Developing a Hands-On Food Science Curriculum with Bilingual, Elementary-Aged, Hispanic Heritage Students

In the United States alone there are over 48 million cases of foodborne illness, with most of these cases deriving from food cooked in the home (Young 2016). Many themes have been assessed such as confidence, knowledge, habits, taste in food preferences, and societal/social influences (Young 2016). However, when food safety curricula are targeted toward younger populations, including young adults and children, attitudes and behavior change (Mullan 2018 and Young 2016). As there is a lack in home economics education in today’s current curriculum, students and their families may not know food safety behaviors (Finch 2005; Young 2016). It has also been shown that families are influenced by what their kids learn in school and are likely to change their food safety behaviors because of it (Young 2016). As more bilingual kids come into to the United States, they are becoming a target population for teaching public health and food safety concepts. The curriculum developed for this project is targeted at 20-22 primarily Spanish-speaking youth of ages ranging from 5-12.

These students participated in hands-on activities, such as using Glo-Germ and sensory evaluation of fruits, vegetables, and candy. As the purpose of Spanish Club is to give students of Hispanic heritage an open space to speak Spanish freely, all lessons were taught in Spanish. When students were asked to read or write, it was determined that many students were not proficient in their Spanish literacy skills. After observing this, further literature was reviewed on reading and writing acquisition skills for bilingual students in order to recommend an interactive, bilingual, food safety curriculum for the growing Hispanic Population in the United States