Abstract
Introduction:
My Cookery is a children’s cookery book that aims to enhance children’s joy of cooking and develop their cooking skills. It has been distributed to more than 450,000 children in Denmark. The development of the book was infomed by research into food education approaches that are generally known to enhance student outcomes (experiential learning, co-determination and activating taste competences). This article reports on a study which aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the different approaches students use to engage with the cookery book.
Method:
A survey was conducted among students (N = 1,609) with experience of using My Cookery. Outcomes were measured in terms of self-assessed learning. Different approaches to use were measured in terms of (1) how recipes were used, (2) whether taste competences were used actively, (3) students’ level of co-determination and (4) school, home and website use, respectively. Through multiple stepwise regression, correlations between student outcome and different methods of usage were analysed.
Conclusion:
The results indicate that the greatest effect was achieved when students used their taste competences actively. The second-largest effect was linked to students’ home usage. To carry out effective home economics teaching, it may be essential to facilitate processes that reach into the home and ensure taste competences are activated during cooking.
Historical background
In Danish primary schools, there has been a change in home economics and food education: from focusing on precision, nutrition and hygiene, to a focus on taste, pleasure and creativity (Ueda, 2021). This is not the result of action by the Danish Ministry of Education or any other form of state intervention in the home economics curriculum. Rather, it is the result of a broader process of social and cultural development, which includes a wide spectrum of changes, from the emergence of the New Nordic Kitchen (Leer, 2016; Nordic Co-operation 2004; Nordic Council of Ministers, 2014), via changes in public food cultures, to a new perception of the kitchen, the child and upbringing, and education in general.
These processes have brought about radical change in taste and food education. The kitchen has become a site of desire, pleasure and experimentation, rather than a dangerous place with sharp knives, boiling water and the need for strictly adherence to recipes. Moreover, rather than being seen as an insecure individual needing protection by adults, the child is viewed as a competent person in their own right because their individual taste experiences, preferences and competences are seen to be as good as those of the adult (Wistoft and Qvortrup, 2018).
However, the first cookbook was published much earlier. In 1847, the pseudonymously named Madam Mangor published the Cookbook for Little Girls, Published by a Grandmother. Little girls were to be raised as proper housewives and show virtues that left house guests in no doubt about this: ‘It is the little girl’s responsibility not only to handle food hygienically but also to make it seen that she does’ (Nyvang, 2017). For many years, however, cookery books for children were mostly used for play. They were used by upper class girls when they played house with doll stoves and dolls houses. Mothers reigned supreme in the kitchen, while other family members had to stand back until girls were old enough to be allowed access. When they eventually were, it was mainly to be trained in the tasks and virtues expected of a good housewife.
This study included cookery books published in the Danish language between 1971 and 2016. The cookbooks are primarily written by women for children, although many of them sought to address children via their parents – that is, the parents were the recipients. The books were identified by title and subsequent review. The selection criteria adopted were the same for all years. To qualify as a book, the publication had to be at least 16 pages long (in line with the definition provided by Danish Bibliographic Centre); to qualify as a children’s cookbook, it had to contain recipes for children. Our focus was publications that aimed to involve children in cooking.
A total of 509 cookery books were identified, 435 of which contained recipes for children and young people aged 4–18 years. The remaining books were books about food for children and/or families written for parents, scout leaders, kindergarten teachers and so on. In addition, there were textbooks, teachers’ manuals and reprints. Only a few of the books were written by male authors, and all of these were published from 2000 onward. The first of these was Meyer’s Kitchen Kids (Meyer and Poulsen, 2000).
Drawing upon the registration and documentation of all Danish children’s cookbooks, another study has reviewed books published since 1971 (N = 435), analysing them in relation to teaching methods, learning goals, upbringing values and taste dimensions (Wistoft and Qvortrup, 2018, 2019). The main contribution of this earlier research by Wistoft and Qvortrup (2018, 2019) was to offer an account of historical trends in Danish children’s cookbooks. In particular, evaluations of My Cookery (Ejlersen and Lorang, 2014) have shown that children using this book are highly motivated when it comes to preparing delicious food. Furthermore, the book makes children strive to get their parents out of the kitchen so they can experiment with their own dishes and recipes, thereby becoming more self-confident in the kitchen (Christensen et al., 2018; Wistoft et al., 2015).
