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In April and May of 2025, I was honored to attend the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Consumer Interest Forum (CIF) and the ANSI Organizational Member Forum (OMF)/ Company Member Forum (CMF) spring meetings as the representative of AAFCS.
At the meetings, attendees gained valuable insight into the issues and challenges being faced both internationally and nationally and the areas of standardization experiencing the most growth.
Not surprisingly, Artificial Intelligence is bubbling to the top as both a challenge and opportunity for innovation and growth. On March 13, 2024, the European Union passed the EU AI Act (EU AI Act: First Regulation on Artificial Intelligence, 2023) which establishes a common regulatory framework for artificial intelligence. The Act requires that the risk level of the AI be identified and depending on the risk level, certain requirements be met including risk mitigation and compliance with data quality standards.
While any products sold in the EU market must meet this new standard, it’s predicted that many companies will opt to apply the same requirements to all products and not differentiate between products sold in the United States (and elsewhere) and those in the EU. This will be on a companyby-company basis, but as the U.S. does not have an equivalent regulatory framework as yet, using the EU framework will provide consistency for companies.
“[Whether] standards impact innovation in a positive, neutral or negative manner can depend on the size and resources of the organization using the standards and the type and characteristics of the market in which they are operating.” (Standards and Innovation: What Does the Research Say?, 2022)
Many would argue that the new EU AI Act will halt or slow innovation, but with rules comes consistency and a set of baseline measures for which a comparison can be made. This allows researchers to test whether alterations to the AI algorithm results in a change and whether that change creates a positive or negative outcome.
And I would argue that the changes needed to address safety, bias, and reliability issues are also positive forms of innovation. The motto of “move fast and break things (The Era of “Move Fast and Break Things” Is Over, 2019),” is all well and good when no one is using those products, systems, or services, but when they are introduced into the market, ‘breaking things’ means consumers are at risk.
When AI was first introduced into financial markets and was used to evaluate credit applications, the AI algorithm was trained on biased data and as a result, individuals were refused loans due to those biases (When Algorithms Deny Loans: The Fraught Fight to Purge Bias from AI, 2025)
While the financial market has since developed solutions for those biases, having individuals in the room that can see things from the consumer perspective could result in even better AI systems and more innovation to the benefit of consumers.
With this in mind, the role of consumers on standards development committees becomes critical. Others on the committee will be representing the product manufacturers and retailers, you’ll also have a few researchers and government representatives, but who truly speaks for the consumer and has their best interests at heart? We are all consumers, but those individuals that I’ve listed all have a conflict of interest which may affect their views on what is and is not best for the consumer.
A consumer is going to think about how they use the product today, how the change will affect the way they are using the product, and any negative impacts that change will have. They will also be able to give others on the committee the unique perspective of how that product is used and how it could be designed to better meet consumers.
Additionally, the individuals sitting on those standards committees will benefit greatly from the discussions and the research and experimentation shared. Those insights gained can then lead to innovation and creativity in how they use the product.
For consumers wishing to participate in standards development, there are hundreds undergoing revision in a given year in the U.S. and 300+ standards developing organizations to work with. ANSI hosts a monthly webinar to educate consumers on how they can contribute to standards development (ANSI, n.d.-a) and launched a consumer participation fund to financially support the involvement of consumers in standards development (ANSI, n.d.-b)
As the AAFCS representative, I have volunteered to serve on the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) mirror committee for ISO-IEC JTC 1-SC 44 which is developing standards for consumer protection in the field of privacy by design and am looking forward to spurring innovation in my role on this committee.
Are you interested in growing your expertise in standards development and supporting innovation to address consumer risks and challenges? Visit ANSI.org to review their resources for Consumers and Standards today (ANSI, n.d.-a)
References
ANSI. (n.d.-a). Consumers and Standards https:// ansi.org/outreach/consumers/consumers-standards ANSI. (n.d.-b). Supporting Consumer Participation in Standards Development. https://www.ansi.org/ outreach/consumers/consumer-fund
EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence. (2023, August). European Parliament. https:// www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/ 20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-onartificial-intelligence
Standards and Innovation: What does the research say? (2022). International Organization for Standardization (ISO), ISO R&I Papers. https:// www.iso.org/publication/PUB100466.html
The Era of “Move Fast and Break Things” is Over (2019, January). Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/ 2019/01/the-era-of-move-fast-and-break-things-isover
When Algorithms Deny Loans: The Fraught Fight to Purge Bias from AI (2025, March). IoT for All. https:// www.iotforall.com/ai-loans-finance-bias
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Oranges: Models to Reach Our Potential
Barbara Stewart, Ed.D., CFCS1a
1
Human Development and Consumer Sciences, University of Houston
Keywords: leadership, potential, choices
Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
Vol. 117, Issue 2, 2025
As a teacher I love object lessons! Perhaps you do too. Think about a bowl of oranges. They can look nice sitting on a counter or as the centerpiece on a table. Yet, are they fulfilling the full measure of their existence? When we look, we note that oranges do have nice packaging. Their peel is a radiant orange hue, and their round shape is pleasant to look at. Many of us, also, have nice packaging: eyes, hair, clothes. Yet, like oranges, there’s more inside.
Oranges have opportunities. They can roll off the table and become bruised, sit in the bowl until they are rotten and useless, or they can get involved with their destiny by being peeled. Years ago, from a source I can no longer find, I clipped a quote from Anita Canfield that I paraphrase as: “If you could catch the vision of the person you are intended to become, you would rise up and never be the same.” Our potential is far beyond that of oranges. Realization of this expanded vision of ourselves should drive our productivity.
For me, the hardest part of peeling an orange to unlock its potential is starting. I also find starting to be the hardest part of most professional projects. In this, the orange offers valuable lessons. First, if I start habitually by peeling the orange in a similar way, I don’t have to make that decision over and over. In life, I also find that having a personal set of guiding rules or code saves me decision making time. De-
ciding ahead of time on a few big guiding principles that become choices made can make life easier and can set us on a path that is more likely to bring realization of personal and professional potential.
As we encounter the opportunities of life, oranges again can offer a model. One nice aspect is that they conveniently are divided into segments. Our professional and personal pursuits, also, can be managed by dividing them into segments. Not everything needs to be tackled at once! Timing is everything! While making the right choice is vital, only slightly less important is doing the right thing at the right time! Like eating an orange, one segment at a time, paying attention to timing is wise.
In the end, eating an orange provides a sensuous experience of aroma and juicy, refreshing, delightful pleasure. In the same way, for us, personally and professionally, going beyond the surface, beyond the peel, to get to the meat of our work, perhaps dividing it into “do-able” segments will yield a closer proximation of meeting our potential to accomplish that of which we are capable individually, professionally, and as an organization.
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I recently participated in a new program offered at my university that adopted a unique high impact teaching practice: learning through philanthropy. It turns out that several universities in the United States have been promoting learning through involving students in philanthropic efforts integrated into their curriculum. The idea seems to be that philanthropy is a learned set of skills and a mindset that can be cultivated among young people that might lead to future philanthropic activities, some (if not most) of which end up blessing the lives of individuals, families, and communities.
With the backing of donors, my university sponsored this philanthropy program for faculty interested in integrating experiential learning activities in classes to enhance learning the course content as it relates to philanthropy. I decided that my family policy course would be a good fit for such a project and volunteered with nine other faculty. Ultimately each course was given $2,500 to award a non-profit organization of their choice (or it could be split between two organizations).
The procedures we were to follow included having students form groups and research local, non-profit organizations that potentially aligned with the focus of the course. For my class, that would include organizations that targeted the welfare of families. My four student groups met as teams and were to investigate several organizations and then as groups decide on one organization to present to the rest of the class. They investigated the missions and initiatives of the organizations and their current funding priorities. Students were to be vague about the potential for awarding money to the organizations—we wanted to have a fun reveal experience in the end. We were to give students as much autonomy as possible, so we brainstormed proce-
dures and approaches toward investigating and deciding on the final organization(s).
On a designated day, each of the four student groups presented a brief slide presentation about their chosen organization (they had to tell me the organization they were going to present on ahead of time so I could help ensure we had four different organizations to choose from). Students had opportunities to ask questions and discuss the proposals. We decided to have an anonymous internet poll for voting, each student getting one vote. The first result was a three-way tie. We decided to vote again, considering only the top three vote getters, and we had a clear winner.
The group that had presented the winning organization arranged for a representative to visit our class for a few minutes to share more about the organization, without knowing that they were going to be awarded money. A student then read a letter that described the project and our enthusiasm to award the organization a $2,500 gift. The visit ended with many smiles and a class selfie.
Student reflection papers indicated that the students enjoyed the activity and gained a greater understanding about what non-profit organizations are and what they do. I believe that non-profits and philanthropy are highly relevant to the work of many FCS professionals and perhaps we can creatively find ways to further support and leverage these resources. Hopefully one or more of my students strikes it rich someday and remembers that our university department is part of a non-profit organization and acts accordingly—or, I suppose, it would be fine if they donated to the local community instead…
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W.H.Y. AAFCS? A Recruitment & Retention Approach
Lacee R. Boschetto, Ph.D.1a , Gwen Turner, M.A.T.2b
1 Applied Sciences, Technology and Education, Utah State University, 2 Family and Consumer Sciences Education, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
Engagement in professional associations offers significant growth, networking, and development opportunities. Despite these benefits, participation in such associations is decreasing, with financial constraints, irrelevant member benefits, and generational disconnect as primary factors. At the 2024 AAFCS conference, a session titled “W.H.Y. AAFCS” introduced a targeted three-phase recruitment and retention approach. This framework, emphasizing “Welcome,” “House,” and “Year of Engagement” strategies, aims to enhance association involvement by fostering meaningful connections and showcasing the association’s value to personal and professional development. This article explores how affiliates can revitalize membership engagement by prioritizing members’ motivations and adapting to evolving professional needs, ultimately strengthening the FCS community.
Introduction
Engaging in professional associations unlocks opportunities for growth, networking, and staying ahead in your field. By connecting with peers and accessing valuable resources, professionals can sharpen their skills, boost their careers, and contribute to their industry’s future. Despite the benefits of association membership, concerns about decreased engagement within these professional networks are becoming more apparent with the teacher shortages throughout the U.S. (Nguyen et al., 2022) These shifts have also affected engagement in family and consumer sciences professional organizations, showing a decline in participation. Reasons for this lack of engagement in professional organizations include but are not limited to, financial strains limiting discretionary funds for membership dues, membership benefits not addressing modern professional needs or motivations, and a new generation that is disconnected from professional organizations (O’Neil & Willis, 2005)
Previous research has examined the role of social capital in strengthening association membership (Bhattacharya, 1998). Social capital refers to the resources and benefits individuals gain through their social networks, relationships, and group memberships, which can facilitate personal advancement and collective action (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988) Professional associations can optimistically attract emerging professionals by creating a space for them to develop, tending to their needs, and addressing individuals’ altruistic motivations (Dicke & Saitgalina, 2014).
