Teaching critical thinking in nutritional sciences: a model course and assignments.

Critical thinking is a common and important learning outcome in college curricula. Case-based and problem-based learning can be used to assess and foster critical thinking skills. HNF 250-Contemporary Issues in Human Nutrition is a critical thinking course developed during the redesign of a nutritional sciences major program. Course assignments were designed to assess the course and nutritional sciences major learning outcomes. The nutrition and health claim assignment is scaffolded across the academic semester as three assignments: 1) bibliography assignment; 2) poster presentation; and 3) paper. Course lectures and materials have been designed to prepare students for completion of each assignment. The assignments have been modified over time based on classroom observations and student performance. In 2021, the course learning outcomes were examined by assessing several assignments including the nutrition and health claim poster and paper. Course learning outcome benchmarks using these assessments generally included 80% of students achieving an 80% for each criterion. Results revealed that students were not meeting most of these assessment benchmarks during the 2021 iteration, although benchmark data from other course assessments were more satisfactory. It is possible that the transition from a virtual to an in-person format negatively influenced student performance on these course learning outcomes. This course and the nutrition and health claim assignment example can provide a course design and learning outcome assessment framework for other higher education critical thinking courses.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This paper describes how a scaffolded nutrition and health claim assignment is used to teach critical thinking skills among nutritional sciences students and examine the program's learning outcomes. Further, this course example is to serve as an model for STEM majors on how to incorporate case-based and problem-based learning strategies into an undergraduate course.

The impact of COVID-19 on student learning during the transition from remote to in-person learning: using mind mapping to identify and address faculty concerns.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of in-person learning at many higher education institutions (HEIs) in March 2020. In response, HEIs transitioned most courses to online formats immediately and continued this mode of instruction through the 2020-2021 academic year. In fall 2021, numerous HEIs resumed in-person courses and some hybrid courses, and faculty began noting academic-related behavior deficiencies not previously observed in students. Focus groups of teaching faculty (n = 8) from one university department were conducted to gather information on changes in student academic-related behaviors attributed to the disruption of teaching and learning due to COVID-19 and to compare observed deficiencies with the university's undergraduate learning goals. Mind mapping software was utilized to capture themes and subthemes. Identified themes were related to problem-solving skills, grades, time management, attendance, and interpersonal communication, both in terms of student-to-student and student-to-faculty communication. For these identified areas, outcomes during the return to in-person learning were mostly undesirable. Based on these identified issues, suggested modifications that HEIs could use to modify course content and delivery to offset skill gaps and improve interpersonal communication were identified. Furthermore, observations may indicate that fully remote learning inhibited student learning and skill development during the 2020-2021 academic year. Future work should examine the effectiveness of the proposed modifications on student success.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This article contains information gathered from mind map-driven faculty focus group observations of student academic-related deficiencies resulting from transitioning from remote to in-person learning and how said deficiencies compare to university undergraduate learning goals.

Reliability of the Block Kid's Food Frequency Questionnaire translated to Arabic and adapted for Kuwaiti children.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about the nutrient intakes of Kuwaiti children; this is partly due to a lack of culture-specific dietary assessment instruments to estimate the usual food and nutrient intake of Arab children. The aim of this study was to describe the methodology used in translating the 2004 Block Kid's Food Frequency Questionnaire (Block FFQ) to Arabic using adapted food choices commonly consumed by Kuwaiti children, and to evaluate the reliability of the FFQ in a population of fifth-grade Kuwaiti children. METHODS: The 2004 Block FFQ was translated from English to Arabic, and food options were replaced with culturally appropriate foods. The modified FFQ was administered to 367 male and female Kuwaiti fifth graders (10.4 ± 0.4 y of age; 53% girls). The FFQ was retested 1 wk later in 26 male students, and 4 wk later in 32 female students. Intraclass correlations (ICC) assessed the reliability between the participants' first and second FFQs for food groups, macronutrients, and five key micronutrients. RESULTS: The combined analysis of boys and girls indicated a moderate reliability for food groups (ICC, 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.52-0.80) and micronutrients (ICC, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.29-0.72), but was poor for macronutrients (ICC, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.21-0.62). CONCLUSIONS: The modified FFQ is a modestly reliable instrument for measuring usual dietary intake in Kuwaiti children. The ICC was higher in boys than in girls, probably due to the disparity in the FFQ retest time.

Redesign and process of reforming an existing undergraduate Nutritional Sciences program.

Due to current and upcoming needs in the discipline and accreditation, the Nutritional Sciences faculty at a major university reformed their curriculum using backward design. As part of this process, they developed new learning outcomes that aligned to the institutional learning outcomes and mapped these new outcomes across the major's required courses. Also, they reorganized the existing major's single focus on biomedical nutrition into an academic program with a core curriculum and three concentrations (biomedical and molecular nutrition, global health and nutrition, and public health nutrition). The faculty designed new core and concentration courses and modified existing courses to distribute the essential learning across the major curriculum. Additionally, the committee created two service courses to fill voids in nutrition education for nonmajors. Despite abundant literature on backward and curriculum design, this process produced important learning about how to conduct and implement curriculum reform in a science-based discipline.

Prospects for predictive modeling of transition cow diseases.

Transition cow diseases can negatively impact animal welfare and reduce dairy herd profitability. Transition cow disease incidence has remained relatively stable over time despite monitoring and management efforts aimed to reduce the risk of developing diseases. Dairy cattle disease risk is monitored by assessing multiple factors, including certain biomarker test results, health records, feed intake, body condition score, and milk production. However, these factors, which are used to make herd management decisions, are often reviewed separately without considering the correlation between them. In addition, the biomarkers that are currently used for monitoring may not be representative of the complex physiological changes that occur during the transition period. Predictive modeling, which uses data to predict future or current outcomes, is a method that can be used to combine the most predictive variables and their interactions efficiently. The use of an effective predictive model with relevant predictors for transition cow diseases will result in better targeted interventions, and therefore lower disease incidence. This review will discuss predictive modeling methods and candidate variables in the context of transition cow diseases. The next step is to investigate novel biomarkers and statistical methods that are best suited for the prediction of transition cow diseases.