Generating more food scientists from diverse communities and rural backgrounds through food science literacy development of secondary educators

Project Director
Stevenson, C.

Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695

Performing Department
College of Ag. and Life Sci.

Non Technical Summary
There is a labor shortage of food scientists in food and beverage industries, particularly in rural areas. More food scientists are needed to solve key problems (food safety, nutrition, food waste, food loss, and energy usage and wastewater). Enrollment in food science undergraduate degree programs has steadily decreased since 2013 across the U.S. and specifically North Carolina. In North Carolina high schools, less than 0.5% of the student population is enrolled in state-approved food science courses.The project goals are to (1) increase the extent to which food science is taught in secondary education; (2) increase enrollment and diversity of food science students entering higher education; (3) build a community of practice teaching foods science in North Carolina secondary education; and (4) facilitate economic development through increasing the number of food scientists employed in the rural food industry.The objectives are to:Recruit 45-60 secondary educators to participate in an 80-hour nationally recognized teaching certification workshop to improve teacher self efficacy.Recruit 15 secondary educators to "food science teachers fellows," and provide them with professional development experiences consisting of job shadowing and experiential learning at food companies in their local areas and culminating in development of learning experiences for students with contextual references to their communities and local employers.Host regional and statewide outreach events to bring together a diverse population of industry representatives and 700+ high school students for conversations and hands-on, real world activities to facilitate recruitment of students to food science majors and careers.

Animal Health Component

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
806	6099	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
806 - Youth Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Keywords

food science

agricultural education

secondary education

workforce development

Goals / Objectives
The project goals are to (1) increase the extent to which food science is taught insecondary education; (2) increase enrollment and diversity of food science studentsentering higher education; (3) build a community of practice teaching foods science inNorth Carolina secondary education; and (4) facilitate economic development throughincreasing the number of food scientists employed in the rural food industry.

Project Methods
The proposed project will increase secondary educators' food science literacy and exposure to career opportunities; which will increase the number of NC secondary education students exposed to food science courses and careers. The ultimate goal is an increase in the diversity and number of students pursuing higher education and careers in food science. We believe this approach could be implemented in other states to further develop the workforce.This project will take an innovative and multi-pronged approach using evidence-based practices to engage secondary educators in five types of experiential learning activities: (1) CASE Institute Food Science and Safety Workshops; (2) Food Science Teacher Fellows Program; (3) Networking and Seminars Program; (4) Conversations with Food Scientists; and (5) an NC State Invitational.

Progress 02/01/22 to 01/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:High school teachers in family and consumer sciences as well as agricultural education Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Trained 15-20 teachers each summer in 2021 and 2022 on the CASE Food Science and Safety curriculum. Vast majority were from N.C. 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?Plan another CASE workshop. Work with teacher fellows to complete their projects and also recruit the next year's cohort. Continue planning regional and food science invitational event.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Trained 15-20 teachers each summer in 2021 and 2022 on the CASE Food Science and Safety curriculum. Vast majority were from N.C. Created a community for N.C. high school educators on Facebook Facilitated 2 guest speakers from industry to speak at local high schools about food science careers Recruited 4 teacher fellows to job shadow and create curriculum projects in 2022-2023

Publications

Progress 02/01/21 to 01/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:High school teachers in N.C. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?2-week long food science teaching workshop 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?Exactly what we wrote in the grant proposal.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We hosted a 2-week long workshop for high school teachers on how to teach food science and we made many inroads in learning how to expand the extent to which we can expand how much food science is being taught in N.C. high schools.

Publications