Abstract
Food and Health, previously referred to as Home Economics, is a mandatory school subject in Norway. It has the unique advantage of giving all students, regardless of their social background, practical skills and knowledge, life skills that are important for their future health. In the LifeLab Food and Health project, we have developed a research-based and innovative teaching programme and evaluated how it is perceived in a school setting in Norway. This teaching programme is for use in Food and Health teacher education, but also in the education of primary and lower secondary school students in the same subject. LifeLab Food and Health consists of learning tasks in which students in the sixth and ninth grades in school gain first-hand knowledge and an understanding of life skills that are important to manage everyday life. In this paper, we present the learning activities developed and how the students experienced them. Examples of such learning tasks are tasks revealing the science behind dietary guidelines and the promotion of a healthy diet through student active tasks. Our aim is to establish LifeLab Food and Health as a “best practice” within master’s education in Home Economics at the University of Agder in Norway.
Highlights
Data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study (Afshin et al, 2019) reveals the essential role food and nutrition play in human health
We developed several state-of-the-art student active learning tasks in which students and future Food and Health (FH) teachers can engage with research in an easy and specific way through practical assignments, enabling them to learn the science behind health messages in order to enhance lifelong health
The objective of the current paper is to present an overview of the LifeLab FH teaching programme, i.e., the different student active learning tasks that focus on the theoretical content of the FH curriculum in Norway, as well as to present experiences from the first evaluations of these tasks in schools
Summary
Data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study (Afshin et al, 2019) reveals the essential role food and nutrition play in human health. Targeting children and adolescents has been a political priority nationally (Ministry of Health and Care Services, 2017) and internationally (World Health Organization, 2006, 2015). A national action plan for a healthier diet was published in 2017 in Norway, presenting several dietary targets for change among children and adolescents by the year 2021 (Ministry of Health and Care Services, 2017). The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided recommendations on ways to target this age group. It advocates improving education on healthier food choices by educating children in nutrition and a healthy lifestyle (European Commission, 2014), as well as including awareness-raising activities and practical cooking lessons in school
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