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Albina Granberg, Viktoria Olsson and Ylva Mattsson Sydner
The purpose of this paper is to explore which elements of cooking skills Home Economics (HE) teachers in schools for students with mild intellectual disability (ID) consider…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore which elements of cooking skills Home Economics (HE) teachers in schools for students with mild intellectual disability (ID) consider important for their students to learn.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 22 qualitative interviews with HE teachers of students with mild ID were conducted. The transcripts were analyzed thematically using the sociocultural approach on learning and knowledge as a theoretical framework.
Findings
The elements of cooking skills that were emphasized included mastering the language of cooking, measuring, following recipes, representing an instrumental and task-centered – knowledge on cooking.
Practical implications
The results of this study provide an insight into cooking lessons in HE in schools, not only regarding the focus that teachers give to cooking skills, but also to how cooking skills can be understood on a theoretical level. This has implications for both regular schools and schools for students with mild IDs since the elements that teachers consider important then guide what the students are given to learn. Teachers should be conscious that the planning of lessons should also be based on the students’ specific circumstances and context.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that provides knowledge about how HE teachers reason regarding which cooking skills they consider important for students to learn. HE is taught to both children and adolescents, and it is important to investigate teachers’ perceptions about the subject and how the teaching is organized, including cooking skills.
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Marie Lange, Helen Göranzon, Lena Fleig and Ingela Marklinder
The purpose of this paper is to investigate where students in a Swedish compulsory school acquire their knowledge of food safety and how trustworthy they deem them to be.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate where students in a Swedish compulsory school acquire their knowledge of food safety and how trustworthy they deem them to be.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of students’ self-reported sources of and trust in food safety knowledge was performed. A student response system was used for data collection, and the students were asked to answer questions presented on a PowerPoint presentation using a small wireless handheld device: a clicker. A questionnaire with 24 questions was used, and the responses were collected at 18 different schools with a total of 529 participants attending school Year 9.
Findings
Mothers were reported as being the most important source of food safety knowledge (38 per cent), especially among girls, and were also given high credibility (36 per cent). Boys reported trusting home and consumer studies (HCS), fathers and media to a higher extent. Girls reported cooking at home more often but, for all students, it was more common to rarely or never cook at home, which is why HCS teaching can be seen as valuable for many students. HCS teaching needs to be improved in order to raise its credibility. About half of the students (51 per cent) reported to have the highest trust for their source of knowledge.
Research limitations/implications
The students could only choose one source of knowledge and trust, although it is usual to learn from many different sources.
Practical implications
HCS teaching needs to get higher credibility among students as a counterweight against other sources.
Social implications
Educated consumers could influence their health.
Originality/value
Limited research has been performed on food safety knowledge among adolescents.
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Howard Thomas, Helen Ougham and Dawn Sanders
The present paper aims to examine the concept of “plant blindness” in the context of current sustainability debates. “Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the…
Abstract
Purpose
The present paper aims to examine the concept of “plant blindness” in the context of current sustainability debates. “Plant blindness” was the term introduced in 1999 by the botanists and educators James H Wandersee and Elisabeth E Schussler to describe what they saw as a pervasive insensitivity to the green environment and a general neglect of plants on the part of biology education.
Design/methodology/approach
The fundamental importance of plants for life on Earth and the socio-educational challenges of redacted awareness of this importance are considered. Also, the diverse physiological, psychological, philosophical, cultural and geopolitical origins and consequences of indifference to plants in relation to aspects of sustainability agendas are examined with special reference to education.
Findings
An examination of the outcomes of a range of research and practical initiatives reveals how multidisciplinary approaches to education and public engagement have the potential to address the challenge of “plant blindness”. The need for these opportunities to be reflected in curriculums is not widely appreciated, and the socio-economic forces of resistance to confronting plant neglect continue to be formidable.
Originality/value
Plant blindness is a relatively new field of research, and the full breadth of its implications are only gradually becoming apparent. If the present paper contributes to positioning plants as an essential element in sustainability education and practice, it will have met its objective.
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Wilfred M. Matipa, Denis Kelliher and Marcus Keane
This paper aims to highlight the availability and use of software systems in the Irish construction professional cost consultancy process. Also to gather the views from practising…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight the availability and use of software systems in the Irish construction professional cost consultancy process. Also to gather the views from practising quantity surveying professionals as to how available systems could assist total cost management of green buildings throughout their lifespan.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was given to a number of senior quantity surveyors throughout Ireland to ascertain the extent to which IT systems were being used as part of a total life cycle cost analysis and control procedure. Particular focus of questions related to the extent to which use of IT systems encouraged information sharing. Statistical analyses of results of same are given.
Findings
Quantity surveying practice must adapt and integrate cost management systems within the life cycle cost plan of a building. Use of well‐designed IT systems should complement the existing knowledge base of traditional cost models.
Originality/value
The extent to which life cycle costs become an accepted and integral part of the total cost management package may be determined more by government legislation than client desire for the cost management system. Nevertheless, the quantity surveying profession with its well‐established cost control and planning techniques should consider the use of well‐designed IT systems as part of the future development of the profession.