“Designing a Mobile Teaching Kitchen”: A challenge based learning experience

Abstract

This paper examines how students of the Nutrition and Wellness undergraduate program developed new skills by facing challenges and determining practical interventions for real life situations with the application of the novel Tec 21 Educational Model. To analyze this, a Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) methodology was applied with the partnership of an interna tio nal collaborator. Collaborative interactions with other classma tes a nd instructors allowed students to develop skills of multidisciplinarity, effective communication and solution proposals for real life challenging situations. At the end of the implementation, students were surveyed to evaluate progress and satisfaction, as well as to propose new activities for future applications. Our results showed that the majority of students (≥70%)considered their experience had a positive impact in the development of their abilities to identify opportunities for a social change for the country and to identify entrepreneurship opportunities in the field of nutrition, food services, science and technology. Additionally, more than half the students (55%) considered that the amount of effort they put into the courses was very high and most students (81%) defined it as a hard intellectual challenge. Derived from an educational perspective, this study highlights the favorable outcomes and improvement of future applications of the development of skills for different work fields as a result of the implementation of the Tec 21 Educational Model.