Project LifeLab Food and Health – Innovative Teaching for the Future: Development of Student Active Learning Tasks for Home Economics Education in the 21st Century

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.

Keywords

• home economics
• food and health
• active learning tasks
• life skills
• school