put it into an olive oil-covered bowl. Remember to toss a damp dish towel over the bowl and put it in a warm place for two hours or until doubled in size.
In the meantime, prepare the pizza sauce around thirty minutes before the dough can be divided into two equal portions. Turing on the stove, you love the olive oil and put it into a pan to cook up some minced garlic for 30 seconds. Depending on the tomatoes, blend them into a nice juicy mixture. Add the tomato juice mixture with the oregano, basil, and sugar to the same pan as the garlic. In there, constantly stir well and get it to a delicate low simmer for twenty to thirty minutes. Don’t forget that taste is the number one priority in the kitchen, and you may choose to add the good old Salt and Pepper. Cool the pizza sauce for ten-ish minutes off the burners of the stove!
Let’s focus back on the dough by dividing it into two equal balls and providing them with more beauty sleep (covered) for fifteen to twenty minutes. Next, I grated my mozzarella cheese, got the deli meat from my fridge, and heated the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. The toppings on my pizza were pepperoni, honey ham, mushroom, and pineapple. Now, I rolled the dough and followed the tips on how to assemble it. The pizza cooked in my oven for twelve to fifteen minutes and was scrumptious because it was better than the fast food equivalents. I ended my time in Kade’s Kitchen, surrounded by my family, waiting for a pizza feast. Boy, did they enjoy the progress that I’ve made this term for cooking and baking!
Pivoting over to Magic School AI, I was curious about its approach as a teacher managing assistant because I wanted to see how the technology would make the job easier. It has so many tools, which can lead to doubt from the user since the version used is free. Depending on the individual and how much information is in the lessons, they might disagree with the platform. This adds creativity to education and teaching practices because you should try to make it your own! Sidenote: I will not cheat with AI for future assignments when making these plans; this is only an example of what someone can do.
I started by putting the homemade pizza dough and sauce recipes into the lesson plan feature and directing it towards focusing on the Saskatchewan curriculum at a grade-eight level. What it gave me is well described and more directed at teachers with field experience rather than student teachers. The object and assignment are straightforward because they do not leave the teacher asking more about making pizza. Meanwhile, the key points are almost second nature to a food class, delving into techniques, measuring skills, safety, hygiene, and why ingredients are used. I enjoyed the opening with hooks and a short video to get student’s understanding of learning. However, I think it should be taken as a guide because most of it will take more than a class period. So, maybe plan the lesson for two days or use a quick-rising dough without yeast to solve these problems. Also, the guided practice and “independent” practice are funny because they could have occurred earlier in the lesson due to time management practices. Lastly, the reflection practice is a nice touch compared to the typical test or writing assignment, which is why the homework section might be unrealistic.
Next, I will briefly discuss some of the other tools. First, I generated an email, which was simple due to other AIs existing with the same rewriters, but there is an episode of Abbott Elementary precisely like this. The only thing to add is that the email tool is efficient and could get you in trouble with parents/guardians or admin. Second, the same can be true involving report card comments due to how long they take to make them. However, it is better than a generic comment with no substance or thoughts for students. Third, the assignment generator seems kind of lazy and can’t choose what kind of assessment is on the document without much understanding of the topic. If I wanted a quiz, I would have asked for one on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms!
Magic School tries to generate Student IEPs successfully for personalized learning, and you can incorporate inclusive needs and other considerations into the system. It has goals that the student has to achieve in the face of challenges in how they perform in the class. As someone with a disability, I enjoyed mentioning accommodations and modifications that make life easier for the learner! As I am not in or trained in the special education program, this provides uncertain approaches that are not in my current wheelhouse. In terms of different learning styles/critical thinking and creativity, they have a variety of tools, including Multiple Explanations to seek a clear understanding of concepts, making a topic relevant to specific learners (the same approach can be used for the self-explanatory Real World Connections), visual social stories (podcasts or videos), and Assignment Scaffolder provides step by step instructions via support in large pieces of work.
The ethical problem with AI, ChefBot GPT, and Magic School is knowing how to correctly use it for learning without hampering the educational experience. If these tools can make life easier in the long run, teachers and students must use critical thinking or creativity instead of copying or pasting these figurative cheat codes. It comes back to digital identity and the online responsibilities that we have every day because, without it, Artificial Intelligence can produce a generation without guidance or morals in the face of justice. How do we become warriors of the future in education?
I think it is an acceptance that technology is ever evolving like we are because I remember my high school ELA teacher’s reaction to AI. He said it was terrible and changed the world forever, but my acceptance came in building upon it in the kitchen since you can still showcase a growth mindset with it. Benefiting from unique forms of learning that engage students who might otherwise fail in a school environment and pick up the forgotten pieces from the teacher’s past equals revolutionary guidance. We all must view it as a helper and the key to supporting future growth in our educational society!
I hope you enjoyed my pizza-loving post and determination to learn through our future in AI! Thanks for all of the supportive comments during finals. Till next time, smile through the darkness and hunger since your stomach tells you to make it to supper!
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