“Creativity” and “Critical thinking” through Food and nutrition education
By Bruno Almeida
Two of the competencies most defended as priorities to be developed in today’s students are “creativity” and “critical thinking”. After all, in a world of social and cultural complexities, where the flow of information and communication is constant, it becomes increasingly necessary for young people to know what to do and how to act in the face of this wide variety of knowledge sources references. But one question arises: What are the most effective pedagogical strategies to help students develop these skills?
Indeed, there are countless, whether in Mathematics, Languages, History, Chemistry, Visual arts, etc. All the fields of study can also set as learning goals the competencies of “creativity” and “critical thinking” by implementing activities capable of effectively promoting them in the educational context. And with “food and nutrition education,” it is no different. After all, it is an area not only responsible for generating awareness for more balanced and healthy food culture. But it is also able to provide students with an awareness of how our way of eating reflects a lot of how we relate to the world, others, and ourselves. Since we usually consume food from somewhere, from some origin, proper to a particular culture; we have the habits of eating in rituals of conviviality, sharing what we eat; besides conceiving our food as part of our identity and sense of self-efficacy, or on the contrary, as a vital escape valve to compensate other sorts of problems.
As critical thinking, in general, can be considered the ability to analyze a situation, problem or information in an analytical way, seeking to understand the origin, coherence, objective and validity of the arguments, for example, a stroll through the supermarket can be a very educational and critical experience to practice this competency with the students. Reading labels, checking nutritional compositions, and choosing the best foods can be useful analytical exercises. Or even more unusual things like getting some chewing tips from the animal world, be it with cows or sloths, to understand and emphasize the importance of this essential step of the digestive process. And what about creativity?
Generally, creativity is thought of as the ability to imagine and create new things, give another use to what already exists, or even conceive alternative perspectives for conventional problems. Thus, how not to be creative having to prepare a meal with your own hands? Since cooking comprises choosing food, searching for recipes, discovering the best food preparation, trying out the most appropriate combinations ensuring a good taste, among others. A set of tasks that would undoubtedly be a great challenge for children’s creative minds.
There are many examples of how food and nutrition education can be a handy and accessible pedagogical tool in this educational universe increasingly influenced by innovative practices. Mostly, taking into account its ease in materializing the theory in hands-on activities capable of being applied in such an easy way in young people’s daily lives.