Strategies for Growing Membership
A group of participants from the 2022 AAFCS Leadership Academy cohort aimed to apply the concept of social capital to develop a framework that AAFCS affiliates could use to recruit and retain members. The framework was presented at the 2024 AAFCS conference in Minneapolis, a session titled W.H.Y. AAFCS introduced a new framework for affiliates to use when recruiting and retaining members. Among the presentation attendees, nine AAFCS state affiliates were represented (GA, IA, MI, MO, NC, NM, OK, PA, SC, and UT), providing authentic feedback on the practicality of the framework.
The presentation began by explaining the framework’s focus on the WHY theme, highlighting the passion and impact that drive FCS professionals to inspire, shape lives, and shape the organization’s future. The presentation shared strategies utilizing AAFCS resources and suggested actions for affiliate leaders to guide FCS professionals to and through the association. The presentation aimed to shift prospective members’ focus from the cost-benefit of membership dues to emphasizing the association’s role as a vital space for professionals to grow and contribute to the broader FCS community. The three-phase approach connects individuals to the core purpose of how membership enhances personal and professional experiences while addressing some hard truths about why professionals choose not to join, re-join, or engage in the association. Using the acronym W.H.Y., affiliates can implement the following sequential steps to recruit and retain members. Assistant Professor Consultant
W-Welcome Members The first phase identifies prospective members that may benefit from the association. The education-dominant membership within the association can limit recruitment efforts and prevent them from expanding to other FCS-related professionals. Failing to capture all FCS stakeholders in membership can limit affiliates benefiting from the voices of industry, government, and community. Several categories of prospective members were identified:
• Pre-service teachers from education or adjacent programs can engage under a reasonable cost-benefit with minimal dues by incorporating association participation into education program requirements.
• New educators who have entered the profession from industry sectors through alternative certification programs.
• Industry experts from each of the eight content areas can confirm the role of FCS in non-educational settings.
• Representatives from agriculture commodity groups represented within the content areas (i.e., crop, livestock, dairy, etc.).
Suggestions on how to welcome members include:
• Inviting prospective members to affiliate events to serve as presenters, vendors, award recipients, and advisory boards. Constructing a mutually beneficial connection with such members validates FCS’s broad scope and contribution.
• Invite pre-service educators to engage in affiliate and national conferences by presenting and entering their work into showcase exhibits.
• Create a post-secondary representative on affiliate boards to serve as a bridge between organizations, identifying needs and services.
• Promote the presence of professional development, networking, and extra support to assist new educators in developing their teacher identities (Allen, 2005).
A presentation template was shared during a 2024 AAFCS session for affiliates to inform prospective members about AAFCS. The template can be altered by affiliates to be used when interacting with groups of prospective members to focus on sharing membership benefits that align with their needs and interests.
H- House Members. The second phase of the framework suggests strategies to immediately capture new member’s attention after joining the association. By connecting with members early on, members can establish an identity within the professional space. McGregor and Toronyi (2009) recommended that associations lean into the “character” of generations to increase membership among younger professionals. When looking at prospective members from Gen Z and Gen Alpha cohorts, establishing “purposeful mentorship” within affiliates can assist with attracting new members (McGregor & Toronyi, 2009). Deliberate efforts to help members situate themselves into a large and possibly unfamiliar association can provide comfort and awareness and
expose members to opportunities for growth and advancement, thus increasing the likelihood of engagement. (Busby et al., 2019)
Resources to use when connecting with new members can be found within the affiliate portal on the AAFCS website.
• An email script to personalize and send to new members.
• List of ideas on reaching out to new members.
• Summarized Menu of Opportunities of AAFCS.
Conference presentation attendees responded positively to these resources after they were introduced and reviewed. The email scripts were reported to be exceptionally useful by 66% of attendees, while 77% found the AAFCS Menu of Opportunities incredibly helpful in communicating membership benefits. These resources provide practical opportunities to showcase the value of membership by creating a compelling cost-benefit connection that highlights the tangible rewards of being part of the association.
Because the perception of professional associations will differ between early-career and longer-term members, it is essential to establish a mutual sharing of experiences. For instance, to fully communicate to new members about the possible experiences and impacts membership can provide, affiliates can:
• Include a certificate of membership when sending welcome packs for members to hang in their professional space to communicate AAFCS affiliation.
• Share videos and written testimonials from longerterm members to highlight poignant moments related to travel opportunities, impactful service projects, leadership skills, or career advancements related to membership.
• Conduct annual surveys of members’ experiences or host open forum sessions for new members at affiliate conferences to capture the voices and needs of all members.
• Provide personal welcome phone calls from members of affiliate boards to create more sincere networking connections.
A script and testimonial template for videos were shared during the presentation for affiliates to utilize as they capture and create the stories of their members.
Y-YEAR OF ENGAGEMENT. Networking and support within professional organizations are critical for retaining early-career educators (Hasselquist & Graves, 2020). The connections made among AAFCS affiliate members help professionals realize they are not working in isolation but are part of a collective group united by shared professional goals. Beyond traditional conference events, affiliates can strengthen new members’ ties to AAFCS by maintaining an active presence and creating opportunities that align with members’ professional needs and ambitions.
• Regularly connect with members by mentioning useful information from FAST FCS and AAFCS newsletters. These updates can be overlooked due to unfamiliarity with the national staff.
• Integrating AAFCS newsletters into state or regionspecific communications, allowing members to receive important updates from familiar faces.
These forms of communication can reinforce AAFCS opportunities, such as online professional communities, which can foster more profound engagement. While examples of a newsletter were not provided during the presentation, attendees reported that if templates were provided to affiliates, they would assist in maintaining communication with members.
Younger generations of professionals are introducing movements to establish a better work-life balance by setting boundaries to limit their time addressing non-critical information in emails (Hasselquist & Graves, 2020) Affiliates can capture the attention of prospective and new members by utilizing more modern communication forums.
• Create social media accounts to share events, award opportunities, and updates.
• Seek new members to assist with managing social media accounts and get them involved with affiliate tasks requiring minimal AAFCS awareness.
A social media presence allows members to absorb the messaging and impacts of the association as they engage in
their regular routines, exploring their worlds as they scroll through social media feeds (Wang et al., 2020). Involving new members in managing these accounts also enhances membership commitment by exposing them to opportunities for high-impact involvement throughout low-stakes responsibilities.
Conclusion
The W.H.Y. AAFCS framework offers affiliates adaptive strategies for recruiting and retaining members by highlighting the core purpose and impact of the profession. By focusing on the intrinsic motivations that drive professionals, such as personal growth, career advancement, and shaping the future of the field, the framework creates a compelling narrative that resonates with potential and existing members. Furthermore, it addresses the challenges behind disengagement, providing insights on overcoming barriers and fostering a strong sense of belonging. The impact of the AAFCS organization relies heavily on the health and sustainability of its affiliates, as their engagement and growth are essential to advancing the mission and ensuring the profession’s future success.
Published: June 30, 2025 EDT
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References
Allen, S. (2005). The missing link in alternative certification: Teacher identity formation. LLC Review, 5(1), 3–14.
Bhattacharya, C. B. (1998). When customers are members: customer retention in paid membership contexts. Journal of the Academy of Marketing, 26, 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070398261004
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.
Busby, J., Ernst, J. V., Clark, A. C., Kelly, D. P., & DeLuca, V. W. (2019). Professional organizations. Technology and Engineering Teacher, 78(6), 18–20. https://login.dist.lib.usu.edu/login?url=https:// www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/professionalorganizations/docview/2187374785/se-2
Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. The American Journal of Sociology, 94(1). https://doi.org/10.1086/228943
Dicke, L. A., & Saitgalina, M. (2014). How can professional membership associations provide meaningful value for their members?: Creating models of affiliation and engagement (No. 20). School of Public Service Faculty Publications. https:// digitalcommons.odu.edu/publicservice_pubs/20
Hasselquist, L., & Graves, N. A. (2020). CTE teacher retention: Lessons learned from mid-career teachers. Career and Technical Education Research, 45(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.5328/cter45.1.3
McGregor, S. L. T., & Toronyi, K. T. (2009). A Millennial recruitment and retention blueprint for home economics professional associations. International Journal of Home Economics, 2(2), 2–19.
Nguyen, T. D., Lam, C. B., & Bruno, P. (2022). Is There a National Teacher Shortage? A Systematic Examination of Reports of Teacher Shortages in the United States (EdWorkingPaper Nos. 22–631). Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.
O’Neil, S. L., & Willis, C. L. (2005). Challenge for professional organizations: Lessons from the past. Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 47(3), 143.
Wang, P., Morgan, B., Packard, P., Goode, V., & Tola, D. (2020). Maximizing use of social media to improve member engagement in a professional organization. AANA Journal, 88(6), 473–478.
Parental Perceptions of Food and Nutrition Education Programs in Saudi Arabia Elementary Schools: An Analysis of Mothers’ Views
Mashael S. Alharbi, Ph.D.1
1 Saudi Arabia, Ministry of Eduction
Keywords: Food and nutrition, education in Saudi Arabia, family and everyday life skills, Curriculum, food, healthy eating, mothers
Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
Vol. 117, Issue 2, 2025
Elementary schools provide a consistent and immersive opportunity to reach a wide audience of young students, making them an ideal platform for fostering healthy dietary habits through food and nutrition education as part of the family and everyday life skills curriculum. This study examined the perspectives from Saudi elementary children’s mothers on food and nutrition education. In-depth interviews of 19 mothers were conducted and analyzed to identify three main themes: the current food and nutrition topics in elementary schools, the importance of teaching food skills and knowledge in schools, and the significance of food and nutrition education as a subject. Most mothers considered food and nutrition education as crucial as traditional academic subjects. Findings indicate that mothers strongly supported a comprehensive food and nutrition education program incorporating practical activities such as cooking and gardening. Such interactive sessions enhanced children’s understanding of food and encouraged healthier eating habits. Additionally, mothers praised the schools’ focus on food sustainability, expressing a desire for its increased integration into the curriculum. The findings could guide curriculum developers and educational institutions in crafting food and nutrition education to not only educate children but also engage their families in making informed dietary choices.
