Journal of Food Science Education最新文献

Consumer confidence and trust, as it relates to the food system, is one of the most sensitive areas within consumers’ understanding of food. Surveys have shown that a large majority of people would like to learn more about agriculture and food manufacturing, with young people being among those most eager for more information about where their food comes from. Food-focused educational resources often go unused due to teachers’ lack of familiarity with the subject area, the pressures of standardized testing, and lack of alignment to state content standards. Building on the success of the Hands On Classrooms platform that developed and validated curricula with high adoption rates by teachers and a demonstrated impact on student knowledge and self-efficacy, a new curriculum on food system and food processing was developed and pilot tested. Two teachers from rural Virginia and Tennessee participated in the study. Both teachers received online professional development prior to implementation. Students were given pretests and posttests to measure (a) what impact does the curriculum have on students’ knowledge of food systems and processing and (b) to what extent does the curriculum have an impact on student's self-reported skills related to these topics? A total of 87 students completed the assessments and showed significant improvements from pretest to posttest on both knowledge (p < .001) and skills (p < .001) related specifically to where food comes from and how it is processed, content that is typically not covered in middle school curriculum. Further research can be undertaken to measure the impact on others in different geographic and socioeconomic areas to provide additional data to validate the program.

It is fundamental that students are able to identity where they have developed specific professional competencies during their study. This ensures students can not only articulate their competencies well in job applications and assessments but also draw on their experiences for use in the workplace. The aim of study was to ascertain if desirability of an element or competency as indicated by employers, was reflected in an equivalent level of program content, appropriately perceived by the student. A case study approach mapped elements of the previously developed Competencies for Food Graduate Careers framework against food sciences curricula at University of Nottingham. The mapping process facilitated evaluation of appropriate levels of inclusion of each element in degree programs, by recording types of content and experiences provided, in collaboration with teaching staff. Perspectives of the student experience were captured using an online survey. In addition, guidance from a prior industry survey provided context of the level of desirability for each element across the range of graduate roles in the United Kingdom. The results showed some areas of mismatch, where curricular content did not align with employer expectations or student perceptions. This has informed review of this curriculum, to best reflect “competency development” to meet the needs of the food industry. Recommendations were made to address gaps through enhancement of content, delivery, communication, or assessment. Additionally, the exercise has suggested a more informed development of curricula categorization and coding for future similar mapping activities.

Researchers have identified three approaches to learning—surface, strategic, and deep. These approaches are influenced by various contextual and student factors, including teaching methods, assessments, and relevance to future career. The global objective of this study was to explore the influence of course elements and students’ emotional connection to section content on students’ approaches to learning in an introductory Food Science and Human Nutrition course. Students completed two questionnaires for the Nutrition and Health (NH) and Composition and Chemistry (CC) course sections: (a) Entwistle's ASSIST Inventory and (b) a questionnaire developed to assess students’ perceived usefulness of assignments, learning resources, and emotional connection to section content. Students’ approaches to learning did not significantly differ between NH and CC sections, with the majority reporting use of strategic or deep approaches. Generally, positive correlations were obtained for learners who used the deep and strategic approaches and their perceived usefulness of assignments and learning resources. In stark contrast, negative correlations were identified for learners who used the surface approach and their perceived usefulness of learning resources and assignments. Regarding emotional connection to section content, compared to learners who used the deep and strategic approaches, learners who used the surface approach did not enjoy and felt anxious about learning the content in both sections. Furthermore, based on regression analysis, the surface learning approach was a predictor for low exam scores in both sections. Based on these findings, instructors should implement practices in course design, instructional methods, and assessment strategies that help students choose deep and strategic approaches to learning, while minimizing surface approaches.

A traditional classroom usually focuses on concepts from a specific discipline. However, solving complex real-world problems requires integration and application of knowledge from various fields. Here, we describe a 4-hr undergraduate-level laboratory exercise that utilizes concepts of extraction and biological property, bridging between chemistry and microbiology courses. In the first half of this exercise, students performed hydrodistillation to extract essential oil from a locally available herb, lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus, Stapf). In the second half, students investigated the potential antimicrobial activity of the extracted oil against various microorganisms using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method. Students also developed their own experimental questions based on the extracted oil and the antimicrobial testing technique. Self-assessment questionnaire shows students’ appreciation of the experiments and substantial learning gains in the extraction process, properties of the extracts, and antimicrobial activity testing. This laboratory exercise prompts students to formulate their own experimental questions and engages students in interdisciplinary experimentation.

