Lesson signature in food and health education

The Food and Health subject is a mandatory subject in primary and lower secondary schools in Norway and has many similarities to the internationally known subject Home Economics. This study aimed to examine how learning activities are structured in Food and Health education, both from the teacher’s and the student’s perspective. Momentary time sampling was used as the observation method, and we created “lesson signatures” of the Food and Health education based on the observational data. “Lesson signature” is a term used for an aggregate number of observed teaching sessions, and is intended to reveal specific external patterns, considering time use, organisation and teaching patterns. Data were collected from 23 observed Food and Health lessons from sixth and ninth grades in Norway. The signatures show that although the activity level of both teachers and students was high, teachers controlled and regulated the lessons. Teaching methods consisted mainly of group work. Students spent a small proportion of the lesson listening, and conversation and discussion as a collective were virtually absent.