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SSHRC Mid-Term Report of:
Think&EatGreen@School
Community University Collaborative Project on Food Security in Vancouver Schools and Institutional Adaptation to Climate Change
March 2010 – September 2012
File number: 833-2009-4006
Report completed by: Principal Investigator and Coordinating Committee (Co-Investigators Gwen Chapman, Jennifer Black and Cyprien Lomas; Project Manager Elena Orrego; Project Coordinator Will Valley; and Project Community Liaison Brent Mansfield). First Draft Submitted to the entire CURA Think&EatGreen@School team on August 11, 2012; Second Draft submitted to the whole team on
September 4, 2012. and Third Draft submitted to the the entire CURA Think&EatGreen@School
team on September 11, 2012 Family Name:
Rojas
Given Name:
Alejandro
Initials
Primary Telephone number (with extension if applicable)
(604) 822-0494
Primary E-mail
Date Submitted (14/09/2012) Signature
Partner Contact Signatures
Family/Given Name: Kevin Millsip
Organization: Vancouver School Board
Signature:
Family/Given Name: Barbara Crocker
Organization: Vancouver Coastal Health
Signature:
Family/Given Name: Hartley Rosen
Organization: Environmental Youth Alliance
Signature:
Family/Given Name: Tara Moreau
Organization: Society Promoting Environmental
Signature:
Conservation
Family/Given Name: Joanne Bays
Organization: Public Health Association of BC
Signature:
Table of Contents
Part A
Part B
COMMUNITY-UNIVERSITY ALLIANCE
1. CURA team members (community and university researchers, community partners, students, knowledge users, etc.) who have joined the project since the time of application.
Name (last, first, title)
Affiliation (name of organization, province/state, country)
Role in CURA (partner, collaborator, student, other – specify)
Other information about this person you would like to communicate to SSHRC
Black, Jennifer, Assistant Professor!
UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, BC, Canada!
Co-Investigator, member of Coordinating Committee; Co-Leader of Dissemination and Data Management Working Group;
School Food Environment Assessment Tool (SF-EAT) and Individual Eating Assessment Tools (I-EAT)
School Food System Assessment Tool (SF-EAT); Individual Eating Assessment Tool (I-EAT); Food, Nutrition and Health; Principal Investigator, CIHR Think&EatGreen@School expansion grant!
Cook, Jennifer, Supervisor, Food Services!
Vancouver School Board, BC, Canada!
Supervision of food services and activities in schools within the VSB!
Increasing procurement of local, sustainable and healthy food in Vancouver schools
Gerofsky, Susan UBC Faculty of Education Co-investigator; Member of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Working Group
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, UBC; Principal Investigator, UBC Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund to support the UBC Orchard Garden (outdoor classroom); Principal Investigator, Metro Vancouver Grant, Cultivating Learning Network.
Scott, Sandra UBC Faculty of Education Co-investigator, Member of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Working Group
Fulltime Faculty Instructor, Faculty of Education, UBC
Gayle, Veronica UBC Faculty of Education Co-investigator, Member of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Working Group,
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, UBC
Carten, Sarah Vancouver Coastal Health Co-investigator, Co-Leader, Food Consumption Working Group
Community Nutritionist, responsible for school community work at Vancouver Coastal Health
Fox, Kris UBC Landscape Architecture Co-investigator Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, UBC
Golob, Steve UBC Food Services Co-investigator; Member of Consumption Working Group
Chef, UBC Food Services
Adams, Tegan UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (10 months)
MSc student, graduated in 2011; Food Policy and Climate Change thesis;
Adsit-Morris, Chessa
UBC,Faculty of Education Graduate Research Assistant (27 months, current GRA)
MA student
Baker-French, Sofia
UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Human Nutrition
Graduate Research Assistant (5 months)
MSc student
Simmons, Dean UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies I Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (5 months)
MSc student, graduated in 2010
Richardson, James UBC, School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture
Graduate Research Assistant (5 months)
MA student, graduated in 2010
Drewes, Eric UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (17 months, current GRA)
MSc student
Schaap, Jamie UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (14 months)
MSc student, withdrew from the program (maternity)
Shulhan, Stephanie UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (9 months)
MSc student
Labow, Ilana Fresh Roots; UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food
Partner Organization and Graduate Research Assistant (9 months, current GRA)
MSC student
Cooper, Kevin UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Research Assistant working with partner organization SOYL (11 months)
Undergraduate student
Sipos, Yona UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems
Graduate Research Assistant (8 months)
PhD student
Mota, Lorena UBC, School of Population and Public Health
Graduate Research Assistant (9 months)
MSc student, graduated 2011.
Costrut, Ileana UBC, Faculty of Education Graduate Research Assistant working with partner organization SOYL (3 months)
MA student, graduated 2010; Sustainability Education Programmer, Department of Biology, UBC
Falzone, Elenora UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Research Assistant (1 month) Undergraduate student
Harlap, Yael UBC, Faculty of Education Graduate Research Assistant (3 months)
PhD student
Kemshaw, Mathew UBC, Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Royal Roads University
Graduate Research Assistant working with partner organization Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA) (11 months)
MSc student
Moss, Nathan UBC, Faculty of Education Graduate Research Assistant (6 months)
BEd student; graduated in 2012
Ritterma, Teresa UBC, Faculty of Education Graduate Research Assistant working with partner organization SOYL (3 months)
undergraduate student, graduated in April 2011
Stortini, Helen!
Executive Director, Growing Chefs, BC, Canada!
New partner organization!
Assisting students in school projects on Food Consumption and Preparation at school and links with gardens!
Friedman, Stacy Program Manager"!SOYL (Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership), program of the Intergenerational Landed Learning Project, Faculty of Education, UBC!
Partner organization!
School garden curriculum development and teacher professional development, building youth leadership capacity in school gardens
Zandieh, Sahar Faculty of Land and Food Systems
Research Assistant Undergraduate student
Schindel, Rob Vancouver School Board Co-Investigator (status to be formalized with SSHRCC)
Director of instruction, Vancouver, School Board
2a. To what extent has the CURA research partnership achieved a balanced governance structure, facilitating the maximum participation and contribution of team members and partners?
Not at all Moderately Significantly
2b. Please describe concrete actions undertaken to facilitate the involvement and contribution of team members and partners.
The involvement and contribution of team members and partners has been significant and cover all aspects of the implementation of the Project, including planning and delivery of its main activities. As stated in our Milestone Report (sections 2.1c and 3.2), and documented in Appendix 1 of the Milestone Report, we have been refining the governance model, whereby Co-Investigators and Partners have been assuming leadership positions within Project thematic areas. See please detailed explanation below in Part B Section II. Community-University Alliance.
3a. Has the CURA developed new approaches that are responsive to the communities’ research questions/needs?
Yes (go to 3b.)
No
3b. Explain these new approaches and how they were developed.
Think&EatGreen Schools and Mini-Grants Program
At a whole-team meeting in the spring of 2011 it was decided to use $20,000 of the funds of the CURA Project to create a Mini-Grants program, to which schools could apply to be a ‘Think&EatGreen School’ and to receive some funding by creating a school team and generating their own projects within defined criteria identified in a request for proposals. The request for proposals went out in partnership with the Public Health Association of British Columbia’s Farm to School request for proposals as it was decided it would be less confusing for schools and would thus provide schools up to $3500 to apply for to carry out projects in their school. 14 schools submitted Mini-grant proposals and it was decided to allocate the $20,000 among these schools, with funds ranging from $800 to $2000 to each school to support the development of these community-generated ideas (2011-12 Mini-Grant Funding Summary). These 14 schools were hosted at a meeting on September 19, 2011 to further introduce them to the Think&EatGreen@School project. All schools submitted a short overview of their projects into large posters that were displayed at our final celebration meeting on May 30, 2012 (Summary posters from 2011-12 Think&EatGreen schools). The Mini-Grants program was successful in supporting schools in developing food system initiatives and allowing us to work with them to better understand how the research could complement their activities. The Mini-Grants program will continue for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years, with a request for proposals going out to schools in September each year. These schools were formally given the denomination of ‘Think&EatGreen School’ and given a diploma with the distinction. Tyee Elementary School, an exemplar school in terms of their work with our Project, although not a mini grant recipient, was also given this distinction. The school benefited from other forms of support from the project (Collaborative Inquiry; two Graduate Research Assistants working in the school, etc).
Support for Partners’ Projects and Funding Applications
Think&EatGreen@School has worked in collaboration with numerous partners to support their projects, including being involved in several advisory / steering committees and lending support to funding application to help them leverage funding. Farm to School Greater Vancouver, one such collaborative effort involving numerous partners within Think&EatGreen@School, including representatives from Vancouver Coastal Health, the Vancouver School Board, the Public Health Association of BC along with other regional stakeholders, has successfully received funding twice. The first successful application provided the funding for school-based grants to 4 Vancouver schools to pilot Farm to School programs, which were given out as part of the same RFP process described below. The second successful application will provide funds to continue to support existing programs as well as to extend support to new programs. Similar support and partnerships have also included working with the Vancouver School Board on a Letter of Intent to a local foundation for funding to conduct a feasibility study on producing food on VSB land to go directly into schools, which has recently been successfully awarded funds. Support for partners has also included letters of support
for funding applications, including for the Environmental Youth Alliance, the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation and Growing Chefs.
Similar support for projects from colleagues in the Faculty of Education have included submitting several joint proposals for funding to be able to better support UBC students, both graduate students and teacher candidates, to be able to make use of gardens as outdoor classrooms. As well, the Community Liaison has served on the advisory committee of the Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership (SOYL) program since its inception two and a half years ago.
4. Which of the following obstacles have you encountered with your CURA project? (Check all that apply)
Student recruitment
Availability of/access to data
Insufficient complementary funding
Ethics approval
Insufficient institutional support
Obtaining licences, permits, visas
Partnership negotiation
Physical / material resources (e.g., office space)
Lack of qualified personnel
Research Time Stipend (SSHRC)
Insufficient SSHRC funding
Team collaboration
Other(s) - Please specify: A one year-old labour dispute has deeply affected participating schools. This labour dispute resulted in logistical difficulties including the coordination of work in the affected schools because the job action resulted in tight school schedules and extremely busy teachers. The need to find a delicate balance between action and research keeping in mind that we must both report to the communities involved in the project and to contribute scholarship.
Data collection in a project of this sort progresses slowly as all aspect of the project require careful consultations. The databases that we have established and data collection that is continuing and ongoing indicate that by the end of the Project there will be both significant community impacts and scholarly production, with appropriate knowledge mobilization.
