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400-Level Food Science 430: Food Chemistry (Writing-Intensive)
JOURNAL WRITING IN FOOD SCIENCE
Professor Wayne Iwaoka and two colleagues
recently published a paper exploring the shift in higher education from
the "paradigm of providing instruction to the paradigm of producing
learning." [See Iwaoka, W. T., P. Britten and F.M. Dong. "The
changing face of food science education." Trends in Food Science
& Technology 7 (April 1996): 105-112.] Iwaoka's UH Mānoa
writing-intensive course, Food Science 430, Food Chemistry, illustrates
some of the consequences of this shift, particularly in the prominence
it gives to the use of student journals.
Iwaoka finds that regular journal writing
encourages students to become better analysts and to increase their
awareness of their own learning processes. Iwaoka believes many of
today's food chemistry and food engineering facts will be outdated by
the time students enter the job market. The ability to discover and
analyze information, on the other hand, seems likely to be increasingly
in demand.
Journal keeping is a central activity
from the beginning until the end of Iwaoka's course. Iwaoka finds these
journals:
- increase student learning of course
content
- help students become better critical
thinkers and problem solvers
- develop skills that can be applied to
the more formal writing assignments students also do in the class
- provide regular feedback to the
instructor revealing when students are having problems understanding
aspects of the course
A review of some of Iwaoka's journal
writing strategies will likely be helpful to instructors in other
classes who are seeking additional effective ways to use writing.
Getting Started
Iwaoka provides a detailed handout
explaining his expectations for the journals. This handout, Academic
Journals (below), adapted from Toby Fulwiler, informs students:
A journal is a place to practice
writing and thinking. It differs from a diary in that it should not be
merely a personal recording of the day's events. It differs from your
class notes in that it should not be merely an objective recording of
academic data. Rather, think of your journal as a personal record of
your educational experience in this class.
Iwaoka collects the journals once a week
and writes responses. He finds that his comments in the early weeks of
the course are especially important in guiding students toward beginning
to understand the difference between writing personal reactions and
undertaking a critical analysis of ideas.
Students write from two to three times
per week. Iwaoka's handout also contains detailed practical
specifications, concerning length, titles, preferred format, etc (see "Academic
Journals" below).
Journal Topics
At the beginning of the semester students
may be asked to "Write a very brief summary of the contents of the
lecture or group discussion, reading material or activities of that
day." Student may also be encouraged to include their notes about
"ideas, theories, concepts or problems" raised by the course.
These writing prompts encourage students to think and to begin selecting
journal topics on their own.
Expectations for the depth of thinking
required in the journals increase as the weeks proceed. As Iwaoka
suggests in his handout, students may then be expected to use their
journals to "argue with the ideas and readings in the course and
argue with me, express confusion, and explore possible solutions to
problems raised in the course." Iwaoka informs students they should
use their writing to "record new insights/problem solving
strategies realized during discussions with fellow students, instructors
and/or guest speakers."
Expectations are highest for the
culminating journal activity Iwaoka requires at the end of the semester.
Students then re-examine all of their journal writing for the course to
"write an introduction to the journal and write an evaluation of
its worth to you." In this introduction and evaluation students are
expected both to reflect on what they have discovered about themselves
as learners and to examine some further issues raised in the course in
order to display the critical thinking skills they have acquired.
Student evaluations suggest that
consistent regular journal-keeping is an effective means of sparking
student learning. Here are some comments Iwaoka received from students
in his most recently completed class:
I really learned more in
this format that I would in a traditional classroom. I needed to be
forced to prepare and to use my own brain to apply everything I had
learned."
"Actually having to form an
opinion on the topics is a learning experience in itself. Many times
these journal entries made it more concrete for me."
"In a typical class (unlike this
one), I generally do not remember exactly what we did and how I felt
about it after a few days have passed. However, this class kept me on
my toes because I knew that I had to be organized and jot down notes
in class to help me write these entries."
"Many of the critical thinking
skills I have developed this semester have influenced the thinking
process in other classes also."
Guiding Student Practice
Iwaoka utilizes four strategies in
guiding students toward composing increasingly sophisticated responses.
These strategies are:
- written instructor responses;
- group work;
- class discussions; and
- reading assignments.
Instructor responses: Iwaoka
collects journals once a week and writes responses to each student. His
responses vary in length and content, depending on each student's needs.
Longer instructor responses seem necessary early in the semester to
steer students away from personal reactions and move them toward
thinking more critically.
Reading journals can be time-consuming,
Iwaoka acknowledges, but he says:
From what I've noticed, students really
want feedback. In the teaching journals, I've read about studies which
indicate that students really respond and learn critical thinking
skills more quickly when feedback is given by faculty.
To use his time efficiency, once it is
clear that students understand what is expected, sometimes Iwaoka skims
the entries and writes only such brief comments as "I agree"
or "I disagree" or "Have you thought about . . ." To
ease their load, other instructors who use journals sometimes find it
helpful to ask students at regular intervals to choose among their many
journal entries the one or two they wish the instructor to read more
carefully.
Iwaoka rarely marks mechanical or
grammatical errors. Iwaoka explains, "I know there is an emphasis
on mechanical skills in the general community but I think students can
learn that on their own. What is more important is helping them learn to
think, which they can't do as well on their own."
