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Contemporary scholarship has enabled a deeper analysis of the dynamics that gave rise to professional home science and a greater understanding of the obstacles women encountered and the strategies they employed to gain legitimacy as the field developed in the twentieth century. This paper examines how home science moved from its origins as ‘glorified housekeeping’ to encompass the ‘professional and ‘scientific’ dimensions of women’s lives. It goes beyond judgments about whether home science ‘helped’ or ‘hurt’ women, and asks instead, what we can learn from a study of the professional lives of women working in the highly gendered domains of academia, the professions and education? The article documents the scientific and professional lives of two women, E. Neige Todhunter and Emere Makere Waiwaha Kaa Mountain who completed qualifications at the Faculty of Home Science, Otago University in the 1920s and 1930s as a way of offering new insights into the professionalisation of women and a rethinking of the relationship between women and household science in the twentieth century.

Improving Turkey's low level of education quality and achieving equity in quality education across its seven regions continue to be a monumental challenge. The purpose of this study was to document the extent of Turkey's regional differences in science achievement at the eighth grade and to investigate factors associated with these differences. Identifying the factors influencing Turkey's regional inequalities in student learning is crucial for establishing policies that will help raise the educational performance at the national level as well as close regional gaps. A series of hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses were performed at two levels (the school/class level and student level) using Turkey's nationally representative data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007. Findings suggested that attempts to increase Turkish students' achievement and close the achievement gaps between regions should target the students in the undeveloped regions, particularly in Southeastern and Eastern Anatolia. Designing interventions to improve competency in Turkish and to compensate for the shortcomings of insufficient parental education, limited home educational resources, poor school climate for academic achievement, and inadequate instructional equipment and facilities might be expected to close the regional achievement gaps as well as raise the overall achievement level in Turkey. Using TIMSS data, this study provided an example of a methodology that may be employed to describe how student achievement is distributed among various subpopulations of national interest and to investigate the factors that contribute to differences in the achievement distribution.

In Mauritius, the school curriculum does not support the need to develop sound nutrition knowledge and food skills to combat the rising incidence of non‐communicable diseases. This study looks at whether adolescents who had been taught Home Economics had better nutrition knowledge than children who had not. Self‐administered questionnaires were used to collect data from adolescents, Science teachers and Home Economics teachers, randomly selected from 12 co‐educational secondary schools. It was found that the overall nutrition knowledge did not differ significantly. However, Home Economics teaching was associated with better food skills, especially among boys, and was found to be the main source of nutrition‐related information. Opines that active learning methods and Home Economics should become compulsory in all secondary schools. This was the first study of its kind conducted in Mauritius. Findings would be of most value to teachers and policy‐makers in the field of education.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature of the environmental science (ENVR) programme at the University of Canterbury, including the links between the ENVR departments and other university departments, and between the ENVR programme and agencies and institutions outside the University of Canterbury. Such links are an important aspect of any such programme and, having decribed and analysed them, possible future directions are discussed.

The study of the history of Chinese science has attracted further attention over the past 50 years, with an increasing number of scholars, influenced by Joseph Needham and his project “Science and Civilization in China”, developing ideas in this field. There are a range of Web sites which have been produced and are available to the scholar of the history of Chinese science, and some of these are collected together and evaluated in this article.

Science Faculty Dean Mike Pentz at the Open University says that many people are applying for the OU's new foundation science home‐study course because they appreciate today's need for a scientific education; they are aware that the human species is facing extinction by its own acts and has only about fifty years in which to solve problems such as population, energy, use of nuclear materials, and the climatic (climactic? Ed.) effects of energy conversion. This increasing desire to study science perhaps reflects the way that sophis‐ticated technology has added to man's knowledge of the basic sciences. To take one instance, as Professor Pentz points out, the reason that the sea floor has been surveyed so minutely is that it offers potential hideouts for nuclear submarines. On parallel lines, industry's encroachment on the environment has intensified the need for a mature understanding of science, throughout both the world and society.

Nutrition education plays a significant role in inculcating lifelong healthy dietary behaviours among adolescents. The purpose of this paper is to understand the opinions of parents and teachers regarding nutrition education in private Indian secondary schools.

A cross-sectional, self-administered, paper-based survey comprising both closed- and open-ended questions was completed by 32 teachers and 280 parents who were recruited from five private English-speaking secondary schools in Kolkata, India. Descriptive and cross-tabulation analyses were conducted to compare the responses of teachers and parents. Thematic data analysis informed by template analysis technique was performed to evaluate the qualitative data.

While the curriculum was considered interesting and easy to understand, the gendered nature of the curriculum, excessive rote learning and lack of synchrony between the curriculum and school food services were highlighted as shortcomings of the existing curriculum. The need for the dissemination of food skills either through a compulsory food and nutrition curriculum or through extra-mural activities was expressed by most respondents. Both these ideas were indicative of strong support and motivation for modification in the current curriculum.

These findings emphasise the support for a skills-focussed food and nutrition curriculum to inculcate experiential culinary skills and comprehensive nutrition knowledge in Indian adolescents, thus improving their nutritional and health profiles.

This is the first cross-sectional survey to investigate the views of parents and teachers about the status of food and nutrition education in private Indian secondary schools.

The purpose of this paper is to look at the role played by home economists in providing information to consumers about household products. The work of home economist and educator Martha Van Rensselaer is reviewed, specifically her time as editor of the homemaking department of women's magazine Delineator from 1921‐1926.

The paper used qualitative analysis of the content of the homemaking department under Van Rensselaer as well as quantitative analysis of the advertising during those years. Documents from several manuscript collections were used as well.

Content analysis showed a shift over the years from 1921‐1926 from broader social themes to greater emphasis on specific homemaking tasks. Ads were regularly placed next to related editorial content, but under Van Rensselaer no brand names were mentioned editorially.

Since this research focused on one magazine, comparison with homemaking departments in other women's journals at this time would provide useful context.

The specific example provided illuminates the evolving relationship between advertisers, home economists, media and consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the food system professionals’ opinions of a new senior secondary school food literacy curriculum named Victorian Certificate of Education Food Studies in Victoria, Australia.

A purposive sample of 34 food system professionals from different sub-sectors within the Australian food system was interviewed individually in late 2015 and early 2016. Interviews were analysed using the template analysis technique.

Most participants appreciated the extensive coverage of food literacy aspects in this new curriculum. However, many suggested amendments to the curriculum including pay less emphasis on food history-related topics and pay more focus on primary food production, nutrition awareness and promotion, and food security, food sovereignty, social justice, and food politics.

A well-structured, comprehensive secondary school food literacy curriculum could play a crucial role in providing food literacy education for adolescents. This will help them to establish healthy food patterns and become responsible food citizens. The findings of this study can be used to modify the new curriculum to make it a more comprehensive, logical, and feasible curriculum. Moreover, these findings could be used to inform the design of new secondary school food literacy curricula in Australia and other countries.

The exploration of perspectives of professionals from a broad range of food- and nutrition-related areas about school food literacy education makes this study unique. This study highlights the importance of food professionals’ opinions in secondary school food-related curricula development.

In today's society with concern for crime and violence increasing and court television and celebrity trials bringing the criminal justice system, courtroom procedures, and rules of evidence into our living rooms, there is an increased need for reliable information about issues that are the core of forensic science: crime scene investigation and the collection and scientific analysis of physical evidence used in trials.