In addition, working with children present several complex ethical choices that not only required approval by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board but special authorization from school authorities, teachers and parents.
4b. How have you dealt with or overcome these obstacles?
Teacher job action took various forms throughout the past year, including withdrawal from any extracurricular activities, which often made communication and collaboration with teachers more delicate and challenging. It also made it untenable to continue with professional development activities that we had been doing after school. To deal with this situation we have focused on designated professional development days and our Summer Institute (see below). Despite all this, School Community Impact Projects and professional development were still very successful and, now that the dispute has been resolved, we look forward to an even more productive year next year.
To deal with ethical issues related to work with children we had to develop a series of consent forms adapted to a variety of situations, as required by the UBC Behavioural Research Ethics Board (BREB) and the ethical standard established by the Vancouver School Board, that provides ongoing active support through the involvement of to VSB officers as co-investigators and the organization itself as a CURA Project Partner.
5. At this time, what is the likelihood that the community and university institutions involved in the CURA will continue conducting research projects together once the CURA is complete?
Unlikely
Possibly
Likely
Definitely
Unknown
RESEARCH TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
! Students and Postdoctoral Researchers: Indicate the total number of students and postdoctoral researchers (both paid and unpaid) that have been participating in the CURA to date. Elaborate on the nature and quality of these training experiences in section III of Part B.
STUDENTS
Paid # Canadian # Foreign
Undergraduate 2
Masters 14
(24 if we include all Teaching Assistants paid by the Faculty of Land and Food Systems)
2
Doctoral 2 1
Postdoctoral 0 0
Unpaid # Canadian # Foreign
Undergraduate 800 34 (on student visa)
Masters
Doctoral 2 1
Postdoctoral
List of thesis or postdoctoral research projects that have been or will be produced following the students or researchers’ involvement in the CURA research activities
Student Name Thesis title Program and University
Thesis supervisor(s)
Expected completion date
Will Valley Towards an Ecology of Knowledge for Cultivating Systems Thinkers: The Land, Food and Community Approach to Food System Education
PhD, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Alejandro Rojas
August 2013
Yona Sipos Growing Community-University Engagement; The Case of the UBC-based Community Food System Project
PhD, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Alejandro Rojas
April 2013
Brent Mansfield Applying Food Systems Thinking in Urban Food Systems: A Case Study of the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver School Board
MSc, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Alejandro Rojas
August 2013
Chessa Adsit-Morris
Ecotones and hyphens: How environmental art can lead to a gestalt shift towards a more ecological identity
MA, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, UBC
Donal O’Donoghue
May 2013
Eric Drewes Identifying barriers to scaling up food production in urban settings
MA, Plant Science, LFS, UBC
Andrew Riseman
April 2014
Ilana Labow TBA MSc, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Gwen Chapman
August 2014
Joshua Edward The Role of the Built Environment in Shaping Adolescent Perceptions of Neigbourhood Food Systems
PhD, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Jennifer Black & Andrew Riseman
May 2015
Naseam Ahmadi Examing healthy and sustainable eating in Vancouver early adolescent students.
MSc, Human Nutrition, UBC
Jennifer Black
May 2013
Stephanie Shulhan Focusing on food: Dietary decision making and priorities of Vancouver Secondary School students
MSc, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Gwen Chapman
July 2013
Teya Stephens Is Participation in School Food and Nutrition Programs Associated with Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Choices?
MSc, Human Nutrition, UBC
Jennifer Black
August 2013
Tegan Adams Biting Back on Climate Change: Identifying and Lowering GHG Emissions in Canada’s Food System - A Life Cycle Approach
MSc, Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (ISLFS), UBC
Sumeet Gulati Graduated
2011
Julia Ostertag Becoming teachers together: Posthumanist performances of a school garden installation
PhD, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education
Anthony Clarke and Donal O'Donoghue
December 2013
Claire Askew Education Policy and Local and Indigenous Food-based Curriculum as a Key Food Policy Instrument
PhD, Policy Studies, Ryerson University
Mustafa Koc August 2015
! What type of research skills have students acquired through the CURA? (Check all that apply): Not all our grad students have had all the opportunities listed below but most have
Data collection
Data entry
Data analysis
Computer skills (use of specialized software)
Proposal writing / preparation
Research planning
Report writing
Publication experience
Opportunity for thesis work
Other(s) - Team work and facilitation; community outreach and engagement; public speaking
Number of non-student staff (excluding postdoctoral researchers) that have been hired by the CURA to date.
Indicate the total number and append a list of new courses, programs or streams of study that are being offered by institutions affiliated with the CURA as a result of the CURA’s activities and accomplishments to date.
Total number of courses (university or other) in which CURA research mechanisms, processes or results have been presented (to date): 20 since the Fall of 2009 (2009 was the year we received the $ 20,000 CURA development grant upon acceptance of our Letter of intent).
The following courses have Think&EatGreen@School central or very important components, although not new courses, those components are new to the courses’ curriculum:
LFS 100 Introduction to Land and Food Studies (1 credit) – Fall 2011
LFS 250 Land, Food and Community I (6 credits) – Fall 2009, 2010, 2011
LFS 350 Land, Food and Community II (3 credits) – Fall 2009, 2010, 2011
LFS 450 Land, Food and Community III (3 credits) – Spring 2011
FNH 440 Food Service Systems Management (3 credits) – Fall 2010
FNH 473 – Nutrition Education in the Community (3 credits) – Spring 2010, 2011
LARC 503 Landscape Design Studio (3 credits) – Fall 2010
APBI 497 Directed Studies (3 credits) – Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012
LFS 500 Graduate Seminar: Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (3 credits) – Spring 2010, 20112012
SOIL 502 - Advanced Sustainable Soil Management (3 credits) – Spring 2012
APBI 402 Sustainable Soil Management (3 credits) Winter 2011 and 2012
Role #
Technician (Web Designer) 1
Consultant (Graphic Designer) 1
Recording and facilitation 1
Others: Please specify: Project Manager 1
A team of 6 Graduate Research Assistants funded by our CURA SSHRCC all year around worked guided by core team members to coordinate the work with school counterparts in 32 schools and with 24 UBC funded Teaching Assistants involved in the courses listed above to organize the school projects in which 800 undergrads have participated so far. There role as “pollinators” linking undergraduate teams to school-based teams as been critical to assure the impact of the undergraduate course involved in the schools. !
Since the Fall 2010, while supported by Think&EatGreen@School UBC undergraduate students from courses Land, Food and Community I and II (LFS 250 and 350) participated in conducting a district-wide survey to better understand the state of food-related projects in City schools. The establishment of the Think&EatGreen@School project supported by the CURA Grant has allowed for the deepening and extension of related activities throughout the core curriculum of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (FLFS), in LFS 250, 350 and 450, with approximately 400 undergraduate students involved per year (800 so far). Some 100 undergraduate students from FNH 440, FNH 473, and graduate students from LFS 500 and LARC 503 are or have been involved in food system community-based research and community service-learning projects as part of their coursework, in the schools and the communities in their catchment areas. These student projects are all School Community Impact Projects (CIPs) developed with Think&EatGreen@School CURA Co-Investigators and partners. In interdisciplinary teams of 5-7, students participate in real-world problem-solving scenarios, exposing them to the complexities of community-based, food system action research. Past experiences in course projects have contributed to the academic growth and professional development of the undergraduate students, emphasizing the crucial role of interdisciplinary collaboration in food system analysis. !
In addition to those courses, the following activities have been offered:
! Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute, July 2011 and July 2012. We have held two Summer Institutes for VSB teachers and staff. Both Summer Institutes focused on food security and sustainability issues in collaboration and partnership with teachers, administrators, staff and students from Vancouver School Board schools. The Institutes were aimed at finding collaborative solutions to increase the knowledge and understanding of the connections between food, health and the environment across the food system in schools. Each Institute offered a combination of plenaries and streamed workshops and activities relevant to both elementary and secondary schools and curriculums. Workshops and activities focused on different components of the school food system, including: food gardens and orchards; composting and waste management; food procurement, preparation and consumption; curriculum and pedagogical innovations; and school food policies. The two Summer Institutes were held at UBC over three days during the first week of July, both in 2011 (July 4-6) and 2012 (July 3-5). Nine workshops and hands-on, experiential activities over three days at UBC followed the different components of the food cycle at school, including making connections to curriculum and pedagogy, as well as policy. Day 1 – Hands in the Soil: Food production and composting; Day 2 – Cooking and eating together: Food preparation and consumption using produce from UBC Orchard Garden; Day 3 – How to teach and act: Integration of the food cycle into curriculum and the development of action plans for schools.
! Support for Sustainability Opportunities for Youth Leadership (SOYL). Directed studies supervised by the SOYL Program Manager and PI provided training in 2010-11 and 2011-12
for 6 and 7 respectively undergraduate students to be mentors in this associated program Think&EatGreen@School has funded a Graduate Research Assistant to work with SOYL, an internship program for Vancouver secondary students in 2010, 2011 and 2012. SOYL youth interns participate in a 6-week summer internship, in which they grow food in four Vancouver school gardens. They learn skills that help prepare them to serve as environmental leaders in their schools and communities to advance a more sustainable food system. Through a variety of activities they learn skills relating to garden planning, construction, maintenance and sales, and ensure that gardens are thriving when school is again in session. Undergraduate student mentors gained first-hand experience working with the public education system, supporting secondary students and school gardens during the school year.
! Concept agreement formalized with the Faculty of Education’s Enhanced Practicum 2013. Think&EatGreen@School will offer a stream of 3 weeks training to UBC Teachers Candidates. Secondary teacher candidates will participate in April-May while Middle Years and Elementary candidates will be involved during May-June.
Resources for teachers and school communities:
Matthew Kemshaw , 2012.“Caring Composter” Elementary School Package: Presentation and Resources to Help Communicate About School Wide Composting. Think&EatGreen@School, Spring, Vancouver. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2rpjStZoww
Matthew Kemshaw, 2012a.“Caring Composter“ Secondary School Package: Presentation and Resources to Help Communicate About School Wide Composting. Think&EatGreen@School, Spring, Vancouver. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2rpjStZoww
Matthew Kemshaw, 2012b: Biology 11 Permaculture Project Learning from Life.
James Richardson, 2010: Food Garden Management. Think&EatGreen@School Garden Guide. Vancouver.
Jamie Schaap, 2012: Implementing Integrated Food Systems Education Programs: What we can learn from examples of success. Think&EatGreen@School, Vancouver.