South African societal stakeholders are in general not satisfied with the work preparedness of newly graduated food science and technology students. There is currently little local literature available that defines the graduate capabilities required of newly graduated food scientists and technologists in South Africa. Therefore, the outcomes of an empirical analysis conducted through stakeholder engagement to identify the required graduate capabilities of newly graduated students in food science and technology are reported in this article. A self-developed questionnaire, administered as a web-based survey, was used to conduct a needs analysis to identify the required graduate capabilities. The results of this study showed that the identified graduate capabilities composed of generic graduate attributes, including the related employability skills and characteristics of graduateness, the desirable personal attributes, and the foundational food science and technology knowledge, skills, and competencies required to be an effective food science and/or technology graduate that meets the expectations of stakeholders within the South African context. Comparison with the minimum educational requirements of international food science and technology organizations, including the Institute of Food Technologists 2018 “Standards and Essential Learning Outcomes,” showed considerable overlap with the required graduate capabilities identified in this study. However, it was also shown that within the South African context some additional skills and competencies in food science and technology are required from South African graduates and that existing curricula must be aligned to fully prepare students to be workplace ready.

In higher education, there are calls to incorporate active learning experiences that place the student at the center of learning, rather than encouraging students to be passive listeners. For students to have a deeper and more meaningful learning experience, educators can use an active learning approach. This approach attempts to engage students at higher levels of thinking so that they are more interested in, better engaged with, and understand the course material better. The aim of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions of Plickers and crossword puzzles as low-cost pedagogical tools to foster active learning in an undergraduate course in food science and technology. A mixed-method survey consisting of a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended qualitative questions was administered via Blackboard to elicit student responses. A total of 121 students were enrolled for the course and 70.2% (n = 85) completed the survey. Plickers were found to be easy to use (mean = 4.66), provided opportunities to answer to formative questions anonymously (mean = 4.60), and helped increase participation in class (mean 4.05). The majority of students felt that crossword puzzles required them to think critically (mean = 4.53) and provided them with the opportunity to assess how well they understood the course content (mean = 4.45). Moreover, a statistically positive relationship was found between student collaborative learning and crossword puzzle implementation scores (r = .506, p < .01). The findings demonstrated that when implemented effectively, Plickers and crossword puzzles contributed to greater enhanced student engagement. These pedagogical tools can be applied as formative assessment instruments and offer a low-cost alternative to the limitations encapsulated by didactic pedagogy.

No matter the level of the course (undergraduate or graduate), the size of the course (small or large), or the nature of the course (general education or an advance topic course), I am a huge fan of encouraging the students I teach to form study groups (real, effective study groups that is, not social gatherings disguised as study groups). These study groups are not meant to take the place of time studying alone, but rather to augment and strengthen the learning process. The literature is clear that study groups are a very effective strategy for helping students learn more deeply1 (for example, Sawyer & Berson, 2004). I readily share with my students that study groups are a great forum for them to talk about the material2, ask each other questions, and provide each other feedback. Study groups also help cut down on procrastination and can be a source of energy, motivation, and accountability (Florida National University, 2019; Oxford Learning, 2018).

I have always hoped that my encouragement to form study groups would influence my students to turn to their neighbor and say “Hey, you want to form a study group?”. The student being asked would, in turn, respond “Sure, sounds great to me”, and just like that a study group nucleus would form. Okay, I know that was a bit of wishful thinking, but I did think that students would form study groups with other students in the course and by being in the study group, become friends with one another. It turns out, according to recent research3 by Stadtfeld, Voros, Elmer, Boda, and Raabe (2019), that isn't really the way it works.

Though difficult to measure and quantify, Stadtfeld et al. (2019) set out to study how the dynamic social networks that informally develop between students can affect their academic performance. The researchers closely followed a cohort of engineering undergraduate students at a competitive Swiss university (ETH Zürich) over the course of their first year. The overall objectives of the study were to better understand: 1) how multiple social networks emerge within the student community and 2) how much integration in these networks explains students’ success in the final examination.

To capture the dynamic nature of developing social networks, the researchers conducted multiple surveys distributed over the academic year (from the first week of the first semester to right after the first-year examination period4 at the end of the second semester), measuring three dimensions of student relations: positive interaction, friendship, and studying together. In addition, the researchers collected self-reported measures of socioeconomic background (gender, age, first language, parental education, and support ties outside the university), abilities and motivation (high-school grade point average, study motivation, and time spent on studying), psychological well-being (stress, depression, and anxiety), and d