Teachers and school librarians know that giving students the freedom to choose what to read from a variety of materials is the most effective way to foster a love of reading. Curiosity, pre-existing interests, or even a desire for connection cause students to reach for books that inform instead of entertain. But a genre of books is often left out…

This Action Research study investigated adult (i.e., teachers and parents) use of picture books with children as tools to support the exploration of their individual cultures and ethnicities. Participants in Cycle 1 consisted of educators (i.e., teachers, administrators, and librarians). Data was collected through interviews, lesson plans, and…

Laboratory course activities often focus on "cookbook style," so their activities have not yet integrated with scientific thinking as an essential aspect. In this research, the laboratory experience of microbial analysis techniques was redesigned using alternative inquiry to involve students in isolating and characterising yeast to make…

Established healthy eating behaviours in childhood underpin the development of similar patterns into adulthood. School-based nutrition and cooking programs have been found to enhance nutrition and cooking knowledge and cooking self-efficacy. This scoping review examined the literature about the effectiveness of nutrition education programs…

Purpose: This study explored young males' suggestions for food skills education in three domains: food selection and planning, food preparation and food safety and storage. It also solicited young males' perspectives on mandatory food skills education. Design/methodology/approach: This descriptive qualitative study employed a semi-structured…

Critics have observed that modern culinary education still adheres to the traditions that emerged during the feudal era as well as the modernist values of power, hierarchy, reductionism, and dualist worldviews. More recently, a critical postmodern view of modern culinary education and the corresponding culinary industry reveals the industry is…

While scientists place high value on the scientific method, its relevance to everyday life is often opaque to nonscientists. In undergraduate teaching, its implementation is primarily apportioned to upper-level, laboratory science classes for majors. Herein we describe the modification of a recipe as a real-world project for learning the…

Baking a cake and programming have many attributes in common. Both baking and programming rely on a specific process to produce an expected outcome. A cake needs the right amount of each ingredient mixed in at the right time, the oven to be set at a specific temperature, and the cake to be baked for a specific length of time. Programs need to be…

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. This issue provides a recipe for writing great case studies.

Background: Childhood is a critical period for developing food-related skills and knowledge, known as food literacy (FL). Schools may be an important setting for interventions aiming to improve FL in children. This systematic scoping review aimed to characterize food literacy interventions in elementary schools. Methods: Databases (PubMed, Web of…

Scientific thinking can be applied to things we do at home. Effective results can be achieved in cooking or cleaning while also focusing on doing so with minimal waste of resources. This can also mean better economy. Choosing appropriate designs of equipment can make certain jobs easier. Three different topics are described to demonstrate these…

Mathematics is still viewed as a culture-free subject. This forms a negative perception for students on mathematics. Most students assume that mathematics and culture are not related. This may occur because mathematics taught in school is not contextual and far from the reality of everyday life. Historically, mathematics has become a part of daily…

Meaningful and enjoyable experiences are important in the education of children. In this qualitative case study, the garden program (incl. market garden shop, garden care, Kid's Kitchen, and chicken coop) in one Australian primary school was explored to determine its impact on the mathematical learning of children. Data were collected using focus…

Among the new educational tools and new ways of teaching/learning of the last 20 years, educational approaches based on constructivism are of great interest because they offer the possibility for students to build scientific concepts from experimental observations. Cooking is truly a universal topic--it can be considered a true multidisciplinary…

This article is an attempt to create new ways for students to appreciate the complexities and diversity of the Middle East's foodways and thus of their people and societies. It takes a broad view of the region that is historically inclusive, stretching from Morocco and al-Andalus (Spain) in the west to Iran in the east and from modern-day Turkey…