Introduction
Most Saudi children fail to consume the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables. Discretionary food contributes approximately 50% of their daily energy intake (Zeidan et al., 2023). The World Health Organization (2016) reported that the prevalence of overweight or obesity among children in Saudi Arabia increased from 14.3% in 2010 to 17.4% in 2016, largely due to poor dietary choices. These unhealthy eating patterns often persist into adulthood (Aljaadi & Alharbi, 2021), elevating the risk of cardiovascular diseases and Type 2 diabetes (Obesity Control Program, 2016). Moreover, substandard diets can lead to psychological and social challenges (Abou Abbas & AlBuhairan, 2017) and negatively impact academic performance in children (Alswat et al., 2017; Tashkandi et al., 2021)
Schools provide an optimal environment for promoting healthy eating habits through food and nutrition education within the family and everyday life skills (FELS) curriculum (Alharbi, 2021; Bakhotmah, 2012) Elementary school environments, specifically, offer consistent and intensive interaction with students (Epuru & Al Shammary, 2014) and reach children from diverse socioeconomic statuses (Alazzeh et al., 2018) As most elementary school students eat at least one meal and snack each day, there is an added opportunity to teach food and nutrition concepts (Alharbi, 2021) The family and everyday life skills curriculum is in-
strumental in equipping students with essential knowledge and skills to make choices that benefit their immediate and long-term health (Alharbi, 2021; Alharbi & Renwick, 2017) In Saudi Arabia, family and consumer science (FCS) is known as family and everyday life skills (FELS). Initially introduced in the 1960s as a subject for girls (Alharbi, 2024; Alharbi & Renwick, 2017), it was later included in the curriculum for boys in 2021 (The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 2020) (FELS) encompass various topics such as nutrition and cooking, food production, meal preparation, health education, and sewing (Alharbi, 2024; The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 2017) It further addresses various aspects of daily living, including dietary habits, childcare, familial relationships, housing, and home management. The sewing component covers both flat pattern designing and tailoring (The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 2017). Currently, the subject is mandatory for grades 1–6 in elementary schools and grades 7–9 in middle school; for grades 11 and 12 in secondary school, the subject is optional (The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia, 2017) At the elementary level, (FELS) reflects broader educational goals, nurturing students’ sense of citizenship and cultural identity (Alharbi & Renwick, 2017) These skills integrate Islamic values, emphasizing the importance of family relationships, effective communication, and healthy food preparation. Additionally, the curriculum focuses on practical life skills tailored to students’ development stage of life (Alharbi & Renwick, 2017)
In recent decades, there has been a significant push to reform the approach and delivery of (FELS) (Alharbi, 2024), specifically in food and nutrition education in schools (Bin Sunaid et al., 2021). Vidgen and Gallegos (2014) define the food literacy concept as the combination of knowledge, skills, and behaviors necessary for planning, managing, selecting, preparing, and consuming food to meet dietary needs, has broadened the scope of food and nutrition knowledge. However, there is a growing disconnect between consumers and the origins of their food (Bookari, 2023), alongside notable shifts in food supply, distribution, and consumption (Winson, 2014) This is compounded by widespread public confusion over dietary guidelines (Spiteri Cornish & Moraes, 2015) To better equip children to navigate these changing food landscapes, food and nutrition education should not only impart knowledge but also focus on cultivating behaviors that enhance food literacy and practical skills (Contento, 2015). Moreover, given mothers’ significant role in shaping their children’s dietary habits, previous research have highlighted the importance of mothers’ perspectives on school-based healthy eating initiatives for effective development and implementation (Abderbwih et al., 2022; Alharbi, 2021) Indeed, the dietary choices of many elementary school children are primarily determined by their mothers (Jabri et al., 2021). However, mothers’ perspectives on food and nutrition have seldom been the focus of research, despite their pivotal role in their children’s nutritional health.
This research explores Saudi mothers’ perspectives regarding the existing food and nutrition education included in the (FELS) curriculum in elementary schools. It identifies areas for enhancement and evaluates mothers’ support for potential reforms. To the researcher’s knowledge, this investigation is among the few that specifically examine mothers’ perspectives on the content and execution of food and nutrition education in Saudi elementary schools.
Methods
A qualitative descriptive research approach (Sandelowski, 2010) was utilized to gain an in-depth insight into mothers’ perspectives regarding food and nutrition education in Saudi elementary schools (Harris et al., 2009) These qualitative studies enable participants to express the facts about phenomena in everyday language (Sandelowski, 2010). The study was further based on a social constructivism framework, allowing participants to interpret situations freely without bias from the researcher (Creswell, 2013) The chosen methodology aimed at obtaining clear, detailed accounts of participants’ perspectives on food and nutrition education.
Participants and Interview Procedure
Mothers with children in various west Saudi Arabian elementary schools were randomly selected. The recruitment process involved sending notices to families through schools. Before the interview, mothers received a plain language statement and a consent form. A total of 19 mothers were interviewed who have children at five elementary
schools. The number of participants was based on data saturation, as outlined by Patton (2002) and Guest et al. (2006), meaning the study concluded after the 19th interview, as no new thematic insights emerged.
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to explore Saudi mothers’ perspectives on food and nutrition education at the elementary school level. The researcher led the interviews, which were conducted either in person (13 interviews) or over the phone (six interviews). In-person interviews took place at the participants’ homes. The length of the interviews ranged from 22 to 54 minutes, with an average duration of 37 minutes. The study analyzed responses to one central question: (1) What are your child’s crucial food skills and knowledge? Further, there were two supplementary questions whose responses were analyzed: (1)Which skills and knowledge should be incorporated into food and nutrition education in elementary schools? and (2)What are the best methods to teach these skills and knowledge? The interview questions were developed based on a literature review.
Data Analysis
Following the transcribed interviews, the data was analyzed by employing the template analysis technique outlined by King (2004). An initial coding template was developed based on the research questions, containing predefined codes to streamline the early stages of coding (King, 2004) Throughout the coding process, adjustments were made to the predefined codes, and new codes were added. To ensure an impartial data interpretation, the researcher conducted peer-debriefing sessions with a qualitative researcher who was not involved in the study (Spall, 1998) The final template, including the identified themes, was examined, approved, and presented in the results section.
Results
The study included 19 mothers from various backgrounds, representing children of public elementary schools in the western region of Saudi Arabia. Of these, 14 were employed and held post-secondary qualifications (13 bachelor’s degrees and six diplomas). Each mother had at least one child aged 5–12 years attending an elementary school in Saudi Arabia.
Mothers’ perspectives on food skills and knowledge were categorized into three primary themes: current food and nutrition topics in elementary schools, the importance of food skills and knowledge in schools, and the significance of food and nutrition education as a subject.
Current Food and Nutrition Topics in Elementary Schools
Mothers reported on various food and nutrition topics taught in elementary schools, notably the environmental effects of food and sustainability. Many appreciated the integration of classroom learning with practical activities like recycling and school initiatives that encourage students to
bring healthy food from home in reusable containers. One mother expressed her perspective on bringing healthy food from home in reusable containers. She explained:
“… I was satisfied with the school’s environmental focus, noting her child’s increased awareness and questioning of food choices based on packaging and origin” (Participant 19).
Eight mothers observed that their children learned the importance of eating fruits and vegetables, often during designated snack times, as a result of the school’s initiative to promote healthy snacks such as fruit.
“During these moments, this initiative encouraged our kids to discuss the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables” (Participant 18).
Five mothers mentioned the school kitchen’s presence, which facilitated practical learning opportunities, including food preparation and cooking. One mother commented:
“the subject is teaching my child valuable cooking skills and encouraging her to practice these skills at home” (Participant 1).
However, one mother whose daughter’s schools lacked kitchens mentioned occasional cooking classes when possible. She explained:
“Typically, at the discretion of individual teachers, there is more consistent cooking and food preparation classes is suggested due to the challenge of not having a kitchen in the school” (Participant 19).
My daughter rarely studies cooking topics because her school does not have a kitchen. Her teacher sometimes shows them videos on cooking topics (Participant 11).
Three mothers discussed the educational use of food categories in teaching student’s nutritional guidelines. One of the mothers described:
“At the family and everyday life skills class, my daughter enjoyed the nutritional teaching part, which included activities that included categorizing foods and understanding balanced diets. She learned much about different kinds of food” (Participant 18).
Additionally, there was a consensus among mothers that the scope of food and nutrition education in elementary schools was either insufficient or barely noticeable. For instance, participants 5 and 19 noted:
“It has been touched upon but is not integrated into the curriculum” (Participant 19).
“…Frankly, I am unsure about the curriculum content; it seems like my child has not learned much about it. I am curious if they cover topics like meat or dairy at all” (Participant 5).
The Importance of Food Skills and Knowledge in Schools
Mothers shared their perspectives on the essential food skills and knowledge their children should acquire, suggest-
ing topics to incorporate in the curriculum. They expressed interest in various food and nutrition topics, some of which were already offered in their schools.
All mothers expressed a desire for regular cooking classes within the elementary school curriculum, though they had varying views on when such classes should start. One believed cooking instruction should begin in the first year of school, while others believed it should wait until the later primary years. These diverse perspectives highlight the importance of cooking as a life skill that promotes independence and healthier eating habits. Two mothers explained:
“Learning basic cooking skills seems fun with students, especially at an early age, because I think they enjoy learning with their peers” (Participant 4).
“I think learning how to prepare a healthy meal in cooking classes is as important as any other skill in different subjects like language or math” (Participant 19).
Gardening was another key topic, valued by two mothers as a means to teach children about the origins of food and potentially encourage picky eaters to try new foods.
“My daughter always goes to my grandmother’s garden to pick up and taste different kinds of vegetables and fruits, especially dates, which are the main products in Saudi…. I think it would benefit my daughter more to practice gardening at school as well because it would enhance her gardening knowledge” (Participant 12).
“Kids would have so much fun learning how plants come from seeds; I think that will encourage my daughter to try that at home” (Participant 6).
Sustainability was identified as a crucial subject, with three mothers advocating for education on the environmental impact of food choices. Participant 5’s quote echoes that of the other mothers sharing the same perspective:
“Teach students about what local food is available in their environment, where it grows, and how it’s produced; I think students become more aware of the food that is sold in the supermarket” (Participant 5).