Think&EatGreen@School Production Working Group, 2012: Season Extension for the Vancouver School Garden Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute, July 3-5, Vancouver.
RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
Brief overview of the way in which the research team is organized (e.g., units, clusters, themes, teams, departments), as well as a detailed description of planned research projects.
Project unit/cluster/etc.
Project title Project lead, affiliation
Specific project-level research objectives
Expected deliverables
Projected delivery date
Projected expenditures ($)
Food Production and Composting
1) School Garden Maintenance and Management
Andrew Riseman, UBC; Will Valley, UBC;
a) Develop tool for schools to use to plan and maintain school gardens b) Document school experiences with garden development, maintenance, and integration in curriculum, including identification of facilitators and barriers to success
a) Garden Maintenance and Management Plan document b) Project report and 1 (minimum) journal article
a) June 2011 b) June 2015
See section VII Budget Update and Justification, and VII.b. Budget Projections and Justification
2) School Compost systems
Andrew Riseman, UBC;
Will Valley, UBC;
a) Develop tool(s) for schools to use to plan and maintain school compost systems
b) Document school experiences with compost system development, and maintenance, including identification of facilitators and barriers to success
a) Compost resources for schools
b) Project report and 1 (minimum) journal article
a) June 2012
b) June 2015
“
Food Preparation and Consumption
1) School Food Environment Assessment
Jennifer Black, UBC; Gwen
a) Develop valid, reliable tools to assess food
a) SF-EAT (elementary) and SF-EAT (secondary)
a) September 2011
b)
“
Consumption Tools (SF-EAT)
Chapman, UBC; Sarah Carten, Vancouver Coastal Health
environments in Vancouver elementary and secondary schools, including aspects of food production, preparation, availability, waste management, and integration into curriculum
b) Document characteristics of elementary and secondary school food environments,
c) Assess changes in school food environments over time
(secondary)
b) Report describing food environments in 12 elementary and 9 secondary schools
c) Report describing change in food environments in 12 elementary and 9 secondary schools over 2 year period
b) September 2012
c) December 2014
2) Individual Eating Assessment Tools (I-EAT)
Jennifer Black, UBC
a) Develop valid, reliable tool to assess food practices, knowledge and attitudes of Grade 7 and 8 students
b) Collect data from a representative sample of 1000 Grade 7 and 8 students in Vancouver
c) Analyze data to assess determinants of healthy, sustainable eating habits in Grade 7 and 8 students
a) I-EAT web based questionnaire
b) Complete data set
c) Report for schools; 3 journal articles (minimum) presenting findings
a) January 2012
b) July 2012
c) December 2013
“
3) Focus on Food
Stephanie Shulhan, UBC; Gwen Chapman, UBC
a) Conduct focus groups with 60 Grade 9-10 students to explore factors shaping healthy, sustainable eating habits
a) MSc thesis and 1 journal article (minimum) describing findings
a) July 2013
“
4) Food Consumption Action Initiatives
Gwen Chapman, UBC; Sarah Carten, VCH
a) Work with stakeholders in 2 elementary and 2 secondary schools to identify 1 or more specific goals to enhance school food programs
b) Develop school-specific action plans, including evaluation plan
c) Implement action plans
d) Evaluate degree to which goals reached
e) Document facilitators of and barriers to success
a) School specific objectives relating to school food program enhancement
b) Written action and evaluation plans, including baseline data as appropriate
c) Field notes and other data documenting implementation of action plans
d) Follow-up data documenting implementation and outcomes of actions
e) Reports describing actions, outcomes, barriers and facilitators, including 1 (minimum) journal article
a) November 2012
b) January 2013
c) June 2014
d) June 2014
e) June 2015
“
Curriculum and Pedagogy
1) Tyee Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Group
Jolie Mayer-Smith, UBC Chessa Adsit- Morris
a) Form teacher-researcher collaborative group that works to integrate theme
a) Field notes from regular meetings of the collaborative
b) Project
a) Sept 2011-June 2014
b) June 2015
“
Morris, UBC
integrate theme of food, health and environment into practices across the curriculum
b) Document activities, successes, facilitators and challenges
report and a (minimum) journal article
2) Learning from Schools-in-Transition
Alejandro Rojas, Elena Orrego, Jamie Schaap
a) Review literature on exemplar schools locally and globally
b) Identify successful practitioners (‘local heroes’) and document their successful strategies
c) Document experiences of 2 – 4 Vancouver schools working toward goals of Think&EatGreen @School
a) Completed literature review
b) Video-taped interviews with 15 (minimum) ‘local heroes’, edited and ready for dissemination
c) Ethnographic reports and 1 (minimum) journal article
a) June 2012
b) December 2014
c) June 2015
“
Food Policy 1) School Food Systems Policy Development
Brent Mansfield, UBC and Vancouver Food Policy Council ; Kevin Millsip, VSB
a) participate in and document policy-making processes with VSB, City of Vancouver, Vancouver Coastal Health and others, towards healthy, sustainable school food systems and institutional adaptation to climate change
a) MSc thesis and 1 (minimum) journal article
June 2015
“
DISSEMINATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS
I. Total number of staff (student and non-student) that were hired for knowledge mobilization purposes to date (e.g, research coordinator, staff for dissemination activities, webmaster, etc.):
Specifically 4 Graduate Research Assistants, a Graphic Designer, a website designer, a webmaster and new social media consultant have so far worked on specific contracts. In addition, we have the institutional support of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems’ Learning Centre: its Director is a Co-Investigator, member of the Coordinating Committee and the Leader of the Dissemination and Data Management Working Group. The nature of this project requires permanent knowledge mobilization as it is a Community-Based Action Research project. Specific activities aimed at school community involvement fall within knowledge mobilization activities, including the Summer Institutes and other professional development, Mini-Grants and resources for teachers. Thus, all GRAs, staff and the core co-investigators are involved.
Number of knowledge dissemination mechanisms/tools/vehicles developed (D) or planned for development (P).
# Aimed at academic audiences
# Aimed at non-
academic audiences
# Aimed at both academic and non-academic
audiences
Contribution Type
D P D P D P
Advisory services 2 (Ecuador and Chile)
Article in popular media *
Article in Professional or trade journal *
Conference paper/presentations 5 participants in 3 Canadian Assoc. Food Studies (CAFS); 2010[11/12);
9 participants in 2 Centre for Eco-literacy Summer Seminar 2011 and 2012);
2 participants at the 8th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and
2 WORKSHOPS International Baccalaureate World Student Conference on Sustainability JULY 25, 2012
Global Food Security Conference Food for all. Amnesty International, UBC. November, 2011.
Social Sustainability, January 10-12, 2012
Conference proceedings 6 *
Consultancy n/a *
Creative work *
Database/dataset/archive 8
Development of policies and programs 3 (VSB food policy at school; Summer Institute and Enhanced Practicum, Faculty of Education)
Educational aid **
Media (e.g., interview, etc.) 13
*
Newsletter/press release/pamphlet *
Public lecture or address *
Radio broadcast *
Reports 4 (Milestone Report; 2 Annual Reports and Midterm Report)
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter etc.)
6
Television broadcast 1
Textbook
Thesis 13 8
Web site http://thinkeatgreen.ca/
1
Other(s) - Please specify:
Iterant exhibit with posters describing in detail activities on 15 schools. Available online in the Project’s website
http://thinkeatgreen.ca/
17 posters (hardcopy and electronic) and one brochure describing the project
* See Knowledge Mobilization Activities (Section following)
** See Knowledge Mobilization Activities (Section following) and above, Resources for Teachers
Table: Number of knowledge-dissemination events already held (H) or are planned (P).
# Aimed at academic audiences
# Aimed at non-academic audiences
# Aimed at both academic and non-academic
audiences
Event Type
H P H P H P
Workshop 12 12
Conference
Congress 1
Symposium
Meeting (We have included only the whole team meetings, not the regular meetings of Coordinating Committee; working groups; graduate research assistants; field work meetings; consultations or Advisory Committee)
7 3
Webinars or web based meetings
Other(s) - Please specify:
Two Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institutes (2011 and 2012) including 18 experiential workshops and three plenaries
18
(experiential workshops and three plenaries)
2 3
4. Knowledge Mobilization Audiences: Main audiences of knowledge mobilization efforts:
Audience Rank
Academic and Other Experts
Administrators
Community Groups (We aim at public school communities)
1
Community Leaders
Decision-Makers
Federal Government
General Public
International Intergovernmental Body
International Organization
International Research Communities
Learned Societies (discipline-based)
Libraries, Museums, Archives
Municipal Government 3
Non-Profit Organizations
Policy-Makers
Private Sector
Professionals/Practitioners
Provincial Government
Students: Undergraduate – Graduate
Unions
Universities 2
Foreign Government
Informed Public
Media
5. Audiences’ levels of influence on the social, cultural and / or economic development of the communities with which the CURA is involved:
Audiences Low Degree of Influence
Moderate Degree of Influence
High Degree of Influence
Unknown
#1
#2
#3
List of Knowledge Mobilization Activities
Refereed publications
! Rojas, A., Valley, W., Mansfield, B., Orrego, E., Chapman, G and Harlap, Y. 2011. Towards Food System Sustainability through School Food System Change" Think & EatGreen @ School and the making of a community!university research alliance. Sustainability Open Access Journal. Sustainability 2011, 3, 763-788. http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/5/763/
! Rojas, A., Valley, W. and Sipos, Y. 2012: From Inquiry to Engagement: A Reflection on 10 Years of Community-Based Learning and Research on Food Security and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 165-181, 2012. http://thinkeatgreen.ca/reports-publications/published-research/
Conference presentations
! Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication Conference. Burnaby, BC. (May 22, 2010). Mansfield, B. & Valley, W. “Growing Change: Through Collaboration, Curriculum and School Yard Gardens”
! Teachers of Home Economics Specialist Association Conference, Surrey, BC. (October 22, 2010) Chapman G. “Think&EatGreen@School.”
! Community-Engaged Scholarship: Critical Junctures in Research, Practice and Policy. Guelph, Ontario. (November 4-5, 2010). Valley, W.; Sipos, Y. and Rojas, A. 2010. “From Inquiry to Engagement”
! Canadian Association of Food Studies Annual Meeting, Fredericton. (May 2011). Chapman, G & Rojas, A. “Exploring and creating change in school food systems: Towards healthy, sustainable eating in Vancouver schools”.
