小学生を対象とした料理教室を通した食教育

抄録

In this study, we verified the hypothesis that children can acquire more cooking skills through the experiences in “cooking classes” provided by local governments or private companies. Therefore, cooking classes were held among 29 elementary school students (5th or 6th graders) at “FLAMME” facility of Ueno Toshi Gas Co. Ltd. Cooking classes were held three times a month from May to July 2009. The children’s cooking skills were surveyed first before the cooking classes and again six months later. The same surveys on cooking skills were carried out among 5th graders who did not take the cooking classes to compare the difference in cooking skills. By participating in the cooking classes, skills were significantly acquired in “boiling water in a pot”, “preparing Japanese broth”, “grilling”, “boiling, simmering and frying vegetables”, “mixing”, “mashing” and “seasoning”. On the other hand, children who did not participate in the cooking classes had significantly acquired only two cooking skills six months later. The cooking skills of elementary school students who did and did not participate in the cooking classes were the same before taking the cooking classes, but children who did participate acquired six cooking skills significantly higher compared with children who did not participate. Therefore, although cooking skills improved slightly even without taking cooking classes, significant improvements were seen among children who experienced the cooking classes. It was found that cooking classes were effective in food education. Furthermore, a correlation could be seen (R=0.56) between “the number of times for cooking at home” and “improvements in cooking skills”. It was proven that practicing at home to cook the various dishes learned in cooking classes led to the increased confidence in cooking.