| 1. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Aesthetic judgments and meaning-making during cooking in Home and Consumer Studies
- 2019
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Ingår i: Educare. - : Malmo University Library. - 1653-1868 .- 2004-5190. ; :2, s. 30-57
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Swedish home and consumer studies (HCS), cooking forms apart of the core content, and students often experience the results in a sensuous way–by eating the food. Sensuous, or aesthetic, experiences may affect students’ meaning-making and thus what is learned within the subject. There is a lack of research concerning the aesthetic aspects of cooking in a learning context; therefore, this study aims to explore HCS students’ meaning-making by focusing on aesthetic judgments during formalized cooking practices. The research question is, in what ways do students use aesthetic judgments in meaning-making processes during cooking? The data comes from video-documented classroom observations where the students cook together. Using a pragmatic approach and practical epistemology analysis (PEA), three ways in which the students use aesthetic judgments are illustrated: as arguments in negotiations, as reference points when reactualizing experiences, and as nonverbal actions evaluating sensory qualities. Empirical examples exemplify how aesthetic judgments play a role in establishing power relations, entail social/normative values, and influence the “tacit knowing” of cooking. The study found that aesthetic experiences are integral and important in students’ meaning-making during cooking practices. Moreover, by adding a new classroom context to the methodology used, its applicability for investigating aesthetic experiences and meaning-making is confirmed and widened.
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| 2. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Aesthetic Values in Home and Consumer Studies : Investigating the Secret Ingredient in Food Education
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Education. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 2504-284X. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Food is a part of everyday life, and formal food education is included in compulsory education in many countries, for example through the subject Home and Consumer Studies (HCS). While food education is often underpinned by public health concerns such as preventing non-communicable diseases and promoting cooking skills, there has been little focus on aesthetic aspects of teaching and learning about food. This study therefore aims to gain understanding of aesthetic values as a part of HCS food educational practices. Aesthetic values are here regarded as socially and culturally shared, and related to notions of pleasure and taste. As this study uses a pragmatist approach, aesthetic values are seen as constituted in encounters, encompassing experiencing individual(s), artifacts, and context. By thematically analyzing empirical data from an exploratory case study, including classroom observations, student focus groups, and teacher interviews, we show how values are constituted as culinary, production, and bodily aesthetics. Culinary aesthetics involved cooking processes, cooking skills, and presentation of food and meals. Production aesthetics involved foods’ origin and degree of pre-processing, whereas bodily aesthetics related to bodily consequences of eating. Aesthetic values were vital features of the educational practices studied and played a key role in bringing the practices forward. They also indicated what counted as valid, or desired, outcomes and thereby steered events in certain directions. The study highlights the significance of aesthetic values and argues in favor of acknowledging aesthetics in planning, undertaking, and evaluating HCS food education.
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| 3. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-
(författare)
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Beyond the plate : Food and health, aesthetics and meaning-making in Home and consumer studies
- 2024
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overall aim of this thesis is to cultivate understandings of how meanings regarding food and health are made within the school subject home and consumer studies (HCS). The thesis builds on empirical data generated through a comprehensive case study, where 12 students from one school class and their two teachers were followed in HCS over the course of a school year. The methods used were observations, interviews, focus groups, and document collection. This work comprises four papers, where Paper I covers students’ meaning-making during cooking with a focus on aesthetic judgments. The results of Paper I illustrate different ways in which the students used aesthetic judgments, and how aesthetics became integral to meaning-making. Paper II investigates food for health as educational content, using qualification, socialization, and subjectification as an analytical framework. The results exemplify how these three educational functions can be operationalized empirically, and how a given educational content opens up for meaning-making that goes beyond learning facts and skills. In Paper III, thematic analysis is used to gain an overview of which aesthetic values were constituted in the studied practices, and how. Thus, the central roles of aesthetics in HCS food education were further illustrated. Lastly, Paper IV investigates use of the plate model as a food educational tool, using three planes of analysis as a framework. The results demonstrate how the plate model can be useful in food and health education, but also that it needs to be used with caution, for example to avoid conveying a rigid message of “right” and “wrong” dishes. Taken together, the results of the four papers show how food was a central transactant in the studied practices, i.e., how the food itself became an important co-actor in the meaning-making processes. Second, the discrepancy between the students’ focus on immediate food experiences and the teachers’ instrumental orientation is highlighted. In summary, this thesis provides empirically grounded contributions to support food educational practices in general, and HCS subject didactics in particular. Additionally, it strengthens the position of HCS as a subject to be reckoned with in wider didactic contexts, as well as in the emerging field of disciplinary aesthetics.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Literacy till lunch : Elevers meningsskapande under formaliserad matlagning i hem- och konsumentkunskap
- 2018
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Ingår i: Nationell ämnesdidaktisk konferens.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Presentationen baseras på en pågående fallstudie inom ämnet hem- och konsumentkunskap (HK), som genomförs i samverkan med två HK-lärare. Den del som presenteras här innefattar en praktisk epistemologisk analys (PEA) av filmade klassrumsobservationer där elever lagar mat i par. Under aktiviteten uppstår situationer som utgör hinder i matlagningsprocessen. Dessa blir särskilt synliga under moment som kräver en subjektiv bedömning baserad på sensoriska erfarenheter, exempelvis när eleverna ska bedöma om livsmedel är färdigtillagade. För att ta sig vidare i aktiviteten genomför eleverna repetitiva handlingar och söker bekräftelse från kamrater och lärare. Dessa processer synliggörs och ligger till grund för en vidare didaktisk diskussion kring lärares val av innehåll och metoder för undervisning i ämnet.