! Canadian Association of Food Studies Annual Meeting, Fredericton. (May 2011). Mansfield, B. “Food Policy for the Development of Sustainable Food Systems”.
! Eco-Systemic Approach to Food Security and Sustainability. University of Machala, Ecuador, (August 26, 2011). Rojas, A. “Participatory Action Research as a pedagogical and transformative method towards the sustainability of local food systems”.
! Food for All: A Conference on Poverty and Food Justice. University of British Columbia, Amnesty International. (October 15, 2011). Spiegel, J; Mansfield, B and Rojas. A. “Think, Eat, and Grow Green Globally. A community-based action research initiative in Ecuador and Canada”.
! Association of European Schools of Planning Sustainable Food Planning Conference, Cardiff, Wales. (October 28, 2011) Mansfield, B. & Mendes, W. “Development and Implementation of Urban Food Strategies: Lessons for Vancouver”.
! Global Health Conference, Montreal, (November 13-15, 2011). Spiegel, J; Breihl, J. Rojas, A. Orrego, E. Yassi, A. “Community-Engaged Scholarship: Critical Junctures in Research, Practice and Policy.”
! Sustainability: 8th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability. Vancouver (January 10-12, 2012). Rojas, A & Valley, W. “The Ecology of Knowledge: Steps towards the Reintegration of Knowledge”.
Conference presentations
! Sustainability: 8th International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability. Vancouver (January 10-12, 2012). Rojas, A; Valley, Chapman, G; Orrego, E. Mansfield, B. “Planting the Seeds of a Sustainable Food System in Vancouver Public Schools”.
! Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, New York City (February 2012) Black, J. “Examining the Food Environment in Vancouver Schools: Lessons Learned from the Think&EatGreen@School Program.
! Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Vancouver, BC, April 13, 2012. Mayer-Smith, J. “Researching slow pedagogy in the garden” Presentation for Offsite Symposium: From Knowing to Growing: Garden-Based Education on the UBC Campus.
! Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Vancouver, BC, April 15, 2012. Gaylie, V. “Eco-Poetic Inquiry: The Poetry of Place.”
! Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Vancouver, BC, April 16, 2012. Gaylie, V. “Environmental Learning and Teacher Education.” In Symposium: A Dialogue on Environmental Learning and Experience.
! Canadian Association of Food Studies Annual Meeting, Waterloo, May 25-28, 2012. Chapman, G. & Rojas. A. “Healthfulness and sustainability of school food environments in Vancouver: Findings from School Food Environment Assessments”.
! Canadian Association of Food Studies Annual Meeting, Waterloo, May 25-28, 2012. McLachlan, S.M., Rojas, A., Williams, P., Gillis, D. & Anderson, C. Special Session. “Overcoming Institutional and Other Systemic Barriers to University-Community Partnerships in Food Justice Research”.
! Systems View of Life, Center for Ecoliteracy, Berkeley, CA, June 20-22, 2012. Mansfield, B. “Applying Food Systems Thinking for Ecologically-Integrated Approaches to Food Policy in Cities”.
! Systems View of Life, Center for Ecoliteracy, Berkeley, CA, June 20-22, 2012. Valley, W. “Cultivating Systems Learners: The Role of Epistemic and Ontological Cognitive Development”.
! International Baccalaureate Student conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver (July 25, 2012). Adsit-Morris, C; Stephens, T; Ahmadi, N and Labow , I. “Towards sustainable and healthy school food systems in Vancouver: The Think&EatGreen@School Project: A student-led interactive workshop presentation of Think&EatGreen@School Project’s first two years”.
! International Baccalaureate Student conference, University of British Columbia, Vancouver (July 25, 2012). Golob, S. “The Hungry Games”
Reports ! Every Bite Counts: Climate Justice and the BC Food System. Marc Lee, Herb Barbolet, Tegan Adams and Matt Thomson, 2010: Canadian Centre for Policies Alternatives, BC Office. November 2010. Vancouver. http://www.policyalternatives.ca/newsroom/news-releases/every-bite-counts
! School Activity Report: http://thinkeatgreen.ca/reports-publications/school-reports/
! “Promoting Healthy Eating and Sustainable Local Food in BC: An Action Framework for Public Institutions – Health Authorities, Educational Institutions, Childcare Facilities, and Local Governments” in partnership with Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver Coastal Health and the Union of BC Municipalities. June 2011. - http://www.phsa.ca/NR/rdonlyres/6F0B568E-D9FA-4BD0-843F-FD5FE6E031CC/0/FoodActionFramework_FINAL_Dec2011.pdf
! Milestone Report, 2011.
! Analysis of Food Environments Surrounding BC Schools: Baseline Report and the Think&EatGreen@School Program. Jennifer Black. Webinar hosted by BC Youth Excel: November 29 2011.
! Think&EatGreen@School Annual Report, 2012.
Public presentations
! Koc, M. 2010. Reaching outside the boxes: Building community-university research collaborations - Sortir des sentiers battus : construire des alliances de recherche entre les universités et les communautés pour un système alimentaire durable. Food Secure Canada Assembly 2010, Univ. de Montréal, Nov 28, 2010.
! Koc, M. 2010. Activating Policy Change for Community Food Security. Participatory Action Research and Training Center on Food Security (PARTC-FS) workshop. Nova Scotia, August 17-19, 2010.
! Carten, S. 2011. How food choices impact the environment and how to reduce the carbon footprint of school lunches. April 11, 2011.
! Rojas, A. 2011. Think&EatGreen@School. Community University Collaborative Project on Food Security in Vancouver Schools and their Institutional Adaptations to Climate Change. Faculty of Education, UBC. April 28, 2011.
! Rojas, A. 2011. Keynote speech, Think&EatGreen@School First Summer Institute, Vancouver, UBC, July 3, 2011.
! Mayer-Smith, J. 2011. From the field to the classroom: Lesson on integrating food, gardening and environment across the curriculum from Intergenerational Landed Learning. Presentation and Workshop at Think&EatGreen@School First Summer Institute, Vancouver, UBC, July 4, 2011
! Mayer-Smith, J. & Scott, S. 2011. Exploring Science Curriculum for Making Connections across the Food Cycle. Presentaion at Think&EatGreen@School First Summer Institute, Vancouver, UBC, July 5, 2011
! Workshops at 2011 Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute, July 4-6, 2011
! Rojas, A. 2011. Ecosystemic Approach to Food Security and Sustainability. Participatory Action Research as a pedagogical and transformative method towards the sustainability of local food systems. University of Machala, Ecuador, August 26, 2011.
Video and media presentations
! Vancouver Observer interview with PI Alejandro Rojas http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/schoolview/2010/11/11/deconstructing-cheeseburger BC graduate students join city hall's environmental effort. Master's candidate charged with identifying local food. By Megan Stewart, Vancouver Courier June 23, 2010
! “Given the choice between a salad bar or lunch packed by mom, a surprising number of students at Mountview Elementary go for the lettuce and mustard greens”. Adriana Barton. Vancouver — Globe and Mail Published on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010
! Rojas, A. 2010. Interview with Carmen Rodrigues on Think&EatGreen@School in Spanish for “Canada in the Americas. CBC Radio International. http://www.rcinet.ca/radio/index.php?language=es&type=program&media=audio&id=498
! Think&EatGreen@School. TEACHER, Jan/Feb 2011. Page 20
! Parent Pro/Being Green. CBC On the Coast. Michelle Eliot's Parent Project Interview with Alejandro Rojas, Principal Investigator of Think&eatGreen@School at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems. Tuesday February 8, 2011
! Rojas, A. 2011. Engaging Sustainability in BC Education. Pacific Institute for Climate Change Solutions, PICS Public Lecture September 14. Simon Fraser University. http://www.sfu.ca/tlcvan/clients/pics/2011-09-14_VP_Research_PICS_61417/
! Canadian Association of Food Studies, Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2011. “ Vancouver K-12 schools are getting a leg up in food and sustainability issues thanks to the Think & EatGreen @ School Project”. Page 8
! Une expérience pour lutter contre la malbouffe chez les ados. Mercredi 1 décembre 2011. Le’Express du Pacifique. December 1, 2011.
! High school garden project grows into full-scale urban farm. TEACHER, Jan/Feb 2012. Page 20
! Fresh Roots featured in the Vancouver Sun: “Vancouver Technical School’s Market Garden to be a Canadian first” The Vancouver Sun, June 13, 2012, http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Vancouver+Technical+school+market+garden+Canadian+first/6776460/story.html
! Food for Thought: Farm to School Program. Vancouver School Board. 2011 http://www.phabc.org/modules.php?name=Farmtoschool&pa=showpage&pid=226#.VPZSnkuzMqg
! Good Green News: Vancouver Urban Gardens. DreamRider Theatre. 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPD3BogYAKw&feature=relmfu
! “Urban Farmers Hope to Grow in School District”. The Vancouver Courier. January 4, 2012 http://www.vancourier.com/life/Urban+farmers+hope+grow+school+district/5943963/story.html
! “Vancity Awards Funds To Innovative Students and Graduates Who Developed A Business That Makes Social and Environmental Impacts in British Columbia”. Vancity. April 26, 2012
Part B
I Summary
The mission of the research project is to contribute theoretical understandings (knowledge creation) and practical applications (action and knowledge mobilization) in the areas of food education across the curriculum, multi-level food system changes (in production, procurement, distribution, delivery, preparation, and the composting and recycling of end products) that will support regional food security with an emphasis on environmental sustainability and policy recommendations for schools.
To achieve this mission, our project has the following objectives:
a. Develop and evaluate food-related curricula/activities focused on food system sustainability and institutional adaptations to climate change, grounded in a food security paradigm (Affordability, Accessibility, Appropriateness, Safety and Sustainability);
b. Evaluate with the Vancouver School Board opportunities for policy development and change towards increasing food security in schools, decreasing environmental impacts of school food systems, and promoting a sustainable regional food system;
c. Link theoretical learning to practical application to educate university, secondary and elementary students, teachers, and citizens (ourselves included) with a sound knowledge of the relationships between food security, sustainability, and climate change;
d. Pilot specific School Community Impact Projects with engaged school communities and elsewhere, to investigate the adaptations needed to fulfill the above objectives;
e. Further develop the connections between community-based action research and community service learning in creating community-engaged scholarship;
f. Create connections between university and community that will extend beyond this project.
The Think&EatGreen@School Project comprises a wide range of partners, described in five categories:
1. Area governance institutions of education, food policy and health, represented by the Vancouver School Board, the City of Vancouver’s Food Policy Council and Vancouver Coastal Health.
