Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences: During Year 4, the program primarily served teachers and middle school students providing materials and trainings for classrooms in AL, GA, IN, KY, NC, OR, PA, SC, TN, and VA. Additionally, 4H agents and club members were included during the needs assessment when planning the curricular adaptation of the Hands On lessons and review process. Efforts: The core of this project is a formal curriculum designed to be taught in middle school classrooms as part of the regular instruction in math, science, social studies, and language arts classes. This curriculum helps teachers prepare their students to be successful on learning competencies tested on end-of-year state assessments. The curriculum includes several hands-on laboratory exercises taught in the science component of the curriculum. The curriculum provides a model of "best practices" for adolescent learners through interdisciplinary instruction and research-based teaching strategies. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training workshops for teachers who use Hands On have been delivered across all project years in TN, NC, SC, KY, AL, PA, and VA. Professional Development completed by project staff for Year 4 includes: Consumer Food Safety Education Conference, December 4-5, 2014, Arlington, VA GMA Science Forum April 12-15, 2015, National Harbor, MD IFT Food Communicators Workshop April 16, 2015, Chicago, IL IFT Volunteer Section Poster Session July 1, 2015, Knoxville, TN Penn State FCS Professional Development, July 7-8, 2015, State College, PA IFT15, July 12-15, Chicago, IL How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of this project have been disseminated widely through a variety of venues: 1) Poster and concurrent sessions at international conferences (Institute of Food Technologists), national conferences (Association of Middle Level Educators; National Science Teachers Association); Regional Conferences (NSTA Regionals); and state conferences (Tennessee Association of Middle Schools; South Carolina Science Council, North Carolina Middle Level Educators, etc). 2) Website (handsonclassrooms.org) and Social Media (Facebook; Twitter; YouTube. 3) National 4-H Council Curriculum Mall; 4) Tennessee 4-H newsletter. 5) Journal publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Establish fidelity of implementation ranges that maximize student learning outcomes in food safety education. Year 1 of the project was spent developing and testing the measures, establishing strong content validity and interrater reliability, thus completing task 1 of the research objective and collecting data needed to complete tasks 2 and 3. Year 2 of the project was spent collecting observational data from the classrooms of 15 teachers in 4 schools using the FOI instruments developed and validated in year one. Preliminary data analysis, which classified each lesson into specific items for structural-procedural, structural-educative, instructional-pedagogical, and instructional-student engagement components, provides indications of which categories are more highly related to student outcomes. Year 3 of the project was spent collecting observational data from the classrooms of 8 teachers in 2 schools using the same FOI instruments and began to perform the formal data analysis. In Year 4 we worked with a new statistician to assist in analyzing the data, identify acceptable and unacceptable modifications to the curricula (based on FOI data), and examine the impact of teachers' fidelity scores on student learning outcomes. There are significant differences in student learning outcomes based on teachers' fidelity scores. Additional data analysis will be conducted as part of a graduate student project to further quantify these differences and identify the relationship between acceptable/unacceptable modifications and student learning outcomes. Objective 2: Expand the reach and impact of the Hands On program to provide quality food safety education to adolescent students. In Year 4 of the project, this project provided curriculum and materials to 30 schools, which included 143 teachers, 6,186 students in 10 different states. Additionally, 4 of those teachers at 4 schools were trained to use the Hands On curriculum using the same teacher professional development model designed and validated in a previous NIFSI proposal (TEN02005-02098). The Hands On research group was awarded a USDA SPECA proposal to build strategic partnerships with the Partnership for Food Safety Education, Ag in the Classroom, New Mexico State University's Learning Games Lab, and the Association of Middle Level Educators. These partnerships will help ensure sustainability of Hands On and its' continued growth. Additionally, a significantly strengthened partnership with the Grocery Manufacturers Associations' Science and Education Foundation (SEF) was established. The SEF contributed $38,500 in Year 4 of the project and has pledged continued support for 2016. Additionally, the SEF has provided logistical support in the development of a business plan to seek the funding necessary to expand Hands On to all 50 states by 2025 and to 25 countries by 2050. This mission, 50/25:25/50, would be achieved through industry partner funding. Objective 3: Strategically adapt the Hands On curriculum design to serve as a food safety education resource for a variety of 4-H programs. In Year 3 of the project, the Hands On lessons was then reorganized into 10 unique lessons designed to stand-alone or to be completed as an entire unit. All adaptations were informed by the needs assessment reflecting the opinions of current 4-H executives, agents, and students. The lessons include a presentation on foodborne illnesses, hands on laboratory on bacterial cell growth, understanding cell growth, and an edible cell arrangement as well as handouts for the students to further comprehend the lesson plans. Examples and activities were modified to increase relevance and use in the 4-H organization. These lessons were field tested, revised, and finalized during Year 3 of the project. During Year 4 of the project the curriculum received approval by the National 4-H Council and has been used by 3 clubs in addition to 2 academic conferences.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Richards, Albin, & Beavers (2015). Hands On: Real World Lessons for Middle School Classrooms - 4-H. www.handsonclassrooms.org.
