British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training (2007). Home Economics: Foods & Nutrition 8 to 12 IRP. Victoria, B.C.
British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training (2007). Home Economics: Family Studies 10 to 12 IRP. Victoria, B.C.
British Columbia Ministry of Education, Skills, and Training (2007). Home Economics: Textiles 8 to 12 IRP. Victoria, B.C.
These essential documents contain not only the government mandated curriculum and learning outcomes for each of the three areas of Home Economics, but also the rationale and explanation for the study area. Home economics classes offer numerous benefits for personal development and growth for students of all grades. Note especially the Suggested Achievement Indicators that can guide what lessons and activities can be planned for each Prescribed Learning Outcomes.
Halpern, D. F. (1998). Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Dispositions, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring. American Psychologist,53(4), 449-455.
This article explains a 4-part empirically based model for teaching and learning critical thinking skills. Firstly, learners require disposition to willingly develop better thinking skills. Secondly, critical thinking should be regarded as a skill that is identifiable and applicable, that is, if students can recognize that they are using these skills, they will become more effective thinkers. Thirdly, critical thinking should be thought so that students can transfer the skill to new situations. Lastly, self-monitoring about their thinking process is crucial so that the student can realize that they are on track towards the appropriate goal, and to ensure accuracy in their thinking.
Murphy, P. K., Rowe, M. L., Ramani, G., & Silverman, R. (2014). Promoting critical-analytic thinking in children and adolescents at home and in school. Educational Psychology Review, 26(4), 561-578.
This article discusses evidence surrounding critical-analytic pedagogies and interventions from kindergarten to grade 12. It is suggested, “critical-analytic thinking develops over time, and these skills are built on numerous other precursor skills including language skills and social-emotional skills.” Therefore, “it is necessary to consider how to support precursors to these skills and how interventions could promote critical-analytic thinking as it develops in children and adolescents.” Readers are presented with an analysis and definition of critical-analytic teaching currently, with suggestions for further research, practice, and implication. It gives suggestions as to how it can be fostered in the home and at school by creating nurturing learning environments. Ideas from this article can be used across curriculums.
Schneider, E., McGovern, E., Lynch, C., & Brown, L. (2013). Do food blogs serve as a source of nutritionally balanced recipes? an analysis of 6 popular food blogs. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 45(6), 696-700.
6 highly ranked food blogs were analyzed for one year, for a total of 96 recipes sorted by protein type (vegetarian, poultry, red meat, and seafood) for sodium, saturated fat, and energy content. Saturated fat and sodium content were generally excessive whereas vegetarian and seafood recipes were significantly lower in risk nutrients than red meat and poultry recipes. The authors conclude that the “public should be aware of the nutritional limitations of popular food blogs”. For students this is a great example of critically assessing online food related content for health benefits.
Sperry, C. (2012). Teaching Critical Thinking Through Media Literacy. Science Scope, 35(9), 56-60.
This article introduces ways to teach critical thinking skills in a science context. This includes media recording and media production as a way to examine, reflect on, and understand processes behind different perspectives. Through examining a classroom project experience on media literacy, teachers have found that “media-decoding process engages all students in a rigorous, accessible, and relevant methodology for critical thinking about science information.” Although the article’s examples are based in science, these activities are also easily transferable to home economics, as there is a lot of popular media and false advertisements in the realm of foods, textiles or fashion, and psychology or family studies.
Vaterlaus, J., Patten, E., Roche, C., & Young, J. (2015). Gettinghealthy: The perceived influence of social media on young adult health behaviors. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, 151-157.
Through interviews and focus groups, 32 out of 34 young adult (ages 18-25) participants were seen to perceive social media to have an influence on young adult health behaviours. Three themes were apparent in their experience with social media and health behaviors: 1) social media as a motivator and barrier to exercise, 2) the perceived connection between food and social media, and 3) the perceptions of exercise pictures and posts online. Although secondary school students are younger than those sampled in this research, the results still provide insight as to how young social media users and participants influence others and are influenced by food and health related content on these online platforms.
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