Using Contextual Teaching and Learning in Foods and Nutrition Class

Contextual teaching and learning is a relatively new concept in the field of education. However, the principles and practices of contextual teaching and learning have been around for centuries (Dijkstra, 1998). Contextual teaching and learning is defined as a conception of teaching and learning that helps teachers relate subject matter content to real world situations (U. S. Department of Education, 2004). Contextual teaching and learning also helps motivate students to make connections between knowledge and its applications to their lives as family members, citizens, and workers; it also helps them engage in the hard work that learning requires (TeachNet, 2004). Principles characterizing contextual teaching and learning are: an emphasis on problem-solving, the ability to teach students to monitor and direct their own learning so they become self-regulated learners, anchoring teaching in students' diverse life-contexts, encouraging students to learn from each other and together, and recognizing the need for teaching and learning to occur in a variety of contexts including community and worksites. This concept was the impetus for one FCS teacher to participate in a summer internship program in the test kitchens at Southern Progress Corporation, one of the largest lifestyle publishers in the country. This article is that teacher's description of the interactions between her and her students during a food laboratory internship program.