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Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: During Year 3, the program primarily served teachers and middle school students providing materials and trainings for classrooms in AL, GA, KY, NC, PA, SC and TN, Alcorn Middle School in Columbia, SC, Avery Trace Middle School in Cookeville, TN, John Sevier and Robinson Middle School in Kingsport TN and Rogersville City School in Rogersville, TN. John Sevier and Robinson Middle school supported our research efforts by allowing access to their students and teachers to collect project data during the Hands On implementation. Additionally, 4H agents and club members were included during the needs assessment when planning the curricular adaptation of the Hands On lessons and review process. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Project staff attended the IFT annual conference. Training offered to others by project staff include: Teacher professional development workshops for Alcorn Middle School, Ag in the Classroom (TN Staff) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Conference presentations and journal articles have been published to disseminate results. We have also launched an aggressive social media campaign that includes a complete retooling of our website (handsonclassrooms.org) and Facebook and Twitter accounts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In our one year no-cost extention we will complete data analysis to identify the classifications of FOI modifications and complete final dissemination efforts. We will also complete the approval process for the 4-H curriculum.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Establish fidelity of implementation ranges that maximize student learning outcomes in food safety education. Year 1 of the project was spent developing and testing the measures, establishing strong content validity and interrater reliability, thus completing task 1 of the research objective and collecting data needed to complete tasks 2 and 3. Year 2 of the project was spent collecting observational data from the classrooms of 15 teachers in 4 schools using the FOI instruments developed and validated in year one. Preliminary data analysis, which classified each lesson into specific items for structural-procedural, structural-educative, instructional-pedagogical, and instructional-student engagement components, provides indications of which categories are more highly related to student outcomes. Year 3 of the project was spent collecting observational data from the classrooms of 8 teachers in 2 schools using the same FOI instruments and began to perform the formal data analysis. Year 4 will use the data collected and analyzed to establish FOI ranges that maximize student learning outcomes. Objective 2: Expand the reach and impact of the Hands On program to provide quality food safety education to adolescent students. In Year 3 of the project, this project provided curriculum and materials to 33 schools, which included 130 teachers, 4,002 students in 12 different states. Additionally, 16 of those teachers at 4 schools were trained to use the Hands On curriculum using the same teacher professional development model designed and validated in a previous NIFSI proposal (TEN02005-02098). In Year 4 we will continue to grow our partnership with GMA with additional industry support form MARS which will bring Hands On into a training for teachers in China. Objective 3: Strategically adapt the Hands On curriculum design to serve as a food safety education resource for a variety of 4-H programs. In order to maximize the fit and use of an adaptation of the Hands On curriculum, an interest survey was sent out to 4-H supervisors and agents in the southeastern region of the U.S., asking agents about the topics, curricula, and strategies they used for clubs meetings and activities. 4-H club format and member demographic composition was also included along with discussion about unique club needs and suggestions they had for meeting those needs. Additionally, interviews were conducted with 4-H students to identify needs and interests of participants. While conducting a needs assessment from invested stakeholders, project staff began working with the 4-H organization to gather the current templates required for the national approval process to ensure the efforts would seamlessly integrate within the national 4-H curricula resources. The Hands On lessons was then reorganized into 10 unique lessons designed to stand-alone or to be completed as an entire unit. All adaptations were informed by the needs assessment reflecting the opinions of current 4-H executives, agents, and students. The lessons include a presentation on foodborne illnesses, hands on laboratory on bacterial cell growth, understanding cell growth, and an edible cell arrangement as well as handouts for the students to further comprehend the lesson plans. Examples and activities were modified to increase relevance and use in the 4-H organization. These lessons will be field tested, revised, and finalized during Year 3 of the project. atistical analysis on observation data, teacher debrief forms, and student outcome data is currently in progress. However, preliminary analysis of daily debriefs from participating teachers across implementation sites indicated that a majority of teachers made an average of 3.5 modifications related to the timing of activities, materials, and student groupings. The most mentioned need for modification was in relationship to differing level of student abilities, whether special needs students or honor students. Student outcomes data from all three schools indicate significant differences from pre to post curriculum implementation in composites of food safety knowledge, self-efficacy and behaviors. In Year 4, the data collected will continue to be analyzed to establish fidelity ranges and types and make generalizations about training models, as well as inform curricular decisions and modifications.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
