Integrating Food Safety Investigations into Science Curricula for Secondary Education

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The need to increase food safety knowledge among high school students is critical for numerous reasons. All high school students are consumers of food, and consumers have an important role in protecting themselves from illness by using proper food handling techniques. Their responsibility will increase post-graduation as they live with increased independence. Many high school students are also involved in food preparation for others both in the home and when employed in food service, retail, or manufacturing. High school students are also defining future personal education and career goals and should be aware of opportunities available to utilize skills and interest in science to keep the food supply safe. Whether students eventually work in a segment of the food industry or not, they can affect change through political and communication channels and should understand the issues before them to do so appropriately. Beyond basic food safety knowledge for all consumers, the food industry is in constant need of individuals with expertise in food science. These individuals will have interest in foods and strong capabilities in the fundamental sciences. Our experience in trying to increase awareness of the food science discipline and to draw students to food science programs through numerous outreach activities has taught us that several issues are not being adequately addressed with approaches using currently-available resources. First, students interested in foods are not always pursuing the appropriate college-preparatory science and math course work in high school required for acceptance to a food science baccalaureate program. Second, students pursuing college-preparatory and advanced-placement scientific and mathematics pathways in high school seem generally unappreciative of the scientific rigor of food science and the vast career opportunities available upon graduation. Third, foodborne illness outbreak investigations are consistently and highly intriguing to secondary school teachers and students, but brief exposure through one exercise or even one day is insufficient to showcase the scientific sophistication required of many professions in food safety. We propose materials that can be adapted for the basic and applied science classes with sufficient depth of scientific fundamentals will improve life skills by supporting the information delivered with scientific explanations for their basis, better engage advanced students, and illustrate expectations for entry in college level food science. This project will help us address the above issues using creative mechanisms for integrating food safety into science curricula.

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APPROACH: A new microbial food safety curriculum based in foodborne illness disease investigation will be developed. The curriculum will include presentations on food microbiology, food preservation, and epidemiology. Students will assume the roles of epidemiologist and food scientist to solve foodborne illness outbreak case studies and determine means to prevent recurrence. Solving the cases will require application of food microbiology knowledge and will exercise higher level critical thinking skills. The curriculum will also include interactive virtual laboratory simulations of methods to detect and identify microorganisms from food and clinical samples. The scientific principles of the technologies will be explained. The virtual labs will help circumvent the safety, cost, and time constraints normally encountered with teaching food microbiology. These products will address a variety of learning styles and meet educational content standards. The primary beneficiaries of this project will be secondary school teachers and students of basic and applied sciences including biology, biochemistry, chemistry, food science, agriscience, family and consumer sciences, and health. Specific activities to support the aforementioned objectives include: 1. Development of educational materials appropriate for secondary schools. The materials will include: a. Presentations on food microbiology, food science, and epidemiology for foodborne illness outbreaks b. Foodborne illness outbreak case studies for the students to solve c. Simulations of laboratory techniques and principles by video and interactive animations Input from teachers will be sought throughout the development process. 2. Dissemination of the educational materials to teachers through an interactive workshop. 3. Implementation of materials in the classroom. 4. Evaluation of the educational materials through teacher feedback and objective measurement of student understanding and retention of material. 5. Publication of the educational materials and their assessment to the food science community and secondary school educators through presentation at professional meeting and publication in refereed journal and on website for educators.