The discussion on healthy eating was familiar, though two mothers expressed concerns about potentially controversial or unclear information regarding what constitutes a healthy diet. They suggested focusing on globally accepted health facts.
“I think students need information about healthy and unhealthy food choices, particularly at this time…There is much information about food on social media” (Participant 3).
“…I believe sugar, for example, causes many diseases, but a few are aware of that information” (Participant 1).
Nine mothers emphasized that reading food labels is an essential life skill, and it helps children make informed choices while shopping. Two mothers express their perspectives:
“Today, it is important to teach kids how to read the labels on food packages and understand what the information
means…especially for kids with diseases requiring an eating diet” (Participant 17).
“I think reading labels would help kids understand what organic food means and the difference between non-organic food” (Participant 8).
Eight mothers considered the teaching of food origins essential, believing it should be both a practical and a classroom topic. While four supported using the food pyramid as a guide, seven criticized it for being overly complex or influenced by industry interests. Topics such as food advertising, food hygiene, serving sizes, and nutrients were discussed less frequently or deemed less necessary.
The Significance of Food and Nutrition Education as a Subject
The study highlighted that 17 mothers rated food and nutrition education, as part of the (FELS) curriculum, as equally important as core subjects such as math and English. Only two mothers felt that food education could be learned at home. They argued that even though nutrition is fundamental to health, academic success, and overall wellbeing, giving children more time to learn subjects like math and science has more value for children in school to prepare them for high school (Participants 18 and 10).
Four mothers emphasized that food and nutrition education are crucial for teaching life skills and improving physical and mental health. This suggests that knowledge of food and nutrition can help prevent medical issues and promote healthier lifestyle choices (Participants 9, 10, 16, and 5).
Furthermore, three mothers highlighted the importance of starting food and nutrition education early and maintaining it throughout primary education. They advocated for the involvement of both mothers and teachers to enhance its impact (Participant 17, 12,7).
Some mothers also noted the need to educate mothers, recognizing their role as primary food providers. They expressed interest in attending educational workshops on food and healthy eating if schools offer them (Participants 4 and 1).
Discussion
The results suggest that mothers perceive the current inclusion of food and nutrition education within the (FELS) curriculum in elementary schools as insufficient and advocate for more comprehensive coverage. This stance aligns with recent Saudi research, which highlights a gap in nutrition education attributed to time constraints and resource limitations, as reported by teachers in some schools (Aljaadi & Alharbi, 2021; Hammad & Berry, 2017) They rank food and nutrition as crucial subjects, at par with core subjects, emphasizing the subjects’ role in enhancing children’s physical health, mood, behavior, and academic performance.
Mothers also strongly preferred incorporating extended food and nutrition sessions to improve children’s eating habits. They suggested a structured, sequential approach to imparting nutritional knowledge and skills. This perspective mirrors sentiments in the United States, indicating a
global consensus on the need for integrated food and nutrition education across various grades (Patino-Fernandez et al., 2013) Although mothers are eager to include cooking and gardening in the curriculum, such activities occur infrequently and are often limited to a small subset of students. Mothers believe that participation in these activities could encourage children to try new foods and acquire essential life skills, underscoring the importance of experiential learning, a perspective supported by international research (Charlton et al., 2021; Varman et al., 2021)
The study also highlighted mothers’ support for sustainability in education, complemented by school policies and practices, despite some inconsistencies in its implementation across schools (McGregor, 2022) Moreover, mothers voiced concerns over the clarity and trustworthiness of nutrition information, particularly regarding the use of food categories in teaching healthy eating habits. Therefore, the research identified a notable interest among mothers in seeking more nutrition information and a strong inclination to attend food and healthy eating workshops. However, logistical issues have led to low attendance, suggesting that alternative methods such as newsletters or online platforms could more effectively reach mothers.
The findings underscore the need to expand food and nutrition education through an a (FELS) curriculum that includes practical activities and addresses the barriers teachers face due to time and resource limitations. Suggestions include providing teachers with accessible food and nutrition materials, professional development opportunities, and increasing support for schools to have kitchens (Alharbi, 2021) Furthermore, addressing mothers’ concerns and dispelling misinformation through targeted workshops and resources could enhance the effectiveness of food and nutrition education.
The study’s limitations include the fact that the research focused on only five elementary schools in the country’s western region, which limits the generalizability of the research and may not fully represent the broader population of Saudi elementary school mothers. Future research could aim to capture a more comprehensive range of perspectives through nationwide surveys and investigate teachers’ perspectives on incorporating suggested food and nutrition education topics into the curriculum to assess the practicality of these reforms from educational and policymaking standpoints. The reliance on mothers’ recall of food and nutrition education information in schools also underscores the need for a clearer understanding of the curriculum’s content.
Conclusion
This research offers valuable perspectives from Saudi mothers regarding food and nutrition education within the (FELS) curriculum of elementary school. The consensus among mothers highlights a perceived shortfall in food and nutrition content, underscoring the need for curriculum enhancement to bolster children’s understanding of food and nutrition and their health-related behaviors. Mothers stressed the significance of introducing food and nutrition education at young ages and maintaining it throughout
their education. Additionally, the study indicates strong parental support for incorporating practical experiences, such as cooking classes and gardening, and expanding food sustainability education to better equip children for modern challenges. Furthermore, the data suggest that parentfocused workshops on food and healthy eating could be beneficial in guiding parents through dietary choices and
addressing their uncertainties and skepticism regarding nutritional information.
Published: June 30, 2025 EDT
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license’s legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.
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Let’s Take a Trip: Experiential Learning in a Fully Online Program
Rachel Jumper, Ph.D., CFLE1 , Lisa Mize, Ph.D.1 , Flóra Faragó, Ph.D.1 , Jennifer Cantu, PhD, LPC, CFLE1
1 Stephen F. Austin State University
Keywords: Online learning, Human Development and Family Studies, Field trip, experiential learning
Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
This paper explores how a fully online program at a primarily residential university developed an experiential learning field trip to align with university and department strategic plan goals. The development, organization, and assessment of the field trip experience is discussed in detail. In addition, data were collected from student and faculty participants in the field trips and are presented in this paper. Feedback showed that students enjoyed the experience, were able to connect what they were learning in class to what they experienced on the field trip and learned about career opportunities. Faculty in the program felt that the field trips were successful and plan to continue to offer these experiences to students.
Introduction
This paper explores how a fully online program in human development and family studies (HDFS) developed a field trip experience to highlight careers in the field and to connect students and faculty to community organizations. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate how the experience was developed, organized, and assessed to help other programs implement similar experiences for students and to serve as a catalyst for ideas about how to engage students in transformative experiences in fully online programs.
As a fully online HDFS program at Stephen F. Austin State University, the faculty have found that there are unique barriers to providing experiential learning for students. Stephen F. Austin State University is a regional comprehensive university in a rural area of Texas. The current enrollment is approximately 10,500 students at this largely residential university. As a fully online program at a primarily residential university, the HDFS program faces unique challenges in aligning with the university’s 2023 strategic plan to provide transformative experiences (including experiential learning) for students (Stephen F. Austin State University, 2023) For years, research has shown that field trips are an effective way to engage students (i.e., Scarce, 1997). HDFS faculty wanted to develop an opportunity for students to engage in a voluntary faceto-face field trip and needed to find a way to engage students outside of a traditional trip that was tied to a singular course.
HDFS faculty at Stephen F. Austin State University worked together to develop a field trip opportunity for students to attend learning excursions during the fall and spring semesters. These experiences were not tied to any one class, but rather to a group of classes. The present paper reports on the feedback from 43 students attending the field trips and an overview of the development of the fieldtrip experience. In addition, the researchers, who are all faculty in the HDFS program, include their own reflections on the experiences. This paper examines research in on-
line programs and experiential learning, reviews the surveys that were used to collect data from students, discusses the findings of those surveys, and offers reflections on the use of an in-person field trip in a fully online program.
Literature Review
Online Education
Online education is not a new concept. The University of Phoenix has been offering online education in some format since the late 1980’s (Kentnor, 2015) During the past 40 years, online programs have grown in popularity due to their flexibility, convenience, and non-dependence on geographical location for students who cannot or do not wish to move (Li & Irby, 2008). In a review of the history of online education, Kentnor (2015) wrote that in 2012, “a staggering one-third of higher education students” were taking online courses (p. 22). Online education is no longer a rarity, it has become mainstream. Online courses depend on the use of electronic communication and often mean that students and faculty do not ever directly interact inperson (Li & Irby, 2008) While there are many benefits to online programs, students may also see the lack of faceto-face interaction as a drawback in fields closely related to human development and family studies, like social work (Jones, 2015).
Experiential Learning
Despite the growth of online education, research supports the idea that real-world experiences are important for learning (Kolb, 2015). In a fully online program, finding creative ways to implement hands-on learning can be difficult. Kolb’s experiential learning theory posits that having real-world experiences is an essential part of the learning process. Kolb (2015) writes that, “knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (p. 49). Morris (2020) conducted a literature review of studies using Kolb’s framework and refined the interpretation of Kolb’s ideas of
these experiences to be, “highly contextualized, primary, experience that involves hands-on learning experience in uncontrived real-world situations” (p. 1070-1071). In addition, university programs in Family and Consumer Science (FCS), like HDFS, are uniquely suited for experiential learning due to the “interactive ecological perspective” of the field (Banerjee & Hausafus, 2009, p. 40) Using this interactive experiential learning framework, the faculty in the HDFS program at Stephen F. Austin State University began to think of ways to incorporate more hands-on learning into the fully online curriculum.
Field Trips as Experiential Learning
Field trips have been shown to be effective tools for engaging students who study in fields that focus on working with people (Scarce, 1997), but modern fully online programs face unique challenges with field trips, including access. Some faculty address this with additional technology. For example, one faculty member in Texas used a point of view camera to take students on a virtual field trip in a course (Montelongo, 2018) Other programs have used virtual reality field trips (Markowitz et al., 2018) and augmented reality (Bursztyn et al., 2017) The use of these technologies reflects the importance of hands-on experiences even in online settings. The benefits that field trip and service-learning experiences provide to students, such as engaging with career-relevant, real-world experiences, are especially critical for online students who may otherwise have limited opportunities to utilize on-campus career and professional services. Research in the field of teaching and learning has shown that field trip experiences are often lacking in university level curricula (Fedesco, 2020). While not common, field trips for college students have been found to connect students with their peers and faculty and to facilitate learning and engagement in ways that cannot be utilized in a traditional classroom (e.g., Achen et al., 2019; Fedesco et al., 2020). The goal of the presented project was to connect students with professionals in the field, to expose students to an environment where they could experience hands-on activities, and to interact with faculty and their peers in an in-person environment.
