2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Informal Food Learning Environments for Improving Youth Dietary Skills
| Project/Area Number |
17K12919
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
FEUER HART 京都大学, 農学研究科, 特定講師 (70765510)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | Food knowledge / Lifelong skills / Nutrition / Food Education |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The formal fiscal year was a breakthrough year in terms of establishing a pioneering methodology for benchmark testing youth food skills in Cambodian schools. Two visits to Cambodia provided opportunity to establish a competent research team and to conduct the first pilots.
This methodology now includes sensory testing using fruit, vegetables and aromatic herbs. The senses that are tested individually include sight, smell, taste and touch. These skills are corroborated against knowledge of local food and ingredients which are necessary for independent responsibility of nutrition.
Taste and touch were tested in optional modules by means of eating activities. Specifically, children were tasked with eating whole fish, with expert/peer judgment of their performance. Ability to eat vegetables with increasing bitter flavor was also tested.
Over 220 students have participated so far and provided a high quality set of data, as well as field observations. These data are cross-referenced with demographic information collected from each school, and include interest variables such as hometown (rural/urban), family size, and child order in the family.
So far, two benchmarks have been conducted in a semi-rural location in a private school and two benchmarks has been conducted in public school systems in semi-urban location (capital city periphery). In addition, the Cambodian Ministry of Education has approved all subsequent access to public schools for this food skills benchmarking!
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The accomplishments in Cambodia in FY2017 have set the groundwork very strongly for an smooth transition to the Japanese case study. Although I predict that access and organization will be far more difficult in Japan given the stricter bureaucratic conditions for privacy, school curriculum structure, and hygiene, more time for developing this case has already been foreseen in the original plan.
Furthermore, the good progress in Cambodia means that there are already existing data from which better preparation for Japan can be made. Logistical challenges faced in Cambodia, including organizational, bureaucratic and hygiene issues, will also help to adapt the methodology in Japan more readily. The efficiency of the program in Cambodia has also meant that extra budget is available to devote to the more complicated case in Japan.
In the meantime, the Cambodian research team is now set-up and has a strong mandate so it can work autonomously and with little intervention from the Principal Investigator. The success in obtaining ministerial approval to access all public schools in Cambodia for this food education research has significantly smoothed the process and bodes well for additional research in subsequent years.
One re-arrangement in the project plan will be to conduct foodshed mapping (surveying the food options available in school cycling and walking range) will be conducted only after official benchmarking has been conducted. This is not expected to have an impact on the project implementation.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In early FY2018, the research team for Japan has already been selected in light of the skills required and the team has received some invitations to co-develop this benchmarking program with a private school in Kyoto. The team will continue to seek opportunities in other schools in the Kansai area to implement this scheme using the selection criteria (rural/urban/private/public). By the end of FY2018, we expect to conduct two pilot benchmarks and be in the process of planning two real-life tests.
The benchmarking for Japan will have to be adapted more significantly in light of the wide range of applicationos of Shokuiku in different schools. This can range from very little to daily routine passive food education and experience of eating commensality. As a consequence, my team will seek out 3rd party approval for our methodology after conducting pilot tests, as foreseen in the original program. A workshop for this approval will take place in Kyoto in Autumn 2018, after which high-quality data gathering can be conducted through the middle of FY2019.
This year will also see the publication of the methodology process as a discussion paper, with continuous input sought from scholars around the world to refine and adapt this method for additional countries. No empirical publications are expected until the end of FY2018, when the results from Cambodia will be published in a journal in the branch of Food Education. Most publications, including with country-comparison data, will be submitted during the end of FY2019, as foreseen in the research plan.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The implementation of the project in Cambodia proceeded under budget due to the effort and efficiency of the project leader and high motivation of the local research team. Unexpectedly discounted airline and meeting costs, as well as significant logistical support by partner institutions (public and private middle and high schools) in Cambodia added to the lower cost of research.
Considering the emerging challenges of adapting this research in Cambodia for the Japanese case in FY2018 and FY2019, the extra budget for conducting the food skills benchmarking, including optional modules, will be very helpful in these years. This amount will allow one additional school to be surveyed or to conduct optional modules (fish eating, bitter vegetable consumption) in the already-selected schools. This will increase the data quality and help to ensure comparability between Cambodia and Japan.
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Research Products
(2 results)