Even though there is no correction of
grammar and mechanics in the journals, Iwaoka finds that the opportunity
to write regularly and at length gives students a chance to improve in
these areas as well as in their critical thinking skills. (For
additional perspectives on the issue of grammar and mechanics, see Overcoming
Writing Errors.)
Group work and class
discussions: Class time is often spent providing students with
opportunities to practice the analytical skills required in their
journals. Students work in groups to solve problems that involve
applying familiar knowledge to unfamiliar situations. Groups compose
written solutions and these are shared with the entire class.
Iwaoka believes it is best to explicitly
teach students some techniques for successful group work. He leads class
discussions about the importance of teams in the work world and helps
students anticipate methods for dealing with problems. A brief handout, Roles
in Group Discussions (below), helps students become aware of some of
the complexity of group dynamics. Iwaoka requires students to practice
different roles in their groups on different days so they can increase
their understanding of how successful groups operate.
Reading assignments: Many
of the course reading assignments model the types of analysis Iwaoka
hopes to find in student journals. Others aim to provoke students to
think about topics in new ways. For example, Iwaoka assigns students
articles to read that describe the dangers of certain food additives. He
then assigns articles that argue the opposite view, that these additives
are safe. Students are instructed to use their journals to suggest
analyses that attempt to resolve the discrepancies.
Learning more about using Journals
Iwaoka's approach is but one of many
techniques that integrates journal writing into college instruction. For
information on other uses that UH Mānoa instructors have found for
journals, see the Mānoa Writing Program's Teaching
with Journals.
Department of Food Science and Human
Nutrition
FSHN 430 - Food Chemistry
Spring, 1997
Academic Journals
(Adapted from Teaching with Writing
by Toby Fulwiler, Boynton/Cook Publishers, Portsmouth, NH, 1987)
What is an academic journal?
A journal is a place to practice writing and thinking (Use your
class notes to refresh your memory). It differs from a diary in
that it should not be merely a personal recording of the day's
events. It differs from your class notes in that it should not be
merely an objective recording of academic data. Rather, think of
your journal as a personal record of your educational experience
in this class.
What to Write. First, write
a very brief summary of the contents of a lecture or group
discussion, reading material or activities of the day. Then,
record personal reactions to speakers, activities, student
responses, etc. Make notes to yourself about ideas, theories,
concepts, problems. Record your thoughts, feelings, moods,
experiences. Use your journal to argue with the ideas and readings
in the course and to argue with me, express confusion, and explore
possible solutions to problems raised in the course. Most
important, report or record new insights/problem solving
strategies realized during discussions with fellow students,
instructors and/or guest speakers.
When to Write. A good
journal will be full of lots of long entries and reflect active,
regular use. Write a journal entry as soon as possible after a
class session or after you have completed your reading assignment.
It is important to develop the habit of writing a journal entry
even when you are not in an academic environment. Good ideas,
questions, etc., don't always wait for convenient times for you to
record them.
How to Write. You should
write using whatever style with which you feel comfortable. The
point is to think on paper without worrying about the mechanics of
writing. The quantity you write is as important as the quality.
- Use a new sheet for each entry.
I would like for you to use a word processor for each entry.
- Develop your thoughts as fully
as possible. Decide upon a creative title for that entry. You
should have a minimum of one page per entry, double spaced
with a maximum of a one inch margin on each side, top and
bottom.
- The journal entries must be a
response to what was covered in class, textbook reading
assignments, popular articles about food, class activities or
anything related to food chemistry.
- Store the returned journal
entries in a 3-hole report folder.
Mechanics. Staple two journal
entries written for the previous week and hand them in each Monday
(there are 15 weeks of instruction so you need to end up with a
total of 30 entries). I or a classmate will read and comment on
selected entries and none of the dialogue with you will affect how
much your journal is "worth". There will be no docking
of points for poor writing or grammar. Good journal entries are
characterized by effort and thinking. Effort means you must invest
yourself and give the journal writing full attention. Thinking
means that you have figured something out or put a lot of
reasoning into what you said. You analyzed it this way or that way
and came up with the best solution or decision possible. It
doesn't mean you have to agree with the instructor or that your
answer be 100% "correct." It can be dead wrong as far as
I am concerned. But what is important is that you showed that you
thought about the issue.
Final requirements for the
journal. To complete your journal
(1) put page numbers in your journal,
(2) make a table of contents for each entry,
(3) write an introduction to the journal, and
(4) write an evaluation of its worth to you (This should be on the
last page of the journal).
Be sure to turn in these with all of your journal entries you
wrote for the semester on the last day of class in a folder.
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(Up to Food Science 430 Getting
Started)
| Roles
in Group Discussions
Facilitator: does not
participate in the solution of the problem (as much as possible).
- Encourages every group member to
participate in the discussion.
- Summarizes what was proposed and
makes sure everyone in the group understands what has been
leaned.
- Keeps track of how well the
group is collaborating or cooperating.
Proposer: proposes solutions
to the problem.
- Must know the information and
come up with a recommendation (answer) which is an complete as
possible.
Opposer: tries to find
weaknesses and flaws in the proposed solution.
- Must know the information and
tries to poke holes in the solution (why it is not the best,
etc).
Recorder: records group
decision and puts solution on board.
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(Up to Food Science 430 Group
Work and Class Discussions) |
