Bi-monthly farm stands utilizing Harvest of the Month (HOTM) produce with cooking demonstrations and recipe tastings were made available to students, teachers, and the community at a low-income school in the western United States. A hedonic tasting chart was displayed at all farm stands, and participants were encouraged to rate the tastings.…

We aim to understand how to help young people recognize the value of science in their lives and take initiative to see the world in scientific ways. Our approach has been to design "life-relevant" science-learning programs that engage middle-school learners in science through pursuit of personally meaningful goals. In this paper, we…

The pedagogical practice of connecting mathematical content to real world contexts, particularly contexts relevant to students' knowledge and experiences, can positively impact student motivation as well as promote conceptual understanding. However, little is known about how middle school teachers actually make relevant world connections, and more…

The purpose of this research study was to determine how Community Based Instruction (CBI) affects the social skills of middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities. Community Based Instruction is instruction that takes place outside of the school campus and provides students with real life experiences that can help them become more…

In this article, we share an ethnographic case study of how we worked with a small group of marginalized grades 6, 7, and 8 students to both explore and create augmented reality (AR) to produce a class cookbook. We discuss how using AR helped students develop digital literacies skills and 21st century competencies, while at the same time,…

The purpose of this research study was to determine how Community Based Instruction (CBI) affects the social skills of middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities. Existing literature is limited in findings related to the influence of CBI on middle school students with moderate to severe disabilities. This qualitative study was…

This article describes a novel approach for introducing 4-H to non-traditional/diverse audiences using 4-H Food Challenge. Set in a low SES and minority-serving rural school, Food Challenge was presented during the school day to all 7th grade students, with almost half voluntarily participating in an after-school club component. Program design…

Self-operated video prompting and video modeling was compared when used by three secondary students with mild intellectual disabilities as they completed novel recipes during cooking activities. Alternating between video systems, students completed twelve recipes within their classroom kitchen. An alternating treatment design with a follow-up and…

Middle school students with intellectual disabilities often have difficulties achieving independence with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs); therefore, these skills must be taught in school. IADLs are a complex component of skills that require a higher level of cognitive reasoning such as community mobility, shopping, meal…

This study evaluated the effects of a computer-based instructional program to assist three students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities in using pictorial graphic organizers as aids for increasing comprehension of electronic text-based recipes. Student comprehension of recipes was measured by their ability to verbally retell recipe…

Fighting the childhood obesity problem at Mayfield Middle School is an ongoing campaign. As a family and consumer sciences (FCS) teacher, the author decided to go outside the box to teach students and their families how to cook healthy dishes, eat a balanced and nutritious diet, and exercise regularly. All students at Mayfield attend a 6-week…