Method
The program described in the paper is a fully online program at a regional four-year public university in Texas. The overarching goal of the university’s 2023 strategic plan includes transformative experiences for students. The departmental strategic plan further defined that all programs would offer two of the following opportunities: service learning, field trips, or study abroad. While the HDFS online program did incorporate service learning, neither of the other two opportunities were available. HDFS faculty discussed how field trips could be incorporated. The idea was proposed that field trips could be offered as a program wide initiative to familiarize students with careers in the field.
All faculty agreed that students attending the field trip would be eligible for a grade replacement of a grade up to 10% of the overall course grade in one of a group of se-
lected courses. Since the field trip would not be mandatory due to limited space and the online structure of the program, meaning that some students might not be able to attend, the grade replacement was included as an incentive. A breakdown of the geographic location of fully online students was requested from the institution and field trips were targeted in these regions. Faculty decided that each fall semester a trip would be scheduled to a large metropolitan area, with a high number of residing online students, and that each spring a trip would be scheduled to a smaller, local area (i.e., close to the rural location of the university).
Organizing the Field Trip
Organizing the trip consisted of several steps including developing materials to get the word out to students. HDFS faculty worked with the university’s marketing department to develop marketing materials and created the name “Destination Career Exploration” for the field trip experience. It was marketed as an opportunity to get hands-on experiences in careers in the field of human development and family studies. In addition, it was promoted as a chance for students to interact with faculty in the department in a face-to-face setting.
To organize the logistics of the trip, faculty members divided the work with one faculty member working with an organization in the chosen city to determine an appropriate location for the field trip. This faculty member served as the liaison between the university and the organization. A second faculty member set up the electronic sign-up and a third faculty member developed and collected the post-attendance surveys. All program faculty (n = 6) agreed to attend the field-trips. The contact person at the site of the field trip agreed to structure the day with three main activities: a career panel, a tour of the facility, and a professional development experience for students. Students were asked to connect what they learned on the field trip to the curriculum of their program and/or course. The first location, chosen for spring of 2019, was a children’s museum in a large metropolitan area of Texas. The second location chosen, for spring of 2023, was a community agency offering mental, emotional, and behavioral health services within the region where the university is located, which was selected for students who lived closer to the university. There was a hiatus in the field trip experience between 2019 and 2023 due to the COVID-19 shut down (in 2020, a field trip was organized to an agency offering services for cases of child abuse, but could only partially be completed due to the shut down).
Faculty coordinated communication efforts to notify students via emails and the online learning management platform notifications and opened the online sign-up for the field trip at the same time. Registration for the event was organized using a free online platform where students could sign-up to attend. A set number of spots were available for students to register and students were notified that following the field trip they would be sent a survey. Students were required to provide their own transportation to the location.
Measures
To assess the success of the field trip, the faculty in the program developed survey instruments to get feedback from both the students who attended the field trips and the faculty who helped organize and attended the field trips. Both perspectives offer useful information for the program when deciding if the experiences were valuable and to determine what students learned from attending. These surveys also allow faculty to have data to submit to university administrators and other university colleagues to demonstrate the value of student participation in experiential learning.
Student Survey
The survey instrument was developed by the faculty to determine if students were satisfied with and benefited from the field trip experience. The survey sent to students had a total of 10 questions, four closed-ended questions and six open-ended questions. Students were asked to respond to the following questions:
1. Overall, how satisfied were you with the field trip? (Seven-point Likert scale)
2. How likely are you to recommend the field trip experience to a peer? (Seven-point Likert scale)
3. Overall, how well did you feel the order of the field trip was designed? (Five-point Likert scale)
4. Tell us why you chose to go on the field trip:
5. Please tell us what your favorite experience was on the field trip and why you liked it:
6. What would you change about the field trip experience:
7. What would you keep the same about the field trip experience:
8. What concepts from any of your classes in human development and family studies did you see exemplified on the field trip:
9. Do you feel that this field trip helped you learn more about a career option for an HDFS major? (Five-point Likert scale)
10. What other careers would you be interested in learning more about in a future field trip?
Faculty Survey
Faculty were asked to reflect on their experiences with and thoughts about the field trip. Since this is a programwide effort, feedback from faculty is an important piece of information. Faculty support is necessary for the field trip and without faculty buy-in, the program would be difficult to support. To gather information from the HDFS faculty, an online survey was created and e-mailed out to all faculty in the program. The survey consisted of four questions. The first question was a multiple-choice response. Questions 2-4 were open-ended. Faculty were asked to respond to the following questions:
1. How many Field Trips have you participated in for HDFS students? Answers 1 , 2, 3, or More than 3
2. What would you say was the BEST thing that students learned from the Field Trip Experience?
3. Give 2 – 3 things that YOU learned or were an “ahha” moment from the Field Trip Experience.
4. What do you wish could be added to the Field Trip Experience to make it a richer experience for both students and faculty?
Results
A total of 43 students attended the field trips and responded to the survey. A total of 6 faculty helped develop, plan, and attend the field trips. All faculty provided their feedback on the experience. For this paper, researchers were specifically interested in examining if students enjoyed the field trip experience (student survey questions 1, 2, and 5), if they were able to connect their course content to what was learned while attending the fieldtrip (student survey question 8) and if students felt the field trip helped them learn about career options (student survey question 9). All responses to the four faculty survey questions were analyzed. Data collected from both the students and faculty who attended the field trips are discussed below.
Student Data
Data were collected following the Fall 2019 field trip (n=27) and Spring 2023 field trip (n = 16) to determine students’ overall satisfaction with the trip as well as students’ ability to connect concepts from their coursework to the experiences on the field trip. Data from these two field trip experiences showed an overall high satisfaction rating with the experience, with 93% (n=40) of students rating themselves as “extremely satisfied” with the experience. When asked if they would recommend the field trip to a peer, 88% (n=38) of students reported that they were “extremely likely” to recommend the field trip.
Qualitative responses also showed high overall satisfaction as well as students’ ability to relate concepts from courses to the field trip experience. For example, one student wrote, “One concept would be the early childhood intervention. They talked about how they help children who have developmental delays or disabilities.” Several students reflected on how they saw the connection with parent involvement stating, “I saw the concept of parent involvement. It was great walking around the museum and seeing parents interact with their children. Parents were aware of their children and participated in activities with them as well.” Another student wrote, “I think student and parent interaction is the most important thing that I saw at the field trip because it was very interactive and kept children and parent involved in the activities. In HMS we definitely push parent involvement and that was totally at the museum.” Finally, students were able to relate what they learned on the field trip to the importance of knowing developmental stages learned in class. One student wrote, “When talking about their childhood intervention program we talked about the developmental milestones that each child should reach by a certain age we have learned about
their milestones in both of the TECA classes that I have taken.”
One of the main goals as a program was to help students with career readiness. Overall, 93% (n = 40) of students reported that the field trip helped them learn more about HDFS career options. In addition, students were asked to share their favorite experience from the field trip and many of them responded with comments about career opportunities. One student wrote, “My favorite experience was when the educators answered questions and gave us tips about this certain field. It was very helpful learning about what goes on behind the scenes at the museum.” Another wrote, “My favorite part was the afternoon session in which we discussed the career and internship opportunities within the museum because as a college student, we all know how important it is to have an internship on our resume for later on.” Additional comments from students included, “I liked learning about the different positions and I really liked the work environment.” and “I enjoyed learning about a new field of work I was not familiar with before, Early Childhood Intervention and even am considering taking a job in that field now.” Both the quantitative and qualitative responses from the students who attended the field trip experiences encouraged us to continue offering these experiential field trips for the students in our fully online program. While not all the students will be able to attend a field trip, we do feel as a program that field trip experiences are valuable for students and are worth the programmatic time and resources.
Faculty Data
Results from the faculty survey indicated that the majority of faculty participated in more than one of the field trips. When asked about the best part about the field trip for students, faculty answers highlighted the concept of “learning”. Faculty reported that the primary benefits of the field trip were learning about the agency visited, learning about the positive impact that their degree can have on local communities, and learning from professionals. Faculty also reported that by hearing about different careers from the professionals at the agencies, students had new ideas of what could be done with their degree. Other benefits cited were that students gained “hands-on experiences” and one faculty noted the ability to apply knowledge from the classroom to the field.
When asked about their personal experience and what they, as faculty, had gained from the field trips, the majority reported about connecting with their students and how the field trip provided an opportunity to enhance their relationship with students. Faculty reported that they missed face-to-face teaching, and the field trip provided an opportunity to interact with the students. Building connections with the agencies and seeing former students as directors
in their professional roles were also seen as gains from the field trip.
When asked what could be added to the field trip to make it a richer experience for both students and faculty, faculty reported that the experience was very positive. They were proud of how faculty worked together and were creative to provide an opportunity for a field-trip experience in a fully online program. Faculty stated that they hoped for continued engagement opportunities with the organizations visited so that the field trip was not a “one off” experience and so that authentic, long-lasting relationships can be nurtured.
Discussion
The results from the study demonstrate that the field trip program was impactful and has implications for improving the learning experiences of students in a fully online program. The findings also show the benefits of incorporating a program-wide field trip into a fully online program. The program faculty felt that they successfuly integrated field trips into an online program and that the field trip was met with general enthusiasm and support by the students. Overall, faculty felt that field trip experiences were creative ways to engage students in a fully online program. Findings are aligned with previous research that shows that field trips allow students and faculty to make connections and engage with concepts from the classroom in unique ways that differ from the traditional classroom (e.g., Achen et al., 2019; Fedesco et al., 2020). Based on our experiences, we encourage faculty in online programs and blended programs to include field trips and consider creative means to encourage students to attend these experiences.
Lessons Learned
During our years of planning, we have learned some lessons that may help others implement field trips. Our students really loved hearing about careers and we would encourage other programs to solicit feedback from students about what they would most value from a field trip experience. Using electronic survey platforms for sign-ups and post-attendance surveys helped make the organization smoother. We also learned during our first field trip that we needed to take attendance at both the beginning and end of each day to ensure students stayed the full time. Finally, targeting where we went based on where our students lived (our Registrar helped us with these data) allowed more students to participate.