2. Local community!based organizations that focus on food security, sustainability, and related issues, including the Environmental Youth Alliance, the Society Promoting Environmental Conservation, Growing Chefs, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society, and FarmFolk CityFolk;
3. Provincial or national community!based organizations, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Public Health Association of British Columbia.
4. Individual city schools: 32 in the two iterations of the project covering two and half years.
5. University!based partners, including 15 professors and 25 graduate students (Coordinating Committee Members, Graduate Research Assistants and Teaching Assistants) from the University of British Columbia, and 2 researchers from Simon Fraser and Ryerson University, respectively. At UBC, partners include the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, researchers from the Faculty of Education and from the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
II Community University Alliance
The CURA objectives have remained the same as those indicated in Section I One Page Summary of the CURA grant application submitted to SSHRCC and as stated in our research grant application (Page 3, of the Detailed Research Project Description, Mission and Objectives).
The governance structure of the project has remained basically the same as described in our CURA Grant Application (Structure of the Research Alliance and Governance, pages 4 and 5) and the Tree Model (refer to Figure 2 in the Partnerships and Alliances section V, Description of the Research Team, page 1 of the research grant application).
To implement the governance structure, we have organized our work in the following ways:
Ii a. Coordinating Committee (CC) activity
During the first year of the Project, the Coordinating Committee (CC) held regular weekly meetings to set in motion and oversee the entire Think&EatGreen@School CURA Project and its governance system. The CC is comprised of: the Principal Investigator (PI); a Senior Co-Investigator as Research Coordinator; a Project Manager; a Project Coordinator (a PhD candidate); a Project Community Liaison (Masters student and Co-Chair of the Vancouver Food Policy Council, a partner organization) and two Co-Investigators responsible for Data Management and Dissemination that have joined the CC during the last year. The role of the CC is to create strategies for the implementation of the project, administer the grant, facilitate communication between the project participants, organize the various project meetings and workshops, implement knowledge mobilization and contribute intellectual guidance. The CC has been entrusted by the whole team to maintain the vision for the Project and to provide resources to all other parts of the Project. Unlike the first year, when the CC met regularly once a week, during the 2011-12 year, the members of the Coordinating Committee agreed to meet only once or twice a month and a smaller operative team (Staff & PI team) was entrusted with the day-to day operations of the Project. This was the result of the clarification of the main lines of work of the entire team and a clearer distribution of responsibilities among team members. At the same time, the role of Co-Investigators representing core organizations in the research alliance has been maintained and their role in the intellectual leadership of the project has been increased, contributing to the planning of all key activities, regularly participating in the working groups and in the implementation of school-based community impact projects.
II b. Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Team Involvement
The GRA team began work on April 1, 2010, and there are currently 5 Masters students and one undergraduate student directly funded by the CURA Grant all year round. In addition there are 4 more GRAs (one PhD and three Masters) regularly involved in the team but funded by other sources (CIHR expansion grant of Think&EatGreen@School, a UBC 4 year fellowship, the Food, Nutrition and Health Vitamin Research Fund, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Fellow in Population Intervention for Chronic Disease Prevention) in addition to a group of some 15 Teaching Assistants funded by the Faculty of Land and Food Systems involved in courses where Think&EatGreen@School is a central component. The main tasks of the GRAs are shown below; also see Appendix 11 of the Milestone Report for detailed “Criteria to Hire Graduate Research Assistants.” GRAs support researchers in the following activities:
- develop, communicate with and lead teams of undergraduates in fieldwork at school sites - lead specific School Community Impact Projects with direction from Co-Investigators - conduct literature reviews to continually update the knowledge base of the research - support the preparation of instruments for data collection
- collect monitoring and evaluation data - participate in working group meetings with researchers and community partners and contribute to
refining the methodology of the study - communicate with other research partners/collaborators, including coordination of and participation
in the annual meetings and annual school reports - disseminate findings through academic and community conferences, seminars, articles - contribute materials to the website
II c. Establishment of Themed Working Groups
As explained in detail in our SSHRCC application (see Appendix 4 of the Milestone Report), a whole-team Project meeting in April 2010 confirmed the team members’ and partner organizations’ consensus regarding the governance structure of the Project. Further to four July 2010 theme-based meetings that were open to every team member, a whole-team meeting took place on October 29, 2010. During the first year of the Project, four working groups were organized around the four Project Themes: 1) Food Production and Composting at School, centred on food gardens, fruit tree orchards and composting programs; 2). Food Preparation and Consumption at School, centered on food procurement, preparation and the assessment of the school food environment and consumption habits; 3). Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovations, centered on content, formal and informal process of learning and learning environment; and 4) Food Policy and Institutional Adaptations to Climate Change aimed at understanding how policies would provide opportunities and help remove barriers to Think&EatGreen@School aims. Each working group has a university-based leader and a community organization or governance institution-based co-leader. The working groups have been meeting regularly since April 2010, and each group held one theme-focused session in July 2010, as mentioned above. The working group meetings have enabled: establishment of thematic research and action work-plans; review and refinement of a Logic Model based on the Project’s Evaluative Framework (submitted with the SSHRCC application, page 8 of the Detailed Description); identification of key indicators for every theme; and development of dissemination and knowledge mobilizations activities. In 2012 a fifth working group was created, responsible for Dissemination and Data Management.
II d. Whole Team Meetings and Collaboration
Since the beginning of the grant tenure, we have been working to implement the governance model, as described in great detail (Review of the first year, now Year 0 of the Milestone Report. For further detail, see Appendix 1 of the Milestone Report). Consultations with partner organizations occur regularly to enable partner organizations to work directly and productively with the UBC team in the detailed planning and direct delivery of school projects involving UBC students (see school projects by course in Appendix 7 of the Milestone Report). The activities detailed above illustrate the implementation and enactment of our governance model and partner involvement in the planning and delivery of school projects involving UBC students. Other instances of contact and collaboration with area governance institutions, that is, agencies in Vancouver that play a role in governing policies and practices on food security, health, environment and school curriculum, include:
! Presentation by the PI and Coordinating Committee to a Committee Meeting of the Vancouver Board of Education (Senior Management Team, School Board Trustees, and local Teachers Federation and other union representatives). Along with this several members of the team including the Coordinating Committee, the Vancouver School Board Sustainability Coordinator and the Community Nutritionist from Vancouver Coastal Health facilitated a breakfast session with the entire
Learning Services Department of the Vancouver School Board. Regular contact and communication is maintained between the VSB Sustainability Coordinator and the Project’s Community Liaison. Semi-annual meetings have also taken place between members of the Coordinating Committee and the Associate Superintendent of Learning Services, who also has been a Co-Investigator in the Project.
! Participation in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between UBC and the City of Vancouver on sustainability research. A scholarship allowed a graduate student a “desk” at the City to develop a research agenda of common interest to the City and UBC. Her position created the conditions for a formal partnership between the Vancouver Greenest City Initiatives and our Project to work towards the development of food procurement policies in the public institutions of Vancouver, including a session on food procurement policy to reduce GHG emissions co-hosted by the Working Group on Food Policy and Institutional Adaptations to Climate Change and the City of Vancouver.
! Membership in the Coordinating Committee of the Co-Chair of Vancouver Food Policy Council Brent Mansfield. He is the Project’s Community Liaison, a staff member funded by the CURA grant on part-time basis.
! The participation of Community Nutritionist Sarah Carten from Vancouver Coastal Health as a Co-Investigator in all aspects of the project including co-leading the Food Preparation and Consumption at School Working Group; involvement in the training of students, the planning and delivery of school projects together with other co-investigators and UBC students; membership in the Organizing Committee of the Summer Institute and delivery of professional development days for teachers and workshops in the Summer Institute.
! Various levels of involvement in other working groups and in the delivery of school based projects, professional development workshops for teachers and in the Summer Institute can also be reported in relation to the contribution of the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA); the Society for the Promotion of Environmental Conservation (SPEC); the Public Health Association of BC (PHABC); Sustainable Opportunities for Youth Leadership (SOYL) and the Vancouver School Board’s Associate Superintendent of Learning Services and the VSB Sustainability Coordinator. (See Partner Activities outlined in the 2010-11 School Reports and 2011-12 Annual General Report) Following her recent retirement from the position of Associate Superintendent of Learning Services, Ms. Valerie Overgaard has joined our Project’s Advisory Committee. Her position as Co-Investigator was replaced by the new Director of Instruction Mr. Rob Schindel. In addition, a new partner, Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society, has recently joined the alliance and its Director has become a graduate student at UBC and a Graduate Research Assistant, working on the collaboration between Fresh Roots and our project, while participating in the delivery of some of our school projects.
II e. Governance Structure: Collaboration and Integration of Research Activities
The implementation of the governance structure, as outlined above, through the combination of Coordinating Committee activity, Graduate Research Assistant team involvement, establishment of themed working groups and leaders and whole team meetings has allowed for effective management of a variety of key aspects of partnership collaboration. This multi-dimensional combination of activities has enabled fluid communication and integration between co-investigators, partner organizations and individual schools and teachers in the development and implementation of School Community Impact Projects and in the defining of the research agenda. Integration of all team members and partners has effectively taken place through a variety of mechanisms including regular full-team meetings (twice a year), active and regular participation in themed working
groups, involvement in the collaborative delivery of the Summer Institutes. and regular interactions with the Project’s Community Liaison. The Coordinating Committee also plays a central role in cross-fertilisation between different aspects of the project, including integration of research activities through having at least one member of the CC involved in each of the themed working groups. Think&EatGreen@School has established contacts with two other CURA projects for sharing comparative insights and exploring possibilities of establishing a Canadian Food Research Network. Mustafa Koc from Ryerson University has facilitated contacts with Activating Change Together for Community Food Security (ACT for CFS) (Patricia Williams, MSVU), Nova Scotia and Local and Just; Alternative Food systems in Urban, Rural, and Northern Manitoba (Stéphane McLachlan, University of Manitoba). These three projects continue to share insights. Collaborative meetings among project members were held at the Annual General Meetings of the Canadian Association for Food Studies and during the Food Secure Canada Assembly.