LoRe, S., & Richards, J. (2014). Portion control: A simple and easy way to Flip your classroom to better engage middle school learners. South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education Journal
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Beavers, A., Murphy, L., and Richards, J. (2014). Investigating Change in Adolescent Self-Efficacy of Food Safety through Educational Interventions. Journal of Food Science Education
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Albin.M., Beavers. A., Burney. J., Loveday. H. D., & Richards. J. (2014). Modifying an Effective Food Safety Education Curriculum for 4-H Students to Maximize Sustainability. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting and Expo of the Institute of Food Technologists, June 21-24, 2014, New Orleans, Louisiana.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Richards, J. K., & Beavers, A. S. (2014). What Implications Does a Baseline of Self-efficacy of Food Safety in Adolescent Populations Have for Future Food Safety Education Interventions? Food Protection Trends, 34(1), 20-24.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Richards. J., Murphy. L., (2014). Exploring the impact of a food safety educational intervention on the self-efficacy of food safety in adolescents through qualitative research methods Breakout session presented at The Consumer Food Safety Education Conference by Partnership for Food Safety Education, December 4-5, 2014, Arlington, Virginia.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Beavers. A., Murphy. L., Richards. J., (2014). Building Better Food Safety Education Programs: How Optimizing Fidelity of Implementation Can Maximize Desired Outcomes Poster presented at The Consumer Food Safety Education Conference by Partnership for Food Safety Education, December 4-5, 2014, Arlington, Virginia.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Beavers, A., Murphy, L., & Richards, J. (2014). Building Better Food Safety Education Programs: How Optimizing Fidelity of Implementation Can Maximize Desired Outcomes. Poster session presented at the Annual Meeting and Expo of the Institute of Food Technologists, June 21-24, 2014, New Orleans, Louisiana.
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Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audiences: During Year 2, the program primarily served teachers and middle school students providing materials and trainings for classrooms in AL, GA, IN, KY, NC, SC and TN. Additionally, 4H agents and club members were included during the needs assessment when planning the curricular adaptation of the Hands On lessons and review process. Efforts: The core of this project is a formal curriculum designed to be taught in middle school classrooms as part of the regular instruction in math, science, social studies, and language arts classes. This curriculum helps teachers prepare their students to be successful on learning competencies tested on end-of-year state assessments. The curriculum includes several hands-on laboratory exercises taught in the science component of the curriculum. The curriculum provides a model of “best practices” for adolescent learners through interdisciplinary instruction and research-based teaching strategies. Project Modifications: Initially were going to use 5 separate teams per year, however, in order to collect more differentiation among implementations, we chose to select a mix of school structures in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Additionally, our participant groups were altered due to the roll out of the Common Core standards in many states. Some teachers, who previously had approval to participate, were unable to do so. Changes/Problems: Project Modifications: Initially were going to use 5 separate teams per year, however, in order to collect more differentiation among implementations, we chose to select a mix of school structures in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Additionally, our participant groups were altered due to the roll out of the Common Core standards in many states. Some teachers, who previously had approval to participate, were unable to do so. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Data collection will be finalized with 5 additional teams of teachers and students. Data will be analyzed through statistical modeling as outlined in the proposal. Results will be disseminated through publications, conference presentations, and by incorporating findings into the Hands On curriculum training models.