Quantity food production text and cognitive evaluation device development

Abstract

<p>This research was designed to develop a quantity food preparation study guide of selected topics combining the basic knowledge in the purchasing, production, and storage of foods and the related principles of food science. A 66-item cognitive achievement test was developed to measure cognitive change. Marshall and Merritt's (1985) Learning Style Questionnaire (LSQ) was used to investigate the relationship between respondents' learning styles and cognitive change between pre- and posttest administrations. Statistical analyses were completed to research relationships between and among cognitive change, learning style, and selected demographic data: age, gender, time spent reading the study guide, months of work experience, and highest attained level of education;The research sample consisted of 31 students enrolled in Quantity Food Production Management Experience, HRI 380L, at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa; 18 students enrolled in the Food Production Training Program at Clinton Community College, Clinton, Iowa; and 17 students enrolled in the Food Production Training Program at Des Moines Area Community College, Ankeny, Iowa;The predominant learning style as theorized by Kolb (1976) for the students in the research samples was that of diverger. The study assumed there were no significant changes between pre- and post-learning styles;The demographic variables of age, gender, and highest level of education attained and months of related foodservice work experience were used to investigate any significant (p ≤.05) relationships with learning style and cognitive change. None of the demographic variables demonstrated predictability of cognitive change. Only pretest highest level of education attained, age, and gender were significantly related with learning style at the p ≤.01, p ≤.05 levels, respectively;As expected, cognitive change is positively correlated with posttest scores (r =.660, p ≤.01). Pretest and posttest scores are also positively correlated (r =.662, p ≤.01). The mean pretest score for the combined groups is 33.1 with a standard deviation of 5.7. The mean posttest score is slightly higher, 36.3, with a standard deviation of 7.5. The mean combined group mean cognitive change score is 3.2 with a standard deviation of 5.7;The number of minutes spent reading the QFPS guide is positively correlated with posttest scores (r =.289, p ≤.05; 8.35% of the cognitive change score is attributable to the posttest score;The 66-item cognitive achievement test demonstrated a Kuder-Richardson reliability estimate of.77. The refined 55-item test's KR-20 is.75;As a result of the positive cognitive change, respondent evaluations, and resulting Kuder-Richardson reliability estimates, the Quantity Food Production Study guide and cognitive achievement device are an acceptable educational method for the target population, self-directed adult learners working as foodservice supervisors in intermediate and extended-care nursing facilities.</p>