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Lynch, Rebecca Ann

Nutritional and Food Sciences

MS

More than 76 million persons become ill from foodborne pathogens in the United States each year. To reduce these numbers, food safety education efforts need to begin with school children. The middle school grades are ideal for integrating food safety education into the curriculum. The Internet offers the opportunity to deliver engaging, content rich, learning materials to communities that may not have the resources to provide high-quality food safety educational programs. In addition, computer programs have the potential to meet the diverse learning styles of students. We developed a multimedia, self-paced, online resource for delivering a food safety curriculum to middle school students that addressed the individual learning styles of students. We tested the effectiveness of our Website using validated cognitive and attitudinal assessment tools. Our participants were recruited from six schools in five states, totaling 217 students. The results show that students had statistically significant gains in knowledge and enjoyed using our Web-site. Furthermore, learning styles did not influence learning achievement with our computer program. Our interactive, multimedia, Webbased program was an effective means of providing food safety education to middle school children, regardless of learning style.