Published: June 30, 2025 EDT
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license’s legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.
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Mindfulness Practices as an Experiential Learning Strategy for Human Resources and Relationship Management Topics
Erin Hopkins, Ph.D.1a
1 Property Management, Virginia Tech
Keywords: mindfulness practices, human resources, relationship management, experiential learning
Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
Vol. 117, Issue 2, 2025
Millions of families and consumers alike rely on property managers to ensure a positive resident experience within their community. This positive resident experience is achieved through effective property management skills including human resources and relationship management, finance and accounting, maintenance and risk management, and marketing and leasing. These job skills require engagement with a multitude of stakeholders including prospective and current tenants, property owners, property employees, and vendors. Therefore, it is essential that students studying property management cultivate intrapersonal skills such as self-awareness, greater acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and anxiety and stress reduction to set them up for success in the workplace. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe how the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum is implemented into a human resources and relationship management module to cultivate these intrapersonal skills, illustrate the merit of this intervention, and share learning takeaways. The hope is that these insights will inspire others to incorporate mindfulness-based interventions into their family and consumer science curriculum.
INTRODUCTION
Property management as a field of study was first made official within four-year higher education institutions through the creation of the residential property management program at Virginia Tech in the mid-1980s. As a part of the housing and interior design content area within the family and consumer sciences discipline, the study of property management at Virginia Tech emerged within the Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management department and remains within this department housed in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences. The placement of property management within this department seems appropriate since property management is a service-oriented occupation interfacing with consumers on a daily basis to promote a satisfactory rental living environment.
Millions of families and consumers alike rely on property managers to ensure a positive resident experience within their community. This positive resident experience is achieved through effective property management skills including human resources and relationship management, finance and accounting, maintenance and risk management, and marketing and leasing. These job skills require engagement with a multitude of stakeholders including prospective and current tenants, property owners, property employees, and vendors. Therefore, it is essential that
students studying property management cultivate intrapersonal skills such as self-awareness, greater acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and anxiety and stress reduction to set them up for success in the workplace.
One method to develop these intrapersonal skills is to introduce a mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) into the classroom. The Koru Mindfulness curriculum, developed by Holly Rogers and Margaret Maytan at Duke University in the 2000s, is an MBI designed specifically for teaching mindfulness, meditation, and stress management to college students. The Koru Basic curriculum is an introduction to mindfulness and meditation containing four 75-minute sessions over the course of four weeks facilitated by a Koru certified teacher. Mindfulness practices include practices such as belly breathing, body scan, dynamic breathing, and labeling of feelings. In addition to the class sessions, students are asked to fill out a daily log throughout these four weeks with 10 minutes of a daily mindfulness practice session introduced during a class session, a reflection based on this practice, and something they are grateful for on that day.
This manuscript examines the Koru Basic Mindfulness program by first reviewing the limited existing literature on the program followed by the details of how it is used specifically within a human resources and relationship manage-
ment course module. Next, the merit of this intervention is discussed as well as learning takeaways.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Mindfulness is defined as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). The term “mindfulness” is becoming more commonplace in the United States and is being used in many different settings. The meaning of “mindfulness” is interpreted differently across people and settings. Vago and Silbersweig (2012) address this issue of difference in meaning through the development of a comprehensive framework that highlights the self-processing and neural systems involved with self-awareness, regulation, and transcendence (S-ART) to understand mindfulness. This framework is based on the idea that there are fluctuating levels of distortion or bias when self-processing ordinary experiences and that mindfulness reduces these distortions or biases through practices that cultivate selfawareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence with the overall goal of reducing suffering and generating a sustainable healthy mind.
Vago and Silbersweig (2012) explain that this reduction in self-processing distortion or bias towards self is through the cultivation of four qualities that include a balanced intensity of effort and diligence, wisdom of clear discernment or phenomenal clarity, mindful awareness, and freedom from desire and discontent. These four qualities together with the application of mindfulness to body, feelings, mental state, and interrelationship is the framework towards suffering less and realization. Therefore, mindfulness practices can cultivate intrapersonal skills such as self-awareness, greater acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and anxiety and stress reduction. This theoretical framework explains why MBIs can be effective in the classroom to enhance human resources and relationship management functions.
In the family and consumer sciences setting, Hagan (2022) explores the benefits of implementing mindfulness within the FCS classroom to address social isolation needs by using it as a mental health tool to strengthen communities. Peterson and Dutton (2022) focus on the identityseeking adolescent and how the practice of yoga and mindfulness can cultivate hope and resilience both inside and outside the classroom. Smith and Nichols (2020) implement an MBI across 70 Extension educators with the aim to enhance the three core elements of the FCS knowledge base including human well-being, family strengths, and community vitality. Outcomes included an increase in mindfulness knowledge and skill as well as acquisition of relaxation techniques, coping skills, and stress cue identification.
The focus of this study is on the Koru Mindfulness MBI, an intervention with limited research. One reason for this limited research may be the relative newness of the program. The Center for Koru Mindfulness, which trains people to teach Koru Mindfulness, was created in 2013. Another reason could be that many Koru certified teachers may not be responsible for research output at their university such as staff at the counseling center or within student affairs.
Nonetheless, seven academic peer-reviewed articles were discovered that utilize the Koru Mindfulness MBI.
The vast majority of these studies on the Koru MBI have been completed within a higher education institution setting. Greeson, Juberg, Maytan, James, and Rogers (2014) conducted the first ever study using the Koru protocol as an MBI with a randomized controlled trial. They found significant effects for improvements in perceived stress, sleep problems, mindfulness, and self-compassion which were replicated in the wait-list control group. Since then, similar positive impacts have been found using Koru as an MBI on stress levels, sleep quality, mindfulness, self-compassion, anxiety and attention problems, rumination, worry, mood, and psychological flexibility (Forbes et al., 2018; Gray et al., 2018; Mirabito & Verhaeghen, 2022; Smit & Stavrulaki, 2021; Weis et al., 2021) Even in a non-higher education institution setting, namely a family caregiving setting, the Koru MBI has been shown to be effective at increasing psychological well-being and mindful attention awareness and decreasing perceived stress (Gonzalez-Voller et al., 2019). These studies suggest that the Koru Mindfulness curriculum is an effective MBI to cultivate intrapersonal skills such as self-awareness, greater acceptance of ambiguity and uncertainty, and anxiety and stress reduction. Because of this effectiveness, the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum was implemented within an undergraduate property management operations course, specifically within a human resources and relationship management module, to cultivate intrapersonal skills. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe how the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum is implemented within a property management course, highlight the merit of the intervention through student evaluations, and share learning takeaways.
KORU BASIC MINDFULNESS CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION
The undergraduate property management operations course, where the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum has been implemented, is composed of five modules: human resources and relationship management, finance and accounting, maintenance and risk management, marketing and leasing, and green real estate management. The course begins with the human resources and relationship module consisting of eight 75-minute class sessions for this topic. Four class sessions within this module consist of management styles and motivation, planning and recruiting, legal issues and hiring, active listening, communication and conflict resolution, and performance evaluation and retention. The other four of the eight class sessions are dedicated to the standard Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum structured once a week for 75-minutes over four weeks facilitated by the author of this manuscript who is a Koru certified teacher.
The Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum, designed specifically for teaching mindfulness, meditation, and stress management to college students, is experiential in nature and engages students to practice mindfulness practices first-hand. New mindfulness practices are introduced each week to provide students with a variety of practices they
can draw upon depending on their experiences in the current moment. These practices include breath meditation, belly breathing, dynamic breathing, body scan, gatha, loving kindness, guided imagery, labeling of thoughts, eating meditation, and labeling of feelings. So, for example, if a student is feeling particularly tired, they may use dynamic breathing to reenergize themselves whereas if they are noticing that they are anxious, they may use belly breathing to decrease this anxiety.
Throughout the four weeks, students are encouraged to choose one of the techniques introduced and to practice it ten minutes a day. Depending on what resonates, some students may do a breath meditation most days while other students may do a different meditation each day. They are also tasked with turning in a weekly practice log detailing their particular daily mindful skill they practiced, reflections after completing this daily mindful practice, and something they are grateful for on that day. Students are also asked to fill in a check-in document that asks students to share their experience with their mindfulness practice over the week which gives the student time to reflect on their experience and provides time for self-awareness; one of the goals of this mindfulness-based intervention. Questions on the check-in document include:
• How did it go?
• What did you notice?
• What was your biggest barrier?
• What was your biggest breakthrough?
• Did your practices feel too long, too short, or just right? Why was that?
• Did you experience any resistance during the week to your mindfulness practices? Why was that?
Students turn in this weekly log and check-in document for credit as part of their course grade and feedback is given to the class based on themes seen across student reflections. For example, a common student theme is that they notice their minds have so many thoughts and that it wanders throughout the day. Sample feedback the instructor may give based on this theme is to try and be gentle and kind with yourself and realize that this is what minds do. Also, the instructor lets students know that this is nice awareness on noticing where their mind is in the present moment. Another theme seen throughout the student reflections is that students didn’t achieve a specific goal while meditating or it was a bad session because they were not focused. Sample feedback the instructor may give based on this student theme is that these are common thoughts and there is no wrong or right way to meditate, and it is not a destination, but a journey. An additional theme to note is that students mention favorite practices which differ across students (for example, some students say body scan is their favorite while others don’t find it particularly helpful but find lovingkindness helpful). Sample feedback the instructor may give based on this theme is that it is normal for some practices to resonate more with a particular student than others and it is recommended to use whatever meditation practices work best for that student at that moment and that there is no one size fits all.
MERIT OF THE INTERVENTION
Although research has shown positive benefits of the Koru Mindfulness curriculum in various higher education settings, it is important to see if students within this particular setting perceive this intervention as valuable to inform potential future use of the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum in this property management operations course. This evaluation was conducted through the use of a standard anonymous evaluation created by the Center for Koru Mindfulness was distributed at the end of the Koru Mindfulness curriculum. Figure 1 displays the questions that were asked on the anonymous student evaluation. The results of question 6 indicate that the vast majority of students were not familiar with Koru Mindfulness before this course (96.2%). The results of question 7 demonstrate that the majority of students would recommend Koru to other students (73.4% = Yes; 15.2% = Maybe; 11.4% = No). Approximately three-quarters of respondents would recommend the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum to friends suggesting merit of the intervention. This recommendation rate is high, especially considering that students did not self-select into this Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum, but that it was included as part of a required class for their major.
