Procedure to assess affective change in students enrolled in a culturally oriented food production management course

Abstract

<p>The primary objective of the research was to develop a procedure to assess change in affective behavior in a given instructional situation. The class used as a basis for the study was a culturally oriented food production management course;Seventy-eight affective behaviors and 160 behavioral incidents were identified and classified according to the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives Handbook II: Affective Domain by Krathwohl et al. (1969). The affective behaviors and behavioral incidents were used as part of four observation systems developed. The systems were the Lecture-Recitation System (LRS) that was used in the segment of the class period devoted to lecture, recitation, and planning; the Production Laboratory System-Management (PLS-M) and the Production Laboratory System-Food (PLS-F) used on alternate class periods in the laboratory; and the Service Assessment System (SAS) used in the segment of the class that the food items were displayed, discussed, and eaten;To facilitate the use of the observation systems, 149 operational definitions were developed to provide examples of possible student actions for behaviors identified in the observation systems. Objectivity of the system was determined. Based on observations of the subjects, affective behaviors were recorded for two classes, one fall and one winter quarter;The relationship of change in affective behavior to cognitive growth, background, and food likes and dislikes was determined. An evaluation instrument was developed to determine cognitive growth during the period of instruction. Background information secured for each subject included sex, race, the extent of food related experiences, native geographical region, travel experience, and exposure to foreign foods. Information about subjects' food likes and dislikes was determined from an instrument developed;One question addressed was what type of analysis is appropriate for assessing change in affective behavior in a given instructional situation. Changes in affective behavior from a beginning period to an ending period were determined in four ways: (a) change in number of affective behaviors of students for each taxonomical category of the observation systems, (b) change in total affective behaviors of the students (across taxonomical categories), (c) change in total number and percent of higher-level affective behaviors of students, and (d) change in number of affective behaviors as determined by use of the management and food observation systems;Included are interpretations of aspects related to the development and use of the observation systems, as well as recommendations for improvements and further research considerations.</p>