Integrating Human-Centered Design into Undergraduate STEM Capstone Courses: A Food Product Development Case Study

Abstract

This study examines the integration of human-centered design (HCD) in a Food Science capstone course and explores its impact on students’ learning outcomes and skill development. This case study investigated how 42 undergraduate students engaged with HCD processes—including understanding, synthesizing, ideating, prototyping, and implementing—to develop innovative food products. Through pre- and post-surveys, interaction analysis, and performance assessments, the findings revealed that HCD activities significantly enhanced students’ knowledge, collaboration, creativity, and metacognitive skills. Additionally, students demonstrated improved food science competencies, such as product formulation and sensory evaluation. This study highlights the benefits of embedding HCD within STEM curricula to foster authentic, interdisciplinary learning experiences. The findings provide evidence-based recommendations for scaling HCD integration in applied STEM courses, emphasizing the need for structured scaffolds and iterative feedback to maximize learning outcomes.

Keywords

• human-centered design
• food science
• STEM education