In response to what part of the class was most meaningful to the student, self-awareness and stress reduction are evident by answers such as “become more aware of myself and my actions every day” and “being able to destress”. In response what the student will do differently in their life as a result of this class, anxiety and stress reduction as well as self-awareness are exemplified by statements such as “I will practice these methods whenever I’m feeling anxious/ stressed” and “pay more attention to my actions and see how they affect my mindset”.
Table 1 illustrates the descriptive statistics of question 5 on this evaluation regarding the rating of mindfulness practices introduced. The response rate was 67.52% (79 responses out of 117 students enrolled) and dynamic breathing was rated lowest among students and belly breathing was rated highest among students. The majority of students seemed to enjoy the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum, and all mindfulness meditation practices were rated on average over a 3 out of 5 demonstrating the merit of all introduced mindfulness practices.
LEARNING TAKEAWAYS
One learning takeaway is to encourage students to remain open to the experiential mindfulness practices, even if only for the official four weeks during the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculum. As this may be a new concept for many students, this can help with student engagement during this intervention. Additionally, addressing potential resistance to trying something new up front and normalizing it for students seems to help students persist with the curriculum for four weeks. The one caveat to note here is that it is also helpful to share with students the option of not participating if they feel extreme discomfort as this is not the goal.
Maintaining a personal mindfulness practice fosters a sense of authenticity when teaching this curriculum, and if possible, sharing what brought you to your personal practice may help students engage and be vulnerable to trying out these experiential mindfulness practices. Also, the instructor’s personal practice can help provide genuine weekly feedback to students based on general themes seen throughout the daily logs and weekly check-in documents as the instructor can relate to what the student may be ex-
Table 1. Question 5 Descriptive Statistics
periencing during their practice. Also, the contemplative practice of reflective writing for the weekly check-in is encouraged as it provides another space for students to go inward to assess how they are doing with the practices. There may also be an opportunity for verbal check-ins if students are open to this method, but I believe this would depend on the class and its size. Therefore, as is typical with new classroom interventions, trial and error will serve the instructor well.
Figure 1. Koru Basic Evaluation Questions
The quantitative and qualitative results of anonymous student evaluations support the themes of social value and student engagement and therefore merit of the intervention. Some interesting future directions would be to evaluate student perceptions on the value of the Koru Basic Mindfulness curriculums based on different class delivery modes such as online synchronous or online asynchronous as well as compare these pre-COVID-19 results to postCOVID-19 results. It would also be instructive to conduct
a study that measures outcomes in prior studies such as stress, mindfulness, and well-being to see if the positive impacts of the Koru MBI are replicated within other classroom settings.
Published: June 30, 2025 EDT
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license’s legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.
References
Forbes, L., Gutierrez, D., & Johnson, S. K. (2018). Investigating adherence to an online introductory mindfulness program. Mindfulness, 9, 271–282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0772-4
Gonzalez-Voller, J., Wood, A. W., Marrs, F., Ephraimson-Abt, V., Sharp, J., & Garcia, A. (2019). A randomized-controlled pilot study comparing a oneday and four-week mindfulness-based group intervention for family caregivers. The Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 44, 228–234.
Gray, L., Font, S., Unrau, Y., & Dawson, A. (2018). The effectiveness of a brief mindfulness-based intervention for college freshmen who have aged out of foster care. Innovative Higher Education, 43, 339–352.
Greeson, J. M., Juberg, M. K., Maytan, M., James, K., & Rogers, H. (2014). A randomized controlled trial of Koru: A mindfulness program for college students and other emerging adults. Journal of American College Health, 62, 222–233.
Hagan, E. (2022). FCS Professionals Addressing Social Isolation Needs: From Rural Extension Programs to Mindfulness Post-Pandemic. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 114(3), 7–10. https://doi.org/ 10.14307/JFCS114.3.7
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are: mindfulness meditation in everyday life Hyperion.
Mirabito, G., & Verhaeghen, P. (2022). Remote delivery of a Koru Mindfulness intervention for college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of American College Health, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 07448481.2022.2060708
Peterson, T. K., & Dutton, C. (2022). Off the mat: The practice of yoga and mindfulness to foster hope and resilience for adolescents in homes and classrooms. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 114(3), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.14307/JFCS114.3.38
Smit, B., & Stavrulaki, E. (2021). The efficacy of a mindfulness-based intervention for college students under extremely stressful conditions. Mindfulness, 12, 3086–3100. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12671-021-01772-9
Smith, R., & Nichols, A. (2020). The stress less with mindfulness program: Motivations, benefits, and barriers to participation in a community-based mindfulness program. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 112(3), 41–48. https://doi.org/10.14307/ JFCS112.3..41
Vago, D. R., & Silbersweig, D. A. (2012). Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 6, 1–30.
Weis, R., Ray, S. D., & Cohen, T. A. (2021). Mindfulness as a way to cope with COVID-19-related stress and anxiety. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 21, 8–18.
Why Do I Have to Learn This? Using a Critical Science Approach to Make Learning Personal
William Wilton1a
1
Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Keywords: Critical Science, Family and Consumer Sciences Education, Textile Education, Curriculum
Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences
Vol. 117, Issue 2, 2025
Introduction
It was not long into my student teaching experience that I was asked the dreaded question of ‘why do we have to learn this?’ In fact, it was about 20 minutes into my first day teaching a secondary Clothing and Textiles course, and by the end of the semester, I couldn’t even guess how many times I was asked this question. When my student posed this question, I stumbled and fumbled my way through a response of ‘nobody can live without clothes’ and 'you might need to fix or alter a piece of clothes someday.’ Needless to say, this reasoning did not satisfy my student when they responded with 'that’s what my grandma is for.’ I approached my Clothing and Textiles course with an intrinsic passion for the content and years of sewing experience after learning how to sew when I was very young. I thought I was prepared to recognize that most of my students might not have any sewing experience, but I was not prepared to be teaching a classroom full of students who didn’t seem to care about the subject I was passionate about.
Students seeking to understand the ‘why’ behind what they are learning is not unique to the FCS classroom. In essentially every subject, people use the ‘why’ behind what they are learning to better apply the content to real-life scenarios which helps strengthen their understanding. Although answering ‘why’ they have to learn something can be challenging in the moment, supporting students to understand the context and application of what they are learning is essential to getting students to truly make sense of the information gained and be positioned to use their knowledge effectively throughout their lives. The critical science approach to curriculum planning can be applied to FCS courses to help answer the question of "why do I have to learn this?"(Brown, 1980; Brown & Paolucci, 1979). This article will analyze what prompts students to ask why they are learning FCS content, explore the theoretical framework of the critical science approach to identify practices that can help students answer this question, and then present recommendations and considerations for how FCS teachers can implement these principles into the practice in a Clothing and Textiles course to better support students in their learning.
Analyzing the Issue
I jumped into my Clothing and Textiles class by starting with an introduction to the sewing machine’s parts and uses. My plan was to do a traditional set of lessons on sewing machine parts and sewing vocabulary, then move to sewing on paper before finally starting with the classic pillowcase or two-panel stuffed animal for our first project. I was given limited curriculum materials when I started teaching. There were some projects that had been done in previous years and a few other resources from the district office that could be used, but ultimately, I had control over designing the curriculum for the course. Guided by the vague state standards and my previous sewing experience, I set the class up to teach what I thought was important to know: 1) sewing skills and 2) technical knowledge. I approached the subject with a passion for sewing so I assumed, or rather hoped, that at least a few of my students would feel the same spark when they learned to sew. Not once did it cross my mind to ask any of the students what they wanted to get out of the class or even what they thought about what we were learning.
My students quickly lost interest after the first few days of the semester, and their motivation and engagement quickly dropped to a level where they were not completing any assignments for the class. After starting every class for the first few weeks with questions from almost every student asking, ‘Why are we learning about this?’ and 'Do I actually have to sew to pass this class?’ I wish I could tell you that I had a moment of clarity that maybe this wasn’t the right place to start, but I did not. The students were telling me that they wanted to understand the importance behind the skills they were learning, but I was so focused on trying to build their sewing skills and teach towards the technical requirements of the state standards. From my perspective, I was preparing them with what they needed to know in order to sew, but I wasn’t paying attention to what my students were really asking of me. In the FCS classroom, building technical knowledge through interactive and hands-on experiences is essential for active student learning (Rowley et al., 2005; Thiri et al., 2024), but the issue I was running into was that students want first to understand why a topic
matters before being willing to engage in interactive learning experiences.
Theoretical Framework
Critical science is a framework that was developed in the late 20th century (Brown & Paolucci, 1979) to help evaluate Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum. The goal of critical science is to enable “people to think about improving their living conditions rather than accepting and coping with their present conditions” (McGregor, 2003) A critical science approach to curriculum enables FCS education to (1) move beyond teaching students to adopt the status quo to helping them develop and apply their learning to move themselves and our society towards a rationally and ethically justifiable ideal state and (2) empower students to question the ends of what they are learning as well as the means of how they are learning (Vincenti et al., 2004) Critical Science sees education as an emancipatory experience and a powerful tool for social mobility.
The critical science approach to curriculum introduced the concepts of ‘systems of action’ and ‘practical perennial problems’ as central learning objectives to the profession of FCS Education (Rehm, 2018) ‘Systems of action’ refers to how rationalized thought and mental schemas inform the ways in which a person and/or family acts in their daily life. There are three major systems of action conceptualized through critical science based on the work of Jurgen Habermas of the Frankfurt School (as cited by Brown, 1980): 1)Technical/Vocational Action, 2) Communicative Action, and 3) Critique/Emancipatory Action. Each of these actions requires different systems of thought and knowledge from the individual and family unit and calls for different skills and actions to address the experiences and problems a family will face. Emancipatory action is “the process of working towards the ultimate goal of gaining personal freedom from internal constraints such as biases or lack of skill and gaining social freedom from external constraints such as oppression or exclusion” (Rehm, 1999, p. 58).