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Establish fidelity of implementation ranges that maximize student learning outcomes in food safety education. Year 1 of the project was spent developing and testing the measures, establishing strong content validity and interrater reliability, thus completing task 1 of the research objective and collecting data needed to complete tasks 2 and 3. Year 2 of the project was spent collecting observational data from the classrooms of 15 teachers in 4 schools using the FOI instruments developed and validated in year one. Preliminary data analysis, which classified each lesson into specific items for structural-procedural, structural-educative, instructional-pedagogical, and instructional-student engagement components, provides indications of which categories are more highly related to student outcomes. This objective will continue in Year 3 of the project. Objective 2: Expand the reach and impact of the Hands On program to provide quality food safety education to adolescent students. In Year 2 of the project, this project provided curriculum and materials to 44 schools, which included 137 teachers, 6,068 students in 11 different states. Additionally, 16 of those teachers at 4 schools were trained to use the Hands On curriculum using the same teacher professional development model designed and validated in a previous NIFSI proposal (TEN02005-02098). Additional trainings conducted in the support of teachers using the materials, but not participating in the research component include South Providence School in Waxhaw, North Carolina. A focus on this objective will continue in Year 3 of the project. Objective 3: Strategically adapt the Hands On curriculum design to serve as a food safety education resource for a variety of 4-H programs. In order to maximize the fit and use of an adaptation of the Hands On curriculum, an interest survey was sent out to 4-H supervisors and agents in the southeastern region of the U.S., asking agents about the topics, curricula, and strategies they used for clubs meetings and activities. 4-H club format and member demographic composition was also included along with discussion about unique club needs and suggestions they had for meeting those needs. Additionally, interviews were conducted with 4-H students to identify needs and interests of participants. While conducting a needs assessment from invested stakeholders, project staff began working with the 4-H organization to gather the current templates required for the national approval process to ensure the efforts would seamlessly integrate within the national 4-H curricula resources. The Hands On lessons were then reorganized into nine unique lessons designed to stand-alone or to be completed as an entire unit. All adaptations were informed by the needs assessment reflecting the opinions of current 4-H executives, agents, and students. The lessons include a presentation on foodborne illnesses, hands on laboratory on bacterial cell growth, understanding cell growth, and an edible cell arrangement as well as handouts for the students to further comprehend the lesson plans. Examples and activities were modified to increase relevance and use in the 4-H organization. These lessons will be field tested, revised, and finalized during Year 3 of the project. The psychometrically sound FOI instruments were used in conjunction with implementation of the Hands On curriculum in one 6th grade team in SC, two 7th grade teams (one in TN and one in IN) and in six 8th grade science classes in GA, including 15 teachers and 700 students, for the purpose of collecting data necessary to establish optimal fidelity range of implementation and to establish fidelity types. Seven trained observers collected implementation data in participating classrooms. In addition to the observational data, teachers completed surveys asking about educational background and instructional practices and daily debriefs to further understanding of the observational data. Students completed a pre/posttest assessment of food safety knowledge, efficacy, and behaviors. Statistical analysis on observation data, teacher debrief forms, and student outcome data is currently in progress. However, preliminary analysis of daily debriefs from participating teachers across implementation sites indicated that a majority of teachers made an average of 3.5 modifications related to the timing of activities, materials, and student groupings. The most mentioned need for modification was in relationship to differing level of student abilities, whether special needs students or honor students. Student outcomes data from all three schools indicate significant differences from pre to post curriculum implementation in composites of food safety knowledge, self-efficacy and behaviors. In Year 3, the data collected will continue to be analyzed to establish fidelity ranges and types and make generalizations about training models, as well as inform curricular decisions and modifications.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Objective 1: Establish fidelity of implementation ranges that maximize student learning outcomes in food safety education. Year 1 of the project was spent developing and testing the measures, establishing strong content validity and interrater reliability, thus completing task 1 of the research objective and collecting data needed to complete tasks 2 and 3. In task 1 we sought to establish content validity and rater reliability of the fidelity of implementation measures. A thorough review of literature of existing FOI measures was conducted to determine accepted methods for establishing FOI. This review led to the creation of a detailed FOI framework specific to the Hands On curriculum. An unique FOI instrument was created for each lesson in the Hands On curriculum to construct an FOI measurement framework that classified each lesson into specific items for structural-procedural, structural-educative, instructional-pedagogical, and instructional-student engagement components. These instruments were then reviewed by the curriculum developers and a panel of expert reviewers. A small field test of the instruments was conducted at a middle school in Indiana and employed in a field test across 13 independent observations with multiple observers at a middle school in Tennessee. Objective 2: Expand the reach and impact of the Hands On program to provide quality food safety education to adolescent students. This objective will be addressed in Years 2 and 3 of the project. Objective 3: Strategically adapt the Hands On curriculum design to serve as a food safety education resource for a variety of 4-H programs. This objective will be addressed in Years 2 & 3 of the project. