Recipient Organization
IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
2229 Lincoln Way
AMES,IA 50011
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Minimal food safety resources are available for 4-H youth in an appropriate context acceptable for their grade level. There is a need to design curriculum-appropriate background knowledge to help the youth with the risks associated with various exhibits and challenges. Through lectures and interactive activities, this project seeks to change the knowledge and mindset among 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida on food science and safety practices regulations. The objectives of this project are:1. Develop a food science and safety practices curriculum with appropriate contexts for 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida.2. Evaluate the curriculum outcomes by conducting a survey assessment of 4-Hers' knowledge, attitude, and anticipated behavior after engaging with the curriculum.This proposed project seeks to build a sustainable curriculum for 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida in food science and safety. An advisory board will review all materials for food science and safety practices. We will perform assessments during implementation and at the conclusion to measure anticipated outcomes and probable impact. This project will result in a validated Food Science and Safety curriculum and resources. We want to build institutional and regional capacity and foster collaboration among units that support 4-H youth. Materials will be shared widely in the region and with the national partnering organizations.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
25%
Applied
50%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
Objective: This project is aligned with USDA strategic goals No. 5 and 6, which expand opportunities for economic development in rural communities and attract, inspire, and retain an engaged and motivated workforce to represent USDA. With these goals in mind, this project will build institutional capacity and foster collaboration among units from universities supporting 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida. Our long-term goal with the proposed project is to ensure the availability of sustainable educational resources on food science and safety practices. To achieve the long-term goal of this Collaboration Project, we have identified two supporting objectives: (1) Develop a food science and safety practices curriculum with appropriate contexts for 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida. (2) Evaluate the curriculum outcomes by conducting a survey assessment of 4-H youths' knowledge, attitude, and anticipated behavior after engaging with the curriculum.Institutional Goal: In this project, we will build a partnership between Iowa and Florida's 4-H Youth programs (25,26). Both programs have a rich history of providing research-based curricula to youth. This project will utilize food safety experts (Drs. Coleman & Simonne), STEM K-12 experts (Dr. Tank), as well as agriculture and evaluation specialists (Dr. Al-Mazroa Smith). The team hopes to use both programs' missions to demonstrate empowerment by providing youth with the knowledge and life skills needed to be productive and responsible citizens. Through our partnership with these programs, a self-sustainable program will educate future product developers, quality control specialists, and food and health inspectors in the food industry.
Project Methods
i. Plan of Operation and Methodology: The development of food science and safety instructional materials will follow recommendations from Clements (2007) Curriculum Research Framework, which suggests multiple phases for developing, studying, and evaluating a research-based curriculum. One of the goals of this framework is that curriculum development "must draw from existing research so that what is already known can be applied to the anticipated curriculum; structure and revise the nature and content of curricular components following models of children's thinking and learning in a domain; and conduct formative and summative evaluations in a series of progressively expanding social contexts" (Clements, 2007, p. 37). This framework will include three phases and provide a systematic approach to meeting the project outcomes related to developing and evaluating a food science and safety practices curriculum. Phase 1: A Priori Foundations: The first part of the Clements' (2007) Curriculum Research Framework includes identifying the content, needs, and pedagogical approaches best suited for our target audience. This information will then be used to inform the development of the curriculum in the next phase. Identification of Developmentally Appropriate Subject Matter: Currently, no food science and food safety curriculum materials are developed for use with students in 4-H youth programs. Part of this first development phase would include identifying subject-matter content that would be developmentally appropriate and necessary for developing students' understanding of the instructional materials. Drs. Coleman & Simonne would lead this effort as they are the project team's food science and food safety experts. Assessment of Needs: Another important task during Phase 1 would be implementing a two-part needs assessment. This will assist the team in identifying the needs of 4-H youth to ensure that the program aligns with those needs (28). The first part of the needs assessment is to identify the needs of the adult staff and volunteers. This stage will utilize a modified Delphi methodology (29). This method allows individuals to generate and evaluate suggestions regarding opportunities, problems, and planning strategies (30). The nomination process will be utilized to select participants to participate in the Delphi study. Two nominators that are experts in the 4-H program and food safety will nominate individuals that meet the criteria. The criteria will focus on county extension staff, 4-H staff, 4-H volunteers, and food science and safety experts. The individuals nominated for the study will undergo a modified Delphi process. Participants will be asked their opinions on the challenges that 4-H youth face when participating in the food and nutrition projects and what competencies should be included in a new 4-H food science and safety training. Through the three rounds of this process, participants will come to a consensus on their recommendations. The overall goal for part one of the needs assessment will be to create a structure for the educational program for individuals in the field. The second needs assessment will assess the general need of 4-H youth through an online/paper survey. Diehl, Pracht, Forthun, & Simonne (2010) identified 4-H youths' interests and preferred delivery methods. However, this study was completed over ten years ago across only one state. Due to the change in technology and working with 4-H youth in Iowa and Florida, an updated needs assessment will be completed to see if there are any changes to their interest areas or delivery method due to the technology change. The online/paper survey will focus on assessing 4-H youth interest areas, awareness of food safety principles, their current resources when completing a Food and Nutrition project, and their preferred level of knowledge. Phase 2: Curriculum Development: The second phase will be focused on the development of the curriculum. Based on the findings of the needs assessment surveys of volunteers and youth and the content identified by the subject matter experts, the team will develop the instructional materials. The project team will use educational research, current learning theory models, and pedagogical best practices to inform the types of learning activities that should be included in the initial version of the unit. Individual lessons that support the meaningful learning of these instructional outcomes, and provide the understanding necessary for developing and judging Food and Nutrition and 4-H Food Challenge related to food safety, will also be designed as part of this first iteration of the curricular materials. Following the development of these materials, the advisory board will review and provide feedback on the curricular materials. The team has received letters of support from advisory board members. Phase 3: Testing and Evaluation: The final phase of curriculum development will occur during year two and include pilot testing and evaluating the curricular materials with 4-H youth and small groups across Iowa and Florida. This pilot testing allows for the investigation of students' and facilitators' developing knowledge, experiences, and abilities during the implementation of the curricular unit (32). The initial pilot test will comprise a small pilot study facilitated by the project team in Iowa and Florida in an informal setting with small groups of 4-H students. These small groups will help gather feedback on student learning and experience with the curricular materials to identify any changes needed prior to the next round of pilot testing, where the 4-H staff will deliver the curricular activities. Following both rounds of pilot testing, a pilot evaluation will be completed for the trainers and the 4-H youth. The trainer evaluation will utilize a retrospective evaluation. This evaluation will measure their change of knowledge in food safety basics and their overall self-efficacy in teaching this topic to 4-H youth. In addition, a section will evaluate the overall delivery process and the support they received during the training. The second evaluation will focus on the 4-H youth. This will utilize a pre/post evaluation method to measure their overall change in knowledge of food safety principles and awareness about the importance of food safety in their 4-H projects. Based on the pilot testing and evaluation, both the curricular and the train-the-trainer materials will be improved. Ensuring the program and the training are compatible with the needs of 4-H youth and trainers will assist in the program's adoption rate (Rogers, 2003). Future Directions: The data collected during the pilot testing will inform revisions for broader implementation and formative assessment of the instructional unit. Several 4-H Youth volunteers will serve as facilitators across multiple 4-H settings. They will implement the same unit to get a more comprehensive view of how the curriculum unit is used and how the students engage and learn from it.