Family and Consumer Sciences curriculum addresses a range of societal conditions, like food inequity, childcare options, sustainability, personal/family finances, etc. where there is not a singular answer that can remedy the situation for every individual and family. These societal conditions persist from generation to generation and impact individuals differently based on contextual factors (Montgomery, 1999) Because the pursuit of solutions to these common problems is ongoing, FCS curriculum considers these issues practical perennial problems (PPPs) (Montgomery, 1999) PPPs guide curriculum development to include opportunities for students to interrogate topics that concern individuals, families, and communities on a regular basis but the use of PPPs does not push a singular prescriptive or universal solution because there are contextual factors like socioeconomic status, community resources, race, gender, sexuality, etc. that influence how these problems impact one’s life (Vincenti et al., 2004) Framing learning around real issues that students may face in their personal or family lives is a key factor in the critical science approach to curriculum, which helps keep learning relevant and builds com-
petency to continue lifelong learning. In teaching around topics related to PPPs, practical reasoning is used to ask students to consider four major categories of PPPs, context, valued ends, means, and consequences (Olson, 1999). These four categories of questions work together to help students make informed decisions on how to act to solve PPPs.
One of the skills students will utilize when engaging with curriculum that is supported by the critical science approach is critical literacy. Critical literacy uses all forms of language and communication to interpret and critique the world at all levels to foster emancipatory action against observed injustices (Laster, 2008) The theory behind building critical literacy skills through FCS course content is to enable students to be able to apply the two dimensions of critical literacy: 1) Critical Interpretation, and 2) Critical Social Action to process new information by critiquing and interpreting what is presented to them against what they already know (Laster, 2008). Students will then be able to use critical literacy skills in both the classroom and in their daily lives beyond their coursework. A focus on building critical literacy around the topics covered in FCS courses helps prioritize the end goal of FCS curriculum to go beyond the traditional vocational skill-building approach where students answer the question of ‘how’ to a more philosophical approach that is concerned with questions like ‘why is this important,’ 'what benefit comes from knowing this,’ and 'what should I do now that I know this’ (Plihal et al., 1999) Some students may take to this more quickly than others, and some might need more support in understanding and learning about epistemologies and realities other than their own.
Application of Critical Science to Practice
The application of a critical science approach to curriculum planning is not a singular phenomenon and it will look different depending on the course within the content area. The following looks specifically at how these principles can be applied to a Family and Consumer Sciences Clothing and Textiles course, but the principles can be applied more broadly to other courses, subject areas, and even informal learning environments.
Working together to identify Practical Perennial Problems
Looking specifically at the Clothing and Textiles course I taught, I was not utilizing a critical science approach to the course curriculum. I gave my students no space to fully connect what they were learning to their lived experiences, personal interests, prior knowledge, and/or societal realities. To better enact a critical science perspective, I should have started the course with a unit on clothing in society. In this unit, students could write journals or discuss questions that connected what we were going to be learning in the course to their daily lives and their worlds. Answering critical questions could help the students work together as a class to establish what practical perennial problems they may face as consumers and potential professionals in the
field of clothing and textiles. This line of critical questioning could include:
• What influenced/inspired you to pick out the outfit you are wearing today?
• How have you or people around you been judged by what you are wearing?
• What might happen if all of the clothing stores in town closed?
• What happens to clothes that get worn down and torn?
• What do you think about people who wear out-ofstyle or damaged clothes?
• What do you know about the process of making fabric?
• Who do you think of when you think of a person who sews?
Students can be positioned as sources of knowledge when it comes to developing these questions and framing practical perennial problems. Prompting students to identify issues that they are interested in related to the subject matter and course content can allow you, as the teacher, to better understand the contextual factors that influence their relationship to what you are trying to teach them about. For a Clothing and Textiles course, students might say they are interested in shopping and buying clothing; this could help direct the curriculum to dive deeper into consumer habits and emphasize the impacts fabric content and construction quality have on a garment’s pricing and longevity. Suppose the curriculum was to jump straight into the fabric quality or construction techniques, both are topics commonly covered in Clothing and Textiles courses, without first contextualizing itself as something that aligns with the interests and issues that students face. In that case, the students won’t always be able to process the ‘why’ behind what they are learning if it isn’t connected to a PPP that they have identified. Within every section or semester, the students might identify different PPPs as their interest for the course, but this doesn’t mean what is taught needs to change majorly for each new group of students, but rather how it is introduced to students and taught in connection to other content can help students understand not only what they are learning, but why they are learning about it.
Learning with Critical Literacy
In order for a teacher to utilize a critical science perspective, they themselves must be aware of the way in which larger systems interact and influence the communities in which they teach and the students in their schools. Typically, in a Clothing and Textiles course, the majority of the literacy and reading skills used by students are technical in nature. The primary concerns are typically about training students to read sewing patterns and follow explicit written instructions. Although these literacies are important to build one’s skills, by using a critical science approach, a larger range of literacy skills can be integrated into the curriculum to help students further understand what they are learning.
Students may be asking why they have to learn to sew when they can just buy their clothes. When looking at this question critically, they might be wanting to know why they should be spending time and effort learning how to sew when fast fashion brands make both cost and availability less of a concern for them as consumers. With the cost of fabric and sewing notions, it can become less affordable to make clothes rather than buy clothes from these fast fashion brands. To address these questions using a critical science approach, students could do a research project where they draw connections between a variety of sources to explore the societal, economic, and environmental impacts of fast fashion. In this project, students can build skills in both dimensions of critical literacy that Laster (2008) identifies as essential.
Critical Interpretation
Students could gather and analyze how fast fashion is talked about in different categories of media. Comparing how fast fashion is talked about on 1) social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, 2) mainstream news outlets, and 3) research papers and industry briefs could help students see how different forms of media require different literacy skills to interpret information. Critical interpretation of media and literature around PPPs can help students see new perspectives and have a more comprehensive understanding of how these problems are not easily solved with a singular solution.
Critical Social Action
Students could compile resources and recommendations for what actions they think consumers should take to address the PPPs they observe in the fashion industry. This would also give students the opportunity to practice processing the information they have learned with enough understanding to present it to a new audience. Being able to share and talk about your point of view, as well as identifying actions that you and others can take to create a positive impact, transforms the learning experience into a process that supports social justice.
Building the skills around critical interpretation and critical social action is important for all subject areas where matters of social justice are discussed, including Social Sciences, Civics, English, Agriculture, Economics, Business, etc. The more opportunities to apply these skills and practice this level of critical thinking, the stronger students will become at thinking and acting in a way that understands and supports the bigger picture and society as a whole.
Discussion
A critical science approach to curriculum cannot be done at the drop of a hat; rather, it takes intentional preparation and framing from the teacher to ensure that the learning environment and students are primed to engage fully in the ask of the critical science approach. “The classroom is a real-life human relationships laboratory for learning how best to relate to each other” (Laster, 2008, p. 268). Teachers
must be committed both curriculuarly and pedagogically to the implementation of a critical science approach in order to effectively support students in learning and thinking at this level. A key influence on a teacher’s ability to adopt a critical science approach to the curriculum in their classroom is the support they receive from professional peers, administrators, and their families (Lichty & Johnson, 2006) Because support is important to effectively adopt new perspectives of curriculum, it is important that developing an understanding of critical science is not done solely by one teacher, but the entire department and administrator team should be on board to developing inclusive and social justice-oriented learning experiences.
FCS curriculum is a mirror to real life, and the reality of our students and communities is unique to where we teach. Our curriculum can’t exist in a prescriptive, nation-wide, teacher-proof, one-size-fits-all magic box. No one textbook is going to be 100% effective and relevant for teaching the concepts needed for courses like Human Behaviors, Families in Crisis, Parenting, Nutrition, Healthy Living, or even Clothing and Textiles because the societal and practical reality of the concepts varies from state to state and community to community. Even across a single district, the uniqueness of individual schools and student populations should merit a specialized and intentional FCS curriculum. Pre-made national, state, and/or district curriculums should be seen as a starting place by teachers. They can be a place to get general direction and framework for the units covered in a class, but the classroom teacher and students should work together to integrate elements of the critical science perspective to ensure the curriculum stays relevant and timely to the needs and the reality of each course section.
A meaningful education should be something that can empower students to work towards a positive change and be significantly transformative in the learning and application of new knowledge. Ideally, the curriculum in our classes, and all other classes outside of FCS, should work to support these goals. Critical Science originated as a perspective used to evaluate and design curriculum, but this doesn’t mean that critical science is irrelevant to teachers who don’t have control over the curriculum they teach. If you aren’t in a position that will allow you to build your curriculum to support a critical science perspective, there could
still be ways to integrate pieces of this framework into your classroom through your pedagogical practice. When the curriculum doesn’t directly support a critical science perspective, it becomes more important to use how to teach it to make it meaningful. Further research should be done focused on developing pedagogical practices that align with the critical science approach and determine how teachers with limited curricular control can still foster this level of learning. A critical science approach to curriculum has the potential to be used in other areas of education as well, especially considering how other disciplines connect to pop culture and everyday life, but there has been minimal scholarship exploring the potential uses of critical science outside of the FCS content area.
Conclusion
Students have every right to be inquisitive about not only what they are learning, but why they are learning it. This doesn’t mean it isn’t awkward to fumble through an answer when they ask about why we are learning this in the middle of class. Understanding critical science means that as teachers we can have a response to this question, and actually applying a critical science perspective means that we can support students in answering this question for themselves. The use of critical science in curriculum development has mainly happened in the context of Family and Consumer Sciences Education, but there is potential for other disciplines to adopt this approach to their practice. No matter what classroom a student is sitting in, what they are learning should connect to their life in a larger context. School should not just be an opportunity for students to learn new information but also to understand how to apply their learning to the bigger picture of life. This is what makes critical science so impactful and essential to our work as educators. We only have the students in our classrooms for a semester, or maybe a year at a time, but the aptitude to make sense of what you are learning as it relates to your real life and to understand the why behind the how is something students can use forever.
Published: June 30, 2025 EDT
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license’s legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.
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Lizabeth Self-Mullens, CFCS-Retired - Liz holds degrees in Home Economics Education, Textiles & Apparel, and Human Ecology. Her career includes service as a faculty member, extension educator, program director, unit director, assistant dean, dean, assistant vice president for academic affairs, and provost. Liz retired in 2018 as Dean, of the College of Agriculture & Human Ecology at Tennessee Technological University. She served as the 2020-2021 AAFCS Board President, Counselor on the 2021-2022 AAFCS Board of Directors, and Chairperson of the AFCS Past Presidents’ Unit for two years. She participated in the AAFCS Council for Certification and Task Force for Program Advancement. She currently serves on the Leadership Council, Past Presidents’ Unit, ATD Showcase Committee, several communities, and as a mentor in the AAFCS Leadership Academy. Locally, Liz teaches quilting classes to adults and children, participates with the Friends of White Plains to restore an 1840s historic home, and chairs the Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival Board.
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