II.f Community Impact
Community organizations and partners have significantly benefited from the increased level of collaboration and networking that the partnership of Think&EatGreen@School has provided. The stronger regional network has led to a greater degree of knowledge and resource sharing, as well as collaborative program efforts and increased capacity to leverage funds. Think&EatGreen@School co-investigators and staff are part of several steering committees for collaborative efforts that have successfully received funding. Farm to School Greater Vancouver is one such collaborative effort involving numerous Think&EatGreen@School partners. PHABC is the lead provincial agency and Vancouver Coastal Health is the lead regional agency championing Farm to School Greater Vancouver. Staff from Think&EatGreen@School, the VSB, VCH, along with other community organizations provide guidance and advice in their roles as steering committee members. This team, with full support from the Alliance involved with Think&EatGreen@School has successfully secured funding from Vancity EnviroFund to pilot several Farm to School programs and to expand the capacity of school boards to purchase more local fresh foods. The Vancouver School Board has recently received funds to conduct a feasibility study that would investigate the innovative possibility of hiring a farmer to grow food on VSB land to go directly into VSB schools. Think&EatGreen@School staff are involved in the advisory committee for this project, along with representatives from VCH, the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Park Board as well of community funders. In the meantime the number of school teachers, school staff and administrators who are participating or have participated so far in activities directly organized by Think&EatGreen@School has grown from a handful in 2010 to over 100 in 2012, including those that have been involved in both Summer Institutes and other professional development opportunities through the year, as well as through participation in school teams that successfully received Think&EatGreen@School mini-grants (see below for more information on the Summer Institute and mini-grants) The close collaboration between the university and community on so many joint initiatives is contributing to an emerging body of knowledge and expertise that is very beneficial to both the university and community colleagues, in the form of a truly community-engaged scholarship that is theoretically and academically rich, yet still informed by and in service of grassroots efforts in the school and community. The strengthening of the entire community of learners, from professors to teachers and community organizations to school students, has contributed to an enhanced sense of belonging that supports continued innovation. The sense of team and being part of something bigger provides further inspiration to visionary teachers and community partners to feel both supported and acknowledged for their contributions. Overall the mutual benefit of sharing expertise and resources between the university and community has been significant to both. This can be seen in the level of collaborative effort and shared success in the jointly delivered Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institutes, as well as the way in which the UBC students’ learning is both
enhanced by their participation in schools and contributes to the momentum for positive change that teachers and community partners are working towards.
II.g. Changes to Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members
The main roles and responsibilities of team members, collaborators and partners has remained relatively consistent in the first half of the project, becoming more nuanced with the development of the themed working groups. There have been several additions to the team as new stakeholders and allies have emerged.
Three faculty members from UBC’s Faculty of Education (Drs. Susan Gerosfsky, Sandra Scott and Veronica Gaylie), Dr. Kris Fox from UBC’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and Dr. Jennifer Black from the UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food System’s Food, Nutrition and Health program have joined the team as Co-Investigators. Sarah Carten, a community nutritionist with Vancouver Coastal Health, joined as Co-Investigator. Thus, since there was already one Co-Investigator from UBC’s Faculty of Education and one from Vancouver Coastal Health, these additions show the growing of the commitments to, and reach of, Think&EatGreen@School.
Steve Golob, an award winning chef at UBC, moved from a member of the Advisory Committee to the role of Co-Investigator and has delivered multiple workshops, including those taking place during of the Summer Institute, on behalf of the Project (see knowledge mobilization appendix)
Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society, a newly registered non-profit organization has recently joined our team, and is undergoing the process to be formally recognized as a partner. Fresh Roots is developing an innovative model of schoolyard market gardens within the Vancouver School Board, which act as both an outdoor classroom for schools and a market garden where urban farmers can produce and sell food to the school and the surrounding neighbourhood.
II.h. Delays to Project Schedule
There have been no significant changes to the project schedule. More robust knowledge dissemination, through both academic and public avenues, will increase in the latter half of the project once the planned stages of data collection of the research plan are completed, systematized and analyzed.
The most significant challenge over the past year of the project has resulted from an on-going dispute between the BC Teachers’ Federation and the Government of BC. Teacher job action took various forms throughout the past year, including withdrawal from any extracurricular activities, which often made communication and collaboration with teachers more delicate and challenging. It also made it untenable to continue with professional development activities that we had been doing after school, and instead the project has been focusing on designated professional development days and the Summer Institute. Despite all this, School Community Impact Projects and professional development offerings were still very successful and, now that the dispute has been resolved, we look forward to an even more productive year next year.
III Research Training
III.a. Skill Development of Research Staff
The CURA grant paid staff of the project consists of three part-time staff (Project Manager; Project Coordinator and Project Community Liaison, all members of the Project’s Coordinating Committee) and 5 Graduate Research Assistants.
As explained above in Section II.a. (Coordinating Committee) the three part-time staff persons are members of the Project’s Coordinating Committee and share responsibilities with the Principal Investigator and the three Co-Investigators who are also members of the Coordinating Committee for collective leadership responsibilities regarding the implementation of the project; administration of the grant; facilitating communication between the project participants; organizing the various project meetings and workshops; implementing knowledge mobilization; and contributing intellectual guidance. In addition, the three part-time staff members meet weekly with the PI and carry out the day-to-day activities of the Project. These activities provide the staff members, two of whom are graduate students (both are school teachers on study leave as well) with ample opportunities to build their knowledge, expertise and research skills, that they apply in their theses, which are focused on the Project. The Project Manager, an experienced researcher and administrator, is also involved in the direction of the project working closely with the Principal Investigator and is responsible for the organization and facilitation of the Graduate Research Assistants bi-weekly or monthly meetings (depending on the period of the year).In addition, the three part-time staff participate regularly and actively in the different Working groups of the Project.
III.b. Skill Development of Students
The Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) are key players in the Think&EatGreen@School team. Their functions are listed above in Section II.b. They meet every two weeks to collectively review their tasks with the PI, the Project Manager and Project Coordinator. Every other meeting is a “theory meeting” (to discuss issues and publications of interest). All GRA meetings are chaired by a GRA in a rotational mode. The GRA responsible for chairing a meeting is also responsible for proposing an agenda, circulated a few days prior to the meeting.
In addition to the GRAs funded by the CURA grant, other graduate students (approximately 15 per year) who work as teaching assistants (TAs) facilitate undergraduate student research; however these TAs are paid by the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within the Land, Food and Community series of required courses which are directly involved in the delivery of Think&EatGreen@School projects in the schools. Overall, the students and GRAs have benefited from exposure to, as well as implementation and administration of, a collaborative undertaking with academic and non-academic stakeholders. They have also acquired significant teaching and research experience within a project that brings the university to the communities and vice-versa. Through the experiences and skills acquired through working with the CURA project the GRAs involved are becoming highly qualified personnel in food system education exposed to many fields of food system research (health, nutrition, reducing environmental impacts, sustainability education and community engagement). In total, with some small variation approximately 25 graduate student positions are involved (5 funded by the CURA Project; 5 by complementary grants that are expansions of the CURA and 15 by the Faculty of Land and Food Systems TAs, although some of these positions are performed by the same graduate student). Each year, close to 400 undergraduate students registered in the second year (LFS 250) and third year (LFS 350) courses and some 40 registered in FNH
473 (Nutrition Education in the Community) are regularly involved in community based research and community service learning projects as part of their coursework, in the schools and the communities of the schools’ catchment areas. These projects are school community impact projects developed with Think&EatGreen@School CURA co-investigators and partners. In groups of 5-7, the students participate in real-world problem solving situations, exposing them to the complexities of community-based, food system action research. (For more detailed information on students involvement in courses please refer to the 2010-11 School Reports and 2011-12 Annual General Report. Other courses contribute smaller groups of students who contributed in similar activities of lesser duration in the Project.
IV Research and Knowledge Production (Research Program)
The research activities of Think&EatGreen@School are divided into 4 main theme areas: Food Production and Composting at School; Food Preparation and Consumption at School; Curriculum and Pedagogical Innovations at School ; and Food Policy and Institutional Adaptations to Climate Change. There is, however, significant overlap between each of these areas conceptually and in practice. Moreover, the systemic understanding of these links is a fundamental characteristic of this project that aims at contributing to overcome the fragmentation of food system knowledge. For example, school food production activities are linked to food preparation and consumption when garden produce is brought into the school for students to prepare and eat; production and consumption activities are linked to curriculum when teachers integrate these activities into lesson plans in a variety of subjects; policy initiatives are needed to support development of school gardens and procurement of local foods for school food programs. Because of this integration, the four theme groups work closely together and there is collaboration between groups on specific research activities.
The overarching research methodology for the project is community-based action research, with university based researchers working collaboratively with school teachers, administrators, parents, university students, K-12 students, and community partners to build healthy, sustainable school food systems and provide opportunities across the curriculum for students to become food-literate citizens who understand and actively participate in the food system, and who eat healthy, sustainable diets. The actions we are undertaking to reach these goals include: o Providing professional development for teachers, such as workshops at school district and
province-wide Pro-D days and our annual Summer Institute held at UBC in early July o Connecting UBC students with schools through course-based community-based experiential
learning placements, where UBC students working in teams provide resources, lead classroom activities (e.g., teaching students about gardens, composting, food preparation, etc.), and collect data to document aspects of school food systems
o Providing mini-grants (another way of sharing the CURA grant resources) to schools to support them in developing and implement projects generated by themselves within Think&EatGreen@School (i.e. school gardens, compost systems, and/or healthy, sustainable food programs). Teachers from schools obtaining mini-grants attend two ‘mini-grant school’ meetings annually, and submit reports in the form of posters that are displayed at the end-of-year meeting.
o Supporting policy and program development related to the school food system of the Vancouver School Board
o Providing expertise, support and resources to schools that are initiating food projects
Along with these actions, we are also conducting a number of specific research projects. Many of these utilize qualitative research methodologies, especially ethnographic approaches, to document the processes and experiences of developing healthy, sustainable school food systems, including describing the
successes, barriers, and challenges encountered. Beginning September 2012, we will focus our ethnographic work in four exemplar schools that have become active partners in Think&EatGreen@School through having teachers attend our Summer Institutes, working with UBC student groups on community-based experiential learning projects, and/or applying for and receiving mini-grants. We will intensify, expand and integrate our work collaboratively with these schools on the development of school gardens and compost systems, student involvement in food preparation, increasing availability of local, seasonal, minimally processed food at school, food waste management initiatives and the incorporation of food system themes across the curriculum. We will document these experiences thoroughly with field notes, meeting minutes, photographs and video recording, interviews, and collection of relevant documents. These materials will be analyzed using ethnographic methods to produce rich descriptions of the schools’ experiences, successes, challenges and barriers encountered. In addition to the focused ethnographic studies, we are also utilizing quantitative research methods to document changes in school food environments over the course of our project, as well as determinants of students’ eating practices.