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals: Dr. Jennifer Richards served as the project director during this reporting period. She oversees all major project activities and components including: supervision of all project personnel and graduate students, and direction of all research activities. Dr. Amy Beavers was a post-doctorate research associate in Educational Psychology and Research funded partially by this project. Dr. Beavers led the development of the FOI instruments, training of observers, and organization of field research. She was responsible for designing and overseeing all of the data management and analysis. Jan Wager was a Master's student in Adult Learning who was partially funded by an assistantship for this project. Jan provided all assessment instruments to the schools and was responsible for the day-to-day operations of the project including scheduling trainings and implementations for schools and the ordering, maintenance, and shipping of all materials and supplies. Beth Seymour, a research coordinator, assisted with data management and analysis for the research activities. Partner Organizations: Knox County Schools in Knoxville, TN and Northside Middle School in Columbus, IN, have been active partners with this project by providing regular access to middle school populations for multiple iterations of pilot testing during instrument development. Cleveland City Schools in Cleveland, TN, supported our research efforts by allowing access to their students and teachers to collect project data. Additional systems within each of the states have pledged support in future phases of the project. Collaborators and Contacts: This project represents a truly interdisciplinary effort. Collaborators within the university include: UT Extension; faculty and staff from the Department of Food Science and Technology, and the Department of Educational Psychology. Training and Professional Development: Each of the schools who participated in the study were trained to use the Hands On curriculum using the same teacher professional development model designed and validated in a previous NIFSI proposal (TEN02005-02098). TARGET AUDIENCES: Target Audiences: During Year 1, the program primarily served researchers in areas related to food safety education who can use our instrument and results to assess, evaluate and develop more targeted interventions. Middle school students and their classroom teachers in AL, GA, KY, NC, SC and TN were also targeted audiences. Efforts: The core of this project is a formal curriculum designed to be taught in middle school classrooms as part of the regular instruction in math, science, social studies, and language arts classes. This curriculum helps teachers prepare their students to be successful on learning competencies tested on end-of-year state assessments. The curriculum includes several hands-on laboratory exercises taught in the science component of the curriculum. The curriculum provides a model of "best practices" for adolescent learners through interdisciplinary instruction and research-based teaching strategies. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Initially were going to use 5 separate teams, we opted to go with 3 teams in the same school. This was a much more complex endeavor; however, the benefits of being able to control for school setting and environment made this modification appealing. An additional school scheduled for implementation had to withdraw at the last minute, which pushed back the validation and data analysis of FOI instruments. Additional schools are scheduled for participation in spring 2013.
Impacts
The psychometrically sound FOI instruments were used in conjunction with implementation of the Hands On curriculum in three 7th grade teams at a Tennessee middle school where 14 teachers and 400 students participated, for the purpose of collecting data necessary to establish optimal fidelity range of implementation and to establish fidelity types. Eleven trained observers collected implementation data over six days. In addition to the observational data, teachers completed surveys asking about educational background and instructional practices and daily debriefs to further understanding of the observational data. Students completed a pre/posttest assessment of food safety knowledge, efficacy, and behaviors. In Year 2, the data collected will be analyzed to establish fidelity ranges and types, as well as inform curricular decisions and modifications.
Publications
- Beavers, A. & Richards, J. (2012). Standards Based Assessment for Inquiry Based Classrooms. Concurrent session presented at the Annual Conference of the National Science Teachers Association, October 19, 2012, Louisville, KY.
- Richards, J. & Beavers, A. (2012). Standards Based Assessment for Inquiry Based Classrooms. Concurrent session presented at the Annual Conference of the Association of Middle Level Educators, November 10, 2012, Portland, OR.
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