The taste of biodiversity: science and sensory education with different varieties of a vegetable to promote acceptance among primary school children

Abstract

Objective: To determine the impact of an educational program for primary schools that explored the biodiversity of tomato, by promoting science and sensory education with three distinct varieties of it, in the acceptance of vegetables. Design: A randomized controlled study in which children were exposed to the educational program (intervention group) or remained in the class, as usual (control group). The educational program consisted of three sessions where children explained the observed differences between the three varieties of tomato and individual perceptions of their flavors based on sensory-based food education and by planning and implementing experiments to explain those differences. We tested the effects on both children’s willingness to try and their liking for tomato, and for lettuce and cabbage to study the carry-over effect, compared with the control group (Mann-Whitney U test; p < 0.05). Setting: The study took place in public primary schools in Porto, Portugal. Participants: Children in the third grade (8-13-year-old children) (n 136) that were randomly assigned to intervention or control group. Results: Children in the intervention group reported significant increases in their willingness to try and liking for tomato compared to the control group (p < 0.05), but not for lettuce and cabbage (p > 0.05). Conclusions: These results highlight the potential for fostering children’s acceptance of a vegetable by exploring biodiversity through science education. Further work may clarify the effects of exploring biodiversity on the consumption of vegetables and establish whether the results are stable over time and replicable across contexts and populations.

Tasting to preserve: An educational activity to promote children’s positive attitudes towards intraspecific diversity conservation

“…To overcome this problem in our study design, in future studies it would be valuable to add questions to the semi-structured interview specifically addressing the emotional component of attitudes, to fully understand the students’ justifications. Additionally, our results support that attitudes towards intraspecific diversity may be more easily transferred between species than food preferences [ 46 ], since the bean varieties used in the pre- and post-test were never mentioned during the educational activity. The transfer of attitudes towards intraspecific diversity in different species needs to be further studied.…”

“…The educational activity was designed for third-grade students following an inquiry based learning and experiential approach [ 49 ]. It was developed to address several learning objectives (view [ 46 ] for more detailed information about this activity), the most important of which were to promote the valorization of intraspecific diversity of vegetables and healthy eating habits. In accordance with Portuguese elementary school curricula and European recommendations for these school years, this educational activity, addressed learning objectives related to environmental literacy, scientific literacy and health literacy, such as: i) discussions about biodiversity loss and conservation and its impacts on our environment and food security [ 43 ], ii) discussions about the importance of a healthy diet and the importance of the correct chewing for proper functioning of the digestive system [ 43 ], and iii) engagement in scientific practices, by planning and implementing experiments [ 43 , 50 , 51 ].…”

“…In the second session, students analyzed the bar graphs and postulated hypotheses to explain two observations that were posed to them to be answered through an inquiry-based learning approach [ 49 ]: a) why different varieties of tomato were classified as having different levels of sweetness and acidity; and b) why different individuals classified differently the sweetness and acidity of the same variety of tomatoes. In groups of 3 to 5, students were invited to plan an experiment to test their chosen hypothesis (examples of hypotheses that were tested can be found in [ 46 ]) using a worksheet adapted from an official Portuguese educational set [ 52 ]. The worksheet asked them to describe the hypothesis rephrased as a question, what would need to be kept constant to test the hypothesis, what would vary, what was going to be measured, how were they going to register data, what would be the experimental procedure, what was needed to perform such experimental procedure, what were the predicted and observed results, and what conclusions could be taken.…”

“…In the third session, each group implemented their experimental plan, collected data, analyzed their results, and discussed how these supported or not the initial hypothesis (examples of experimental procedures used to test each hypothesis can be found in [ 46 ]). After this was done in each group, a discussion was held with the whole class in which other vegetable species with diversity were presented, such as Brassica oleracea (kales, cabbage, broccoli), Malus domestica (apples), Daucus carota (carrots).…”

“…Food species have observable intraspecific biodiversity attributes (such as taste, shape, and texture) which children can easily explore in hands-on activities [ 41 , 42 ]. Healthy eating education is addressed in school curricula in several countries [ 43 – 45 ] and our research team developed an educational program that explored the intraspecific biodiversity of tomatoes and that fostered children’s acceptance of that vegetable [ 46 ]. Given this, we hypothesize that exploring intraspecific diversity in food plant species can also promote elementary school students’ positive attitudes towards its conservation.…”