It is not only the large number of cookery books recorded in Wistoft and Qvortrup’s (2018) study that may come as a surprise. It is even more surprising that the study reveals that our perception of children with regard to food, meals and cooking has changed over the course of the last 50 years. The analysis of the 435 children’s cookbooks published in Denmark in the period 1971–2016 demonstrates that even though children are probably similar today to they were in the 1970s, our expectations of what they are, and what they should be capable of, have changed. The history of the children’s cookbook is the story of the child, and the story of the child is the story of adult expectations of what a child is or should be. However, the basic message to be taken from this earlier work is that great change has taken place over the years: children used to be regarded as insecure and incompetent, needing their parents to guide them through the perils of kitchen life and sharp knives. But are now regarded as independent and competent, needing their parents to leave them alone in the kitchen. Cookery books for children used to celebrate science and progress with nutritional instructions and detailed recipes, but now the focus is on taste experiences, the senses and creativity. This change has been paralleled by changes in the adult world of gastronomy: from restaurants serving traditional dishes with very little innovation, through a phase inspired by US, French and Italian gastronomy, to today’s concern for innovation, authenticity and localism (Leer, 2016).
In the 1970s, the kitchen was seen as a dangerous place to which defenceless children were only allowed access under supervision, subject to an array of warnings about the potential dangers of sharp instruments and red-hot stoves, as well as various rules concerning hygiene. Today, by contrast, according to cookbooks, children should have free access to the kitchen, and when the kids are cooking, parents are expected to wait patiently for the tempting results of their children’s efforts to be presented and served. Furthermore, cooking and kitchens are deeply political arenas: the period since 1970 has witnessed several revolutions, beginning with the celebration of nutritional foods produced efficiently by the farming industry. Then came health concepts linked to the green revolution, later followed by the sustainability revolution favouring organic farming and animal welfare. Globalisation and the multiethnic kitchen followed this (Leer, 2016).
These revolutions also changed the perceptions of children, kitchens, upbringing and food education. Gradually taste experiences have come into focus, and in Danish children’s cookbooks, smagskompetence (taste competence) has become a prominent theme even though nutrition still plays a dominant role (Leer & Wistoft, 2018). We understand the term taste competence as follows: (1) the children are involved in the cooking, (2) the children work to achieve the taste they desire and (3) in doing so, children’s taste education and socialisation are combined. In other words, taste competence means being able to make informed food decisions with taste being the compass of judgement. This is important, not just in a food or taste education context, but in the wider perspective of educating citizens to navigate a society influenced by taste judgements (Wistoft & Qvortrup, 2019, 2021).
My Cookery
My Cookery is a project initiated by the Danish Committee for Health Information with the purpose of strengthening children’s joy in cooking and getting them more involved in cooking at home. In addition, the intention is to ensure the sustainable development of children’s food habits. To achieve this goal, a children’s cookbook titled MIT Kokkeri (My Cookery) and an associated website were developed, with the first edition being published in 2014. Since then, the book has been published in four editions, and each new edition has undergone revision based on feedback from children and teachers together with evaluation research. The revisions have focused in particular on making the book contemporary so as to reflect new trends in food, ecology, health and sustainability. For example, one very significant current trend in Denmark has been the shift to vegetarian and vegan food, and this has been engaged with by incorporating recipes with less meat and more vegetables. Another example is the addition of guidance on how to cook dishes using alternatives to meat.
The work is funded by a private foundation, making it financially possible to distribute the book free of charge to more than 450,000 Danish primary school students as part of teaching in the subject of home economics. The cookbook is widely used as teaching material in Danish home economics education and, at the same time, it is intended as a gift for students to take home. In this way, the project facilitates a link between home economics cooking classes in schools and cooking at home. The same connection can be found in other food education development projects and follow-up research (Besnilian et al., 2018), but research on the effectiveness of establishing such a link between school and home is currently sparse.
With respect to didactics, My Cookery aims to integrate experiential learning, student co-determination and the active use of taste competences during cooking (Leer & Wistoft, 2018). Recent research has shown that this combination of approaches shows good potential in enhancing student learning outcomes in food education (Christensen and Wistoft, 2016; Hansen et al., 2019 Häikiö et al., 2020; Mäkelä et al., 2018; Ozorak, 2013). However, the implementation of these didactics alongside the provision of children’s cookbook offers a unique way of applying these approaches, and therefore, research on the use of the method is also sparse. In addition, this specific didactic focus makes My Cookery stand out from more traditional children’s cookbooks. This can be seen in the results of the above-mentioned historical study looking at Danish children’s cookbooks published between 1970 and 2017. This highlighted how increasingly children are regarded as competent individuals able to make their own decisions when supported to do so, and My Cookery adopts this latter perspective (Wistoft & Qvortrup, 2019).
In My Cookery, experiential learning and student co-determination are integrated via a series of recipes worded in a less dogmatic style than recipes used to be (and still are in many cases). For example, traditional recipes tend to provide direct instructions on how to prepare food using a very stringent procedure, with little room for modification or personal choice. The recipes of My Cookery do contain some elements of direct instruction, but also provide a more open structure, with students being encouraged to experiment with different approaches to preparing dishes in their own way. In other words, the intention is to give students the opportunity to prepare dishes in accordance with their own preferences. The element of taste is relevant here because prior research indicates that when students experiment with cooking, their decisions are likely to be undertaken with taste preferences brought to the fore (Christensen, 2019). In other words, students tend to like the food they produce and will incorporate it into their diets if it matches their taste preferences. However, this point derives from qualitative research, and in a more general sense, the effectiveness of students using their taste competences actively is still relatively unexplored (Leer and Wistoft, 2018).
To summarise, My Cookery can be regarded as a large-scale project based on a combination of well-understood didactic elements and unexplored assumptions about how it is possible to conduct effective food education through a children’s cookbook. Basic advice for children about nutrition has not been changed basically, which is also mirrored in My Cookery, but the nature of the food education provided to students has changed. The unexplored assumptions relate to the high degree of effectiveness expected when establishing a link between home economics cooking classes in schools and cooking at home, especially when children are encouraged to use their taste competences during cooking activities. The purpose of this article is to investigate these assumptions, in line with the following research question.
RQ1. What is the effectiveness of different approaches by which students use My Cookery in terms of self-assessed learning outcomes?
To answer this question, we opted to conduct a survey study.
Methods
Design
Different approaches to use were measured in terms of students’ self-reported level of (1) experiential learning, (2) active use of taste competences, (3) co-determination in cooking and (4) school, home and website usage, respectively. A 45-item survey with 6-point response categories was developed. Translated from Danish, the answer categories were (1) ‘Not at all’, (2) ‘To a very low degree’, (3) ‘To a low degree’, (4) ‘Somewhat’, (5) ‘Greatly’ and (6) ‘Very much so’.
The goal of measuring the level of the different approaches was to analyse how each correlated with student learning outcomes. Studying learning outcomes is difficult because it is never possible to observe and measure learning directly (Luhmann and Schorr, 2000). However, it is possible to observe signs of learning, and this is commonly done in the form of test results. In the case of My Cookery, this method of studying learning outcomes was deemed inappropriate because the learning objectives of My Cookery are oriented towards, and entail elements such as, joy, motivation, sustainable awareness and the development of self-confidence with cooking. In such a case, we argue it is more appropriate to measure student outcomes by means of self-assessment.
Self-assessment provides an essential sign of learning because if learning has taken place, it will generally change students’ awareness of their own abilities, and thus their expectations of how competent they are at cooking. For instance, if using My Cookery has increased a student’s knowledge and skills in terms of reflecting on sustainability when cooking a meal, the student will likely be able to express expectations that are convergent with this learning.
Another perspective on why it is relevant to examine self-assessment and expectations has been presented by Hattie (2009) in his meta-study Visible Learning. Here, Hattie examines 138 variables and concludes that a student’s own assessment of learning outcomes is the variable that has the greatest impact on student learning. But according to Hattie, it is not the assessment itself that makes the difference, but the student’s expectations concerning their own abilities. It is a human trait to set achievable goals for oneself to avoid disappointment and defeat. However, low expectations can limit potential learning outcomes because the lower the expectations that students have, the lower the learning outcomes become (Brown et al., 2015). It follows that the effectiveness of teaching can be measured in terms of whether teaching is able to raise students’ expectations and thus their own assessment of outcome.
Research also shows that self-assessed learning generally does not differ significantly from test results (Cermak and Bissell, 2014; Kuncel et al., 2005). However, this point is strongly dependent on the quality of both the test and the self-assessment instrument in question (Brown et al., 2015). Even though there is a statistical tendency for students to assess their outcome slightly lower than the level determined by a test, which supports the point above that students in general set achievable goals for themselves (Hattie, 2009), student self-assessment also has limitations and biases, which will be addressed later in this article.
Population and sample
A total of 450,000 copies of My Cookery were printed and freely handed out to students; thus, these students constituted the total population. However, far less than this number was needed to provide the statistical power needed to conduct our study, and we therefore selected a smaller sample. Using non-probability sampling approach, we contacted schools nationally that had ordered My Cookery and invited them to participate in the survey. This led to 1,609 students who all had experience of using My Cookery answering the questions asked. Based on the background variables of gender, age, ethnicity and parents’ socioeconomic status, we analysed the characteristics of respondents in the sample and compared this with national demographic data. The data distribution for these four variables was very similar to the national distribution.
Data management and analysis
What was the effectiveness of students’ use of My Cookery with regard to self-assessed learning outcomes? To answer this question, we opted to utilise multiple stepwise regression, with self-assessed learning outcome being analysed as the dependent variable. As independent variables, we included constructs that addressed students’ use of My Cookery and a selection of background variables – 12 independent variables in total. The results can be seen in Table 1, where the first column contains the independent variables, and subsequent columns contain results in the form of regression coefficients. In the column named bivariate regression, a linear regression analysis has been conducted with self-assessed learning outcome and the variable listed in each row. This means that 12 bivariate regression analyses are presented in total, and in each of these, multivariate control over the influence of other variables is not included.
Regression analysis of self-assessed learning outcome as dependent variable and multiple independent variables.
N = 1,609.
p ⩽ .001. **p ⩽ .01. *p ⩽ .05.
In the columns labelled Step 1, Step 2 and Step 3, the number of variables included in each analysis increases stepwise. Hence, Step 1 is a multivariate regression that includes five independent variables. Step 2 includes eight independent variables. Step 3 includes all 12 independent variables. The three steps should be regarded as three distinct regression analyses, with the independent variables included being those for which results are presented in each column. This means that in the final step of such an analysis, it can be observed which variable has the most significant impact on the dependent variable, when all of the 12 independent variables are included in the statistical model (Nathans et al., 2012; Teo, 2013). In other words, the most significant results in the Step 3 analysis indicate which variables in the table have most explanatory power with regard to the dependent variable self-assessed learning outcome.
One challenge related to this analytic approach is that the variables are constructed on the basis of a varying number of items in the survey. Furthermore, the survey questions have also been responded to on different scales. Therefore, all the variables in the regression analysis have been standardised, which involves a mathematical process of recalculating the mean to 0 and the standard deviation to 1, to place all the variables on the same scale (Petscher et al., 2013). Hence, each result in Table 1 is a coefficient that expresses how many standard deviations the dependent variable will change as a consequence of an increase of 1 standard deviation in the independent variable. This analytic approach facilitates comparison across variables that have been measured on different scales (Field, 2009: 794; Norman, 2010). Using this multivariate approach, it is possible to combine and analyse the total number of survey variables in numerous combinations, and in the analytical phase of the research process, several combinations were tested and examined. It is not possible to present all the results within the scope of this article. And nor do we consider all the results to be worth mentioning, due to factors such as low p values. Instead, Table 1 includes the results that we consider most noteworthy.
Ethical considerations
All children and parents were informed by teachers about the purpose of the study. All data were kept confidential, and all personal identifiers have been removed. Pseudonyms have been assigned where appropriate, and the data were collected and stored in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
Results and discussion
The first three rows of Table 1 show the correlation between students’ self-assessed learning outcomes and three different approaches to using the recipes in My Cookery in terms of (1) whether students followed the recipes precisely; (2) whether they changed them a little or (3) whether adopted an experimental approach to the recipes. All the coefficients are positive and strongly statistically significant, which indicates that all three approaches hold the potential to enhance students’ self-assessed learning outcomes.
Specifically, in bivariate analysis, it can be observed that following recipes precisely has a coefficient of .14. This coefficient rose to .20 when students adopted an approach where they changed the recipes a little. With regard to the use of an experiential approach, the coefficient rose even further to .21. To some extent, this is in line with other research which advocates the use of more experiential approaches in connection with food education and students’ approaches to cooking at home because it has been shown that experimenting and being creative and innovative in general enhances student learning outcomes (Christensen and Wistoft, 2016; Cotton et al., 2020; Dudley et al., 2015; Utter et al., 2015). However, we find the results interesting because the differences between the coefficients are small. If, for example, we focus on the Step 1 analysis of the multiple regression, we can observe that the coefficients are almost identical and remain strongly statistically significant. Hence, this analysis reliably indicates that following recipes precisely can have a similar effect to adopting a more experiential approach. We do not argue against experiential learning, since the results also show that this is effective. Nevertheless, we emphasise that following a recipe also carries fundamental learning potential for many students.
The highest coefficient in Table 1 is linked to students using their taste competences actively. In bivariate analysis, the coefficient is .53, and in the stepwise regressions, it ranges from .43 to .30. The results for this variable remain strongly statistically significant throughout all three steps in the analysis, with a p value consistently under .001. In addition, the above-mentioned results do not change noticeably when controlling for other variables in the stepwise regression, which indicates that they are reliable. We find it noteworthy that the coefficient regarding taste competences used actively was higher than the coefficients of all the other variables. Actively using taste competences has at least twice the effect of the other variables. For example, the Step 1 analysis shows that an experiential approach to recipes results in a coefficient of .20, while using taste competences actively results in a coefficient of .43. There is a difference of .23 standard deviations between these two results. Hence, using taste competences actively is the variable in this statistical model that has the most significant impact on students’ self-assessed learning outcome.
Another noteworthy result is related to students’ co-determination. Existing research indicates that students’ experience of co-determination, for instance, in choosing the recipes or deciding how to cook the dishes, is essential to enhance learning outcome (Fordyce-Voorham, 2011; Orme et al., 2013). The results shown in Table 1 confirm this theory with a positive coefficient of .14 and a strongly statistically significant p value. However, the coefficient is relatively low compared with the other variables in the table. One plausible explanation for this could be that the students in the survey sample generally do not experience much co-determination. We derive this point from the results of the single-item survey questions, where students were asked if they were involved in choosing which dishes to cook when My Cookery was used in home economics teaching. Furthermore, the students were also asked whether they had been involved in determining how the dishes should be cooked. About 25% responded that they were involved in choosing the dishes, and 23% responded that they had been involved in determining how dishes should be cooked. Thus, we conclude that approximately one-quarter of the students can be categorised as being co-determinant within this context. The data distribution implies statistical limitations, which will be addressed later.
With regard to the use of My Cookery, we investigated three research interests related to whether or not (1) students had experienced using My Cookery in school, (2) students had used My Cookery for cooking at home and (3) the students had visited the My Cookery website. In total, 91.5% of the students respond that they had experienced using My Cookery in connection with home economics teaching at their school. In Table 1, it can also be observed that school use of My Cookery has a positive effect of .08. Even though the result is strongly significant in bivariate analysis, we must stress that the reliability of the variable is problematic because so few of the students responded that they had not used My Cookery at school. This means that the explanatory power of the variable is reduced in a regression analysis, which may also be the reason why the results for this variable are not statistically significant in the stepwise phases.
A more interesting result with regard to the use of My Cookery is evident with respect to home use. Specifically, we asked students if they had used My Cookery to cook at home, and 58% answered yes to this question. Furthermore, 339 students responded that they had used My Cookery at home within the last 3 days, which equals 21% of the total survey sample (n = 1,609). When we observe the effect of this variable in Table 1, the coefficient in the bivariate analysis is .21, and the p value is strongly statistically significant. This indicates that the more actively the students used My Cookery at home, the higher they assessed their own learning outcome to be. Seen in isolation, this is perhaps not surprising, but it is worth noting that in the stepwise regression analysis, this variable remains strongly statistically significant, with a p value below .001, and it has the second-highest coefficient after the variable linked to taste competences used actively. This indicates that home use is the variable in this statistical model that has the second-highest impact on students’ self-assessed learning outcome. Hence, we conclude that facilitating food education that reaches into the home is important to achieve the goals of the My Cookery project.
With regard to website use, students were asked if they had visited the My Cookery website, and 23% answered yes to this question. A total of 121 students responded that they had visited the website within the last 3 days, which equals 7.5% of the total survey sample (n = 1,609). In Table 1, a positive result was also found with a coefficient of .12 in terms of the correlation between website use and self-assessed learning outcomes, which indicates that this element may be essential to achieve the goals of My Cookery. However, here we face a problem similar to the problem connected to school use: even though the result is strongly significant in bivariate analysis, the reliability of the variable is problematic in multiple regression analysis because only a relatively low number of respondents reported the very active use of the website. This constitutes a challenge to the explanatory power of the variable, which could also be the reason why the results for this variable are statistically non-significant in the phases of stepwise regression.
Among the background variables that were included, we found relatively small effects in relation to gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic background of parents. This indicates that My Cookery had a similar effectiveness across different categories of students. However, a negative effect of –.13 could be observed in terms of age. This indicates that among older students, self-assessed learning outcomes with regard to using My Cookery were lower. In the survey sample, the age level ranged from 10 to 15, and from cross-tabulation analysis, we can conclude that the 10- to 13-year-olds self-assess their learning outcome very similarly. However, 14- to 15-year-olds assess their learning outcome significantly lower than the younger students, which explains the negative effect in terms of age shown in Table 1.
Limitations
In this study, students’ self-assessment formed the dependent variable. As mentioned above, there are advantages and disadvantages to this approach, which also relies upon an observational research design – as opposed to an experimental design. Implicitly, it is only possible to derive results that indicate correlations between the measured variables. It is a cliché in quantitative methodology that correlation does not necessarily imply causation, making it impossible to deduce a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables solely on the basis of an observed correlation (Bryman, 2016: 339). But correlation may imply causation, and therefore, the results reported here may be regarded as indicative in this respect.
In relation to this point, it is important to bear in mind that although analysis shows low effects with regard to some of the approaches to the use of My Cookery included here, it does not prove that these are useless as part of home economics education. Low effects may be the result of the underlying data structure and, in addition, the reliability of results is dependent on data being normally distributed when regression analyses are conducted (Owuor, 2001; Teo, 2013). This must be considered in the case of the underlying data structure for the variable measuring students’ level of co-determination in the analysis of this article. Here, the data are not optimally distributed, which is also reflected by low p values. However, there are other variables that have an appropriate underlying data structure, which is why these have been given most attention in this article.
One criticism that is often directed at the type of analysis presented in this article is the use of numerical data constructed on the basis of non-numerical response categories. There exists scientific controversy about whether this approach is reliable, but there is no agreement on this, which the review by Geoff Norman (2010) elaborates. Another highly debated and controversial topic relates to the operationalisation of survey response categories – including how many and which categories to include (Joshi et al., 2015). In this study, we opted for the use of a 6-point scale that has been tested and validated in other studies. The scale did not provide the option for the respondent to choose ‘neutral/I don’t know’. This can be problematic in cases where respondents lack prerequisites (e.g. experience with using My Cookery) for answering (Chomeya, 2010). However, it is important to note that the survey was only distributed to students with experience of using My Cookery. Hence, we estimate that all respondents had the needed prerequisites for answering. In addition, the 6-point scale without a neutral option compels respondents to make a choice instead of just clicking the easy option ‘I don’t know’, which can be advantageous when used with the target group of this study (Taherdoost, 2019).
Conclusion and implications
All children are born with a preference for sweet and fatty taste, which characterises the taste of breast milk (Mouritsen, 2016; Mouritsen & Styrbæk, 2014). This preference can be changed culturally with time, and children’s developing taste competences are what make them able to make critically based food choices, according to our research (Wistoft & Qvortrup, 2018, 2019, 2021).
This article demonstrates positive effects with regard to all methods of use in an analysis, which included experiential learning; active use of taste competences; student co-determination; and school, home and website usage of My Cookery. The My Cookery website features more than 40 videos for children on how to prepare various dishes. Children take photos of their dishes and post them to inspire one another. The website develops with every new dish added and the further development of My Cookery. It is maintained by project partners.
Three noteworthy points form the conclusion of this study. First, following recipes precisely may have a similar effect to adopting a more experiential approach. The article does not argue against experiential learning, since the results also show that this teaching approach is also effective. Nevertheless, the results suggest that following a recipe holds major learning potential for many students, a finding which tends to be neglected in existing research relating to experiential learning. Second, with regard to students’ self-assessed learning outcomes, the variable with the highest effect was students’ active use of taste competences. Third, the variable with the second-highest effect was students’ home use of My Cookery. From these three points, we may conclude that to carry out effective home economics teaching that enhances children’s joy of cooking, and to ensure competence development in young people, it will be important to facilitate processes that reach out into the home and ensure that students’ taste competences are actively used during cooking.
Footnotes
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Danish Nordea Foundation. The Danish Nordea Foundation also funded the distribution of 450,000 free My Cookery cookbooks to students across Denmark. The research itself and the dissemination thereof is independent of the Danish Nordea Foundation.