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| 6. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-
(författare)
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Students´ Encounters during Formalized Cooking Practices in Home‐ and Consumer Studies
- 2018
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionCooking a meal is a complex event that involves coordinating muscle movements and cognitions while at the same time responding to sensorial perceptions and navigating and shaping societal structures (Wolfson et al., 2017). The art of cooking has traditionally been transferred through apprenticeship, involving continuous engagement with the physical and sensory qualities of food (Jaffe & Gertler, 2006). In Sweden, cooking is by tradition a prominent part of the Home- and consumer studies (HCS) education and a common arrangement of a HCS lesson is that students, by following a recipe, prepare a complete meal together and then eat it (Hjälmeskog, 2006; Lindblom, Erixon Arreman, Bohm, & Hörnell, 2016). These formalized cooking practices entail a great potential to enrich students’ food- and cooking-related experiences and meaning making. However, little is documented about situations that occur during formalized cooking practices in HCS, and what consequences for the students´ meaning making these situations bring about. The present study will target this research gap, and the research questions are: Which encounters can be seen to disrupt the students’ activity during formalized cooking practices in HCS class? How do the students act to proceed with the activity in these situations? What consequences can be seen for the students’ meaning making?As a theoretical point of departure, a pragmatist, transactional understanding of meaning making is held. ‘Meaning making’ is used to describe learning processes that include individual- as well as social and institutional aspects (Rogoff, 1995). This way of making meaning by acting in the world is what Dewey, in his later works, calls transaction (Dewey & Bentley, 1960). To use the words of Wickman (2004), ‘the meaning people make is always imbedded in a practice with its aims and the socially shared meanings needed for participating’ (Wickman, 2004, p. 327). In accordance with John Dewey´s transactional perspective, meaning making is consequently seen as continuous and visible in, and through, students´ actions (Dewey, 1938/1997).MethodAs a part of a more extensive case study where the data collection takes place during the full school year of 2017/2018, the author conducted classroom observations of HCS lessons in one school class at an elementary school in Stockholm, Sweden during fall 2017. Study participants were two HCS-teachers and a total of ten students in Swedish eighth grade (13-14 years of age), some of them being observed at more than one occasion. The material consists of digital video documentation from the observations, where the students cook in pairs. The observed occasions were selected in agreement with the participating teachers and met the criteria of including practical elements of cooking. Videos from fourteen observations recorded during seven different occasions are included, each comprising on average 44 minutes of video recording and resulting in a total of 616 minutes of video data. Ethical guidelines by the Swedish Research Council (2002) are followed throughout the research process and an approval by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Uppsala have been obtained (ref. no. 2017/230).The teachers´ and students´ actions during the cooking sessions were studied through practical epistemology analysis (PEA) (Wickman & Östman, 2002). The emphasis was on describing what the students encounter, how they act to proceed with the activity, and the relationship in-between. Actions are not only considered in terms of physical movements of the body; the students also act (and make meaning) through participation in language-games. Thus, rather than considering the students´ talk in a representative, mentalist way as outer statements of an unknown inner mind, focus was on the use of words and utterances in situated action (cf. Wickman, 2006, p. 32). The initial analysis was primarily conducted by the author. However, the preliminary results presented below have been agreed upon in discussion with two associated researchers.Preliminary resultsPreliminary results show that the students struggle when facing cooking steps that require subjective assessments based on sensory experiences, e.g. when they need to look at, or feel, the food to make decisions. The students carry out repetitive actions and/or look for support from their surrounding (e.g. peers, teachers) to be able to move on with the activity in a fruitful way. These strategies can have a negative impact on the sensory qualities of the food, and lead to socially shared meanings that are not in accordance with the teacher´s intentions. Awareness of the students’ meaning making in the classroom practice encourages a discussion about teachers’ roles, choices and potential consequences of these.ReferencesDewey, J. (1938/1997) Experience and education. New York: Touchstone. Dewey, J., & Bentley, A. F. (1960) Knowing and the known. Boston: Beacon Press. Hjälmeskog, K. (Red.). (2006) Lärarprofession i förändring: från ”skolkök” till hem- och konsumentkunskap. Uppsala: Föreningen för svensk undervisningshistoria. Jaffe, J., & Gertler, M. (2006). Victual vicissitudes: Consumer deskilling and the (gendered) transformation of food systems. Agriculture and Human Values, 23(2), 143-162. Lindblom, C., Erixon Arreman, I., Bohm, I., & Hörnell, A. (2016). The importance of time frames in Swedish Home and Consumer Studies. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 40(3), 299-308. Rogoff, B. (1995) Observing sociocultural activity on three planes: Participatory appropriation, guided participation, and apprenticeship. In James Wertsch, Pablo del Rio and Amelia Alvarez (eds.) Sociocultural Studies of Mind. (pp. 139-164). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. The Swedish Research Council (2002), Forskningsetiska principer inom humanistisk och samhällsvetenskaplig forskning (Research Ethics in Social Sciences), Swedish Research Council, available at: www.codex.vr.se/texts/HSFR.pdf. Wickman, P-O. (2006) Aesthetic experience in science education: Learning and meaning-making as situated talk and action. New York: Routledge.Wickman, P-O. (2004) The practical epistemologies of the classroom: A study of laboratory work. Science education, 88(3), 325-44. Wickman, P-O. & Östman, L. (2002) Learning as discourse change: a sociocultural mechanism. Science Education, 86(5), 601-3. Wolfson, J. A., Bostic, S., Lahne, J., Morgan, C., Henley, S. C., Harvey, J., & Trubek, A. (2017). A comprehensive approach to understanding cooking behavior: Implications for research and practice. British Food Journal, 119(5), 1147-1158.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable Home Economics Teacher Education in Pandemic Times : Experiences from Swedish Universities
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- One aspect of the Sustainable Development Goals is quality education. Not only should education work in favor of sustainable development on a global level; quality education needs to be sustainable in the sense that it provides opportunities for students’ learning in relation to the subject taught. The school subject Home Economics (HE) is often described as having cooking as a core feature. Consequently, HE-teacher education commonly includes practical cooking as a central part of the content. During the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, educational preconditions suddenly changed, and possibilities for undertaking cooking on campus became limited. In this study, we investigate HE-teacher educators’ experiences of adjusting practical cooking activities during the covid-19 pandemic. The aim is twofold: first, to highlight how the pandemic situation has been tackled in Swedish HE-teacher education. Second, to contribute to the understanding of practical cooking as a part of sustainable HE-teacher education.In Sweden, there are four universities that offer HE-teacher education. Educators from these four universities were interviewed digitally in focus groups in two rounds. The first round was held in October 2020, the second in April/May 2021. The interviews followed a semi-structured design, and questions were asked about what the pandemic had meant for practical cooking activities in terms of problems, solutions and insights for the future. The interviews are analyzed using thematic analysis, and preliminary results show e.g. how educators used digital solutions, making the education accessible despite new restrictions. These solutions did not necessarily affect students’ possibilities to achieve formally stated learning goals, but there was a hesitation concerning whether tacit and situated aspects of learning was lost when physical encounters did not take place. In short, the results evoke new insights regarding what constitutes sustainable education for HE-teachers of today.
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| 9. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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Useful but overused? The “plate model” as a food educational tool in home economics
- 2024
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Ingår i: Food, Culture, and Society. - 1552-8014 .- 1751-7443. ; , s. 1-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The plate model is widely used to promote healthy eating. Despite extensive adoption in dietary guidelines, the model’s role in food educational practices is scarcely studied. The present study aimed to explore the plate model as a food educational tool in the school subject Home Economics (HE). Use of the plate model was investi-gated with Rogoff’s three planes of analysis as a framework. The research question was: “How is the plate model used in a food educational practice, considering institutional, interpersonal, and personal planes?” Data from video-recorded classroom observa-tions, focus groups, interviews, and text documents were analyzed. The data were generated through a case study, with twelve stu-dents and two HE-teachers followed over the course of a school year. Results show how the plate model was framed as the right way of eating. Nutritionally “proper” food was described, with the model functioning as a bridge linking (abstract) nutritional content with (concrete) dishes. This way of using the model might hamper understandings of fundamental principles for nutritional classifica-tion. Moreover, those who do not eat plate model-type dishes may be wrongly judged. Supported by empirical events, this study shows how the plate model can be useful – but also overused – in food education.
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| 10. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-
(författare)
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"You fuel the car with gas, you fuel the body with food" : Educational functions of food for health in Home Economics
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Home Economics (HE) is an important site for education about food and health, which is crucial in the striving for sustainable development. The aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of health education as a part of HE, specifically targeting how food, meals and health is constituted as educational content. The study is a part of a comprehensive case study where one school class and two HE-teachers were followed throughout a school year, using a variety of qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, audio- and video documented classroom observations. The analysis, including audio recordings from thirteen classroom observations and eight teacher interviews, is guided by a research methodology grounded in pragmatism, and a conceptual framework based on three functions of education: i) qualification, ii) socialization, and iii) subjectification. The results show how the qualification function comprises nutrition knowledge, competencies in food selection, and practical cooking skills. The socialization function entails dichotomous values of food and eating as “right” or “wrong”, and valuation based on foods instrumentality in terms of physiological potential and risk. The subjectification function entails students acting as conscious consumers by taking personal responsibility for food and health. Environmental sustainability becomes part of the education as conscious consumers know how to prepare their own meals, evaluate the nutritional content of food, and adjust what is eaten in relation to personal nutritional needs as well as to the “needs” of the planet. To conclude, this study unpacks how education about food for health is constituted in HE. It contributes to reflections on teaching practices with regards to food, health and sustainability. Thereby, it has implications of relevance for HE-researchers and teachers alike.
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| 11. |
- Berg, Gita, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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“You fuel the car with gas, you fuel the body with food” – Educational functions of food for health in home and consumer studies
- 2024
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research. - : Routledge. - 0031-3831 .- 1470-1170. ; 68:2, s. 189-203
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to contribute to the understanding of food for health as educational content in Home and Consumer Studies (HCS), specifically targeting three educational functions: (i) qualification, (ii) socialization, and (iii) subjectification. Data came from a comprehensive case study, where one school class and two HCS teachers were followed during one school year. Fourteen classroom observations and eight teacher interviews were included. It is shown how qualification functions comprise nutrition knowledge and cooking skills, how socialization functions entail, e.g., dichotomous values of food as “good” or “bad,” and how conscious consumers who take personal responsibility for themselves and the environment become promoted subjects. Taken together, the results illustrate how educational content can have consequences beyond those intended. Based on the results, an argument is made about the relevance for HCS teachers to critically reflect on their teaching and its potential educational consequences.
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| 12. |
- Höijer, Karin, et al.
(författare)
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"Vi har fått syn på hur viktig den praktiska kunskapen är” : Lärarutbildare på fyra lärosäten om att utbilda under pandemin
- 2021
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Ingår i: ABSTRACTS LÄRARLÄRDOM 2021.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Mat och matlagning beskrivs ofta som själva kärnan i skolämnet hem- och konsumentkunskap (HK). Att utbilda nya lärare inom ämnet med för således att praktisk matlagning ingår som en central del. I och med Coronapandemin ändrades förutsättningarna för att bedriva undervisning, vilket påverkade förutsättningarna för undervisning i praktisk matlagning vid de fyra lärosätena som bedriver utbildning av HK-lärare. Vad innebär det för lärarutbildare att bedriva undervisning i praktiska moment under en pandemi? I det här projektet samlades lärarutbildare från Göteborg universitet, Högskolan Kristianstad, Umeå universitet samt Uppsala universitet i fokusgrupper i två omgångar för att berätta vad pandemin inneburit för undervisningen i praktisk matlagning, vilka lösningar som har framkommit och vilka lärdomar man tar med sig in i framtiden. En första intervjuomgång genomfördes i oktober 2020 och uppföljningsintervjuer gjordes under april och maj 2021. Preliminära resultat visade att den praktiska matlagningen inte bara handlade om matlagningsmetoder utan allt det som händer “runt omkring”. De förändrade förutsättningarna påverkade inte nödvändigtvis studenternas förutsättningar att uppnå lärandemålen men det uttrycktes en oro för att den tysta kunskap som ofta genereras i det nära fysiska mötet mellan människor gått förlorad. Denna studie är den första i sitt slag som inkluderar lärare inom högre utbildning för ämnet HK från samtliga utbildningsorter och de preliminära resultaten väcker nya frågeställningar kring lärandemålens formuleringar och deras relevans för framtidens HK-lärare.
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