IV.a. Schedule of Research and Knowledge Production Activities to Date
March-August 2010
Project start-up: ! Formation of research theme groups; ! Development of overall project logic model and priority outcome indicators.
September 2010-August 2011 Collaborative actions: ! Professional development workshops and 2011 Summer Institute (July 4-6, attended by ~35 teachers); ! Community-based experiential learning projects involving approximately 400 UBC students per year, 5
UBC courses, 8 secondary schools, 14 elementary schools. Research activities: ! Development of Garden Maintenance and Management Plan ! Development of School Food Environment Assessment Tool (SF-EAT) – elementary;
September 2011-August 2012
Collaborative actions: ! Professional development workshops and 2012 Summer Institute (July 3-5, attended by ~40 teachers); ! Community-based experiential learning projects involving 450 UBC students, 5 UBC courses, 8
secondary schools, 14 elementary schools; mini-grants totalling $20,000 awarded to 14 schools.
Research activities: ! Development of School Food Environment Assessment Tools (SF-EAT) – secondary; SF-EAT data
collection conducted at 12 elementary and 9 secondary schools; ! Development and pilot-testing of Individual Eating Assessment Tool (I-EAT); I-EAT data collection
completed with 998 Grade 6, 7 and 8 students; ! 14 ‘Focus on Food’ focus groups completed with 60 Grade 9-10 students; ! Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Group pilot at Tyee Elementary was established and monthly meetings
were held; ! ‘Schools in Transition’ project: First draft of literature review on exemplar schools completed; List of ‘local
heroes’ for ‘Schools in transition’ project completed. Sampling for in-depth interviews of “local heroes” in process.
IV.b. Planned Schedule of Research and Knowledge Production Activities for Remainder of Project
September 2012-August 2013
Collaborative actions: ! Professional development workshops and 3-day Summer Institute; ! Community-based experiential learning projects, similar in scope to previous years; ! Mini-grants to provide incentives for the formation of school-based teams that generate specific school
based projects as with previous years; ! School food system policy workshop(s) with School Board trustees and managers.
Research activities: ! Focused collaborative action/ethnographic study (Collaborative Inquiry Groups) with 2 elementary and 2
secondary schools. Specific research projects to be conducted in these schools are: o School Garden Maintenance and Management project: collaborative work on garden
development and documentation of process; o School Compost Systems: collaborative work on development of compost systems and
documentation of process; o Food Preparation and Consumption Action Initiatives: development and implementation of
school-specific action plans to enhance school food programs and documentation of process; o Learning from Schools-in-Transition and Collaborative Teacher Inquiry: working with teachers
to integrate theme of food, health and environment into practices across the curriculum, and documentation of process.
! SF-EAT o Analysis of data collected in 2011/12; preparation of report for schools and journal
manuscript (planned submission: November 2012). o Collect data for additional 9 secondary and 12 elementary schools; Analyze data.
! I-EAT: Data analysis; preparation of report for schools and journal manuscripts. ! Focus on Food: Data analysis; preparation of MSc thesis and journal manuscript. ! Learning from Schools-in-Transition: Complete interviews with 10 “local heroes”. ! School Food Systems Policy Development: Ethnographic documentation of policy development
initiatives.
September 2013-August 2014
Collaborative actions: ! Professional development workshops and 3-day Summer Institute. ! Community-based experiential learning projects, similar in scope to previous years. ! Mini-grants as with previous years.
Research activities: ! Continued focused collaborative action/ethnographic study with 2 elementary and 2 secondary schools
as described for 2012/13. ! Learning from Schools-in-Transition: Complete interviews with additional 10 “local heroes”. ! School Food Systems Policy Development: Continue ethnographic documentation of policy development
initiatives.
September 2014-June 2015 Project wrap-up: ! SF-EAT data collection in all schools previously surveyed; data analysis to document changes in school
food environments over time; examine changes in relation to Think&EatGreen@School actions in schools.
! Preparation of project reports and journal manuscripts for the focused ethnographic studies (School Garden Maintenance and Management; School Compost Systems; Food Preparation and Consumption Action Initiatives; Collaborative Teacher Inquiry; Learning from Schools-in-Transition; and School Food Systems Policy Development).
! Learning from Schools-in-Transition: Write journal manuscript describing themes from “local heroes” interviews; edit video interviews for public dissemination.
IV.c. Key Achievements of the CURA to Date
1) The whole alliance working cooperatively and full implementation of organizational governance model: A (so far) successful model of inter-organizational and community engagement in Community Based Action Research.
2) Key partners involved in all aspects of the project. 3) Two Summer Institutes rated excellent by almost all participants (all very good or excellent). 4) 15 schools with active teams who generated their own projects and are formally designated
‘Think&EatGreen schools’. These schools meet with the project leadership at least twice a year (not including the Summer Institute or other professional development).
5) Data collection tools and database developing and growing according to plans. 6) Mobilization of close to (so far) 800 university students in school community based action research
projects. 7) Important organizational and financial contributions to the consolidation of the UBC Orchard Garden
as an outdoor demonstration classroom and research site, and as a tool for Professional Development and Summer Institutes.
IV.d. Unforeseen Difficulties
As already noted, an important unforeseen difficulty was the year-long dispute between the teachers and educational authorities resulting in job action for a large portion of the school year. The Project activities conducted in the schools or involving school teachers were carefully addressed in consultation with the teachers, the school authorities and the Vancouver School Board, so they would not be perceived as interfering in the job action or intervening in the conflict. Although not a difficulty per-se, the question of the scope of the project and the number of schools where we should be involved presented our team with complex (albeit truly interesting) challenges. As productive as these two and a half years have been, we realized that in order to have sufficient presence in the schools, we needed to intensify and deepen the impacts of the project in each school and thus decrease the number of core schools we work with in each subsequent year. Consequently, we have refined our research plan as indicated above. Schools were either considered in the more intensive core of engaged schools, which we refer to as Fruit Schools, or to be a part of the Project as inquiry schools, which we refer to as Seed Schools. The latter may gradually evolve into Fruit Schools through contact with and participation in our Project. However, the Project team remain open to other requests and opportunities with additional schools, assuming that the synergies already unfolding through the Project’s network could intensify and expand its appeal and intervention capacity (i.e. if more funding was secured and if counterpart teams in the collaborating schools formed). Our team probably underestimated the level of interest that the project would
encounter in the schools and in the community at large. By the end of the second year we already had 32 schools involved in different aspects of the project with 15 of them being designated ‘Think&EatGreen schools’. This designation means that all these schools have teams of at least 4 people and projects generated by the school communities with small grants from Think&EatGreen@School. These schools have demonstrated also a strong willingness to collaborate in the research undertakings.
V Dissemination of Research Results
The communication of results and dissemination of knowledge are guided by the principles of Community Based Action Research (CBAR) making the communities impacted the most important recipients of the learning generated by the project. However, we also have a deep commitment to disseminating findings to the scholarly community and sharing emerging findings with our academic and community partners. In the table below we outline some of the key strategies that are being employed and the target audiences. Finally, we are committed to experimenting with and tracking dissemination of ‘bite sized’ facts aimed at the general public to see if we are able to attract new audiences interested in the Think&EatGreen@School project.
V.a. Disseminations Strategies and Target Audiences
Dissemination Strategy Targeted Audiences Details
Project Website ! Schools ! Project partners ! Academic
community ! Public
! http://thinkeatgreen.ca/
Social Media (Twitter ) ! Schools ! Project partners ! Academic
community ! Public
! See website
Annual Meeting with School Partners
! School partners ! CURA
contributors, students, co-investigators
! On September 19, 2011 and May 31, 2012 we hosted meetings for school partners from the 15 schools designated “Think&EatGreen Schools,” to plan the collaboration and formalize the designation with a diploma (in the first meeting) and to report milestones and share poster presentations (the second). On May 31, 2012 each school team contributed to a poster presentation highlighting the activities and accomplishments at their school. Opportunities for sharing results, networking and asking questions were encouraged. A strong feeling of community formation was paramount and expressed by the participants
School reports ! School partners ! Each year the team has summarized key findings and provided them directly to school partners to inform actions and research at participating schools.
Conference Presentations
! Health, Environmental, Food Studies and other scholarly communities
! See Section A, Knowledge Mobilization Activities
Scholarly Publications ! Academic community
! Rojas, A., Valley, W. and Sipos, Y. 2012: From Inquiry to Engagement: A Reflection on 10 Years of Community-Based Learning and Research on Food Security and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, Volume 16, Number 1, p. 165-181, 2012. http://thinkeatgreen.ca/reports-publications/published-research/
! Rojas, A., Valley, W., Mansfield, B., Orrego, E., Chapman, G and Harlap, Y. 2011. Towards Food System Sustainability through School Food System Change" Think&EatGreen@ School and the making of a community!university research alliance. Sustainability Open Access Journal. Sustainability 2011, 3, 763-788. http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/5/763/ 26 pages
Press coverage ! Public See Section A, Knowledge Mobilization Activities
Team data sharing workshops
! Co-investigators, students, research partners
! In September 2012 we will hold our first workshop to share key findings and datasets with our entire research team. This first meeting will focus particularly on our School Food Environment Assessment Tool (SFEAT) database, which now houses rich data about 21 participating schools, their school food environment, barriers to change and goals for the coming years. These data will be shared with team members to shape supports and activities planned for the coming year.
! This will be followed by research seminars to be delivered by each of the Working Groups as data collection, systematization and analysis progresses.
V.b. Consultation on Authorship and Dissemination
In January 2012, project contributors were surveyed to assess the team’s expectations for authorship and plans for dissemination related to Think&EatGreen@School. Twenty three team members completed this activity including 9 co-investigators, 7 graduate research assistants and several community partners. Key findings from this survey found that:
- at least 14 team members expect to contribute to peer-reviewed publications and 18 expect to contribute to publications that will not be peer-reviewed (e.g. reports for schools, materials for community partners, website content);
- at least six team members expect to author a graduate thesis related to the project.
Through a collaborative process, including surveying our team members and through team discussions, we have developed a model and process to guide our expectations regarding authorship roles on forthcoming publications. Our team guidelines are based on those developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Authorship credit will be based on “1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors will meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.” (based on www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html).
V.c. Website and Social Media Strategy
! http://thinkeatgreen.ca/ ! Our goal is to disseminate the data as well as the details and stories of this project to our academic and
non academic partners through traditional means and also through more popular channels. The traditional channels include presentations, refereed papers, theses and book chapters. The less traditional channels include social media channels including the popular press, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, handbooks and videos.
! In the last year the Think&EatGreen@School website was moved from the fully featured Joomla content management system to the lighter but easier to use Wordpress platform. Wordpress facilitates ease of content creation and has nice hooks into social media platforms to allow for promotion and re-sharing.
! The primary landing page points to a weblog that serves as the quick and easy update of the project for visitors to the site. Entries are listed in reverse chronological order with the newest information at the top. Every entry consists of a two to three line ‘teaser’, a picture and a link to the full story. Stories can be about a Think&EatGreen@School project or related themes from the community at large. Blog posts may be topical and related to current themes in the press or they can be more in depth discussions about Think&EatGreen@School findings and updates. Each entry has a Google analytics code attached to measure the number of hits and to determine how the page was discovered.
! The goal of the blog is to serve as a hub to aggregate and point to stories of interest from the community. The webmaster is employed as the curator of stories of interest and works to summarise stories in plain language to make them as accessible as possible. Emphasis is placed on concise summaries augmented with pictures, video and other media. The full stories regularly incorporate richer media from other sites regularly. When a community partner is featured in the popular press the story is summarised, linked to or attached and embedded in the story where possible.
! To effectively disseminate the content for the Think&EatGreen@School project, an active approach to not limit media to standard channels has been taken. Partners are encouraged to share any content in any format. The academic partners will continue to share papers and posters but it is hoped that the school partners, community partners and students participating will make use of other channels such as video (and YouTube), photographs (and Flickr) and others. It is our hope that our partners will identify channels of communication which were previously unknown to us.
! At the same time we are endeavouring to ensure that the data created can be shared in ways that are useful to the partners and still meet the requirements for academic publishing and confidentiality of the subjects. An exploration of open data formats including the Creative Commons copyright schema are actively being evaluated for their fit with the goals of the project partners.
VI CURA Performance and Evaluation VI.a. Monitoring and Evaluation Plan Overview
The CURA’s monitoring and evaluation plan is developed from the evaluative framework outlined in the original CURA proposal. Within the first few months of the official beginning of the project, a list of indicators based on the evaluative framework (page 8 original SSHRCC CURA application, Detailed Description) was created and voted on by all project members. This process resulted in the dotmocracy list of indicators as referred to in the Milestone Report. The dotmocracy exercise has informed our actions within the project (i.e. professional development initiatives, community-based experiential learning (CBEL) course work, mini-grant process, and research programs), providing agreed upon indicators and methods for measurement. Changes to our performance indicators have occurred in the realm of life cycle analysis (LCA) processes. Due to changes in co-investigator availability, graduate student research interests and community partner
priorities, conducting LCAs as an indicator of institutional adaptation to climate change has been changed. Performance information is measured and monitored through a variety of methods depending upon activity. Exit surveys are given to all participants in professional development activities. Students that participate in CBEL activities evaluate their experiences through course assessments and are expected to deliver recommendations to instructors and project stakeholders through their reports. Schools that received min-grants were required to report on their progress through poster templates and presentations. Each theme’s research has developed monitoring and evaluation processes specific to their program as listed in previous section. Activities in the project are reported on through full-team meetings, annual advisory committee meetings, the annual general report, scholarly papers and conference presentations. Information appropriate for the general public is uploaded to the project website, such as Think&EatGreen@School school posters.
VI.b. Performance and Progress to Date
With respect to the evaluation plan outlined in the Milestone Report, the main actions of the project (i.e. professional development initiatives, community-based experiential learning (CBEL) course work, mini-grant process, and research programs) are successfully contributing to the agreed upon objectives and indicators of the CURA Project. The professional development activities, designed to enhance school teacher, staff and administration food system knowledge, attitudes and behaviours, are being highly rated by participants. The CBEL activities are helping support school and community based food system projects, programs and infrastructure as well as hands-on learning opportunities for hundreds of undergraduate students each year. These activities, professional development and CBEL, are also providing excellent opportunities for our graduate research assistants to further develop their presentation and technical skills. The mini-grant process is supporting school-led food systems initiatives that incorporate community partner expertise as well as developing a growing Think&EatGreen@School community amongst the school and community participants. Our research programs are continuing to develop important baseline information that is in the process of being translated into valuable information for all project participants.
Performance and evaluation information collected from each of our core actions is reviewed by the Coordinating Committee and each theme group in order to guide the development and continuation of specific project activities. Summaries of evaluations are presented at all-team meetings and advisory committee meetings as a basis for discussion and reflection.
VII Budget Update and Justification
VII.a. Budget Update
The Think&EatGreen@School Project’s budget situation is solid and no shortfalls are anticipated. For the period March 2010 to September 2012 the total expenditures of the SSHRCC/CURA fund was $384,787.02 with a balance of $ 584,852.00 remaining for the rest of the Think&EatGreen@School period. The reported amount of expenses (see table below) for the year 2012 includes the projected amount from September to December. The total amount of revenue received from other sources was $ 15,000 for year 1 ($10,000 from UBC Vice-President and $5,000 from the Vancouver School Board for school gardens) and $10,000 per year for years 2 to 5 (from UBC Vice-President) while the total expenditures from other sources of funding is $ 20,000 until July 2012, leaving a balance from other sources of funding of $ 15,000 for 2012. The current surpluses of the SSHRCC grant and other surpluses will be fully spent in the remainder of the Think&EatGreen@School period.
The Graduate Research Assistants have been hired all year around instead of just the seven months as originally proposed. This change became imperative due to the ongoing activities of the project and to ensure the continuity of the team of GRAs.
The promised cash and in-kind contributions from partners have been forthcoming and we have managed to raise considerable other income. Other contributions received to date are:
! $50,000 (over 5 years, $10,000 / year) from UBC’s Vice-President Research Office. Awarded to PI; ! $5,000 from the Vancouver School Board donation to Think&EatGreen@School for school
gardens; ! $40,000. Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF), UBC, 2011, awarded to the UBC’s
Orchard Garden Faculty of Land and food Systems and Faculty of Education), to co-investigators UBC Professors Susan Gerofsky and Jolie Mayer-Smith for goals including Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute and professional development activities;
! $50,120.65. Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF), UBC, 2012, for the UBC’s Orchard Garden Faculty of Land and food Systems and Faculty of Education)) to co-investigators UBC Professors Susan Gerofsky and Jolie Mayer-Smith for goals including Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute and professional development activities;
! $5,000. Metro Vancouver Agricultural Awareness Grant, for the creation of the Cultivating Learning Network, awarded to awarded to the UBC’s Orchard Garden Faculty of Land and food Systems and Faculty of Education), to co-Investigators UBC Professor Susan Gerofsky, Jolie Mayer-Smith. PI Alejandro Rojas, Think&EatGreen@School’s Community Liaison Brent Mansfield and PhD student Julia Ostertaag for goals including Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute and professional development activities;
! $293,994. CIHR for a Think&EatGreen@School expansion grant awarded to Co-Investigators Jennifer Black, TEG Research Coordinator and Co-Investigator Gwen Chapman; Co-Investigator from Coastal Health Sarah Carten and PI Alejandro Rojas;
! $1,900,637. CIHR grant for TEG3 (Think, Eat and Grow Green Globally) project in Ecuador and Canada awarded to PI Jerry Spiegel, UBC, Co-Applicant Alejandro Rojas, (Think&EatGreen@School PI) UBC and Co-Applicant Jaime Breilh;
! $34,196 FNH Vitamin Research Fund grant for a Think&EatGreen@School expansion awarded to Co-Investigator Gwen Chapman; Co-Investigators on this grant: Alejandro Rojas, Jennifer Black, Sarah Carten.
Several partners within the CURA alliance have obtained funding formally supported by Think&EatGreen@School for purposes that complement and fall within the mandate of our project, including:
! Society for the Promotion of Environmental Conservation (SPEC); ! Sustainability Opportunities for Youth Leadership (SOYL); ! Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA); ! Farm to School Greater Vancouver, an initiative of Public Health Association of BC
(PHABC); ! Vancouver School Board (VSB)
Partners’ in-kind contributions
Partners also have a sizable in-kind/non-monetary investment in this project. These contributions, which are significant and difficult to quantify, include time spent by researchers, advisors and Teaching Assistants in courses that play an important role in the school-based Think&EatGreen@School projects and other
project initiatives. UBC professors who are co-investigators in the project and who also are instructors in those courses (i.e LFS 250, LFS 350, FNH 473) have dedicated significant time. 20 teaching assistant positions in these courses have been partially dedicated to guide student teams’ involvement in Think&EatGreen@School school projects.
This is also the case of UBC professors who are leaders or participants in the project’s Working Groups and community partners who are co-leaders or participants in Working Groups. Another important example is the in-kind contribution of university and community based team members who deliver core components of the annual Think&EatGreen@School Summer Institute. Moreover, some 80 school teachers, staff and administrators from 32 schools have been involved with different levels of commitment in the delivery of Think&EatGreen@School content in their schools.
Other forms of in-kind contribution made by partners include UBC’s office space for the Project; the UBC Orchard Garden as an outdoor classroom for the Summer Institute, professional development activities and school visits; the FLFS Agora Bistro and the FNH Teaching Kitchen, classrooms for the delivery of workshops and team meetings. Also significant is the ongoing contribution of the FLFS Learning Centre, the IT educational innovation group of the Faculty whose Director is a member of the Think&EatGreen@School Coordinating Committee and who supervises the work of the media team of the project. Similarly, the Vancouver School Board and Vancouver Coastal Health have contributed significant time of staff who are co-investigators.
VII.b. Budget Projection and Justification for Remainder of Project
Budget Projections and Justification for the remaining of the project (See please the table above)
VII.b.i. Personnel:
The project will continue to allocate funds for 5 graduate students a year, as well as the salary for a 40% Project Manager position, a part-time Project Coordinator and a part-time Project Community Liaison.
The Project Coordinator is a member of the CURA Project Coordinating Committee (CCC) working directly with the PI in the day-to-day functioning of the Project. He is responsible for the coordination of school projects involving UBC courses engaged in Community Experiential Learning (CBEL) and works in coordination with school counterparts in the definition of those projects. He is also responsible for directing communication and information between the GRAs and the PI & Co-Investigators and the school counterparts, a task shared with the Project Manager. The position of the Project Coordinator involves facilitating the activities of the team by assisting the PI in coordinating the overall project research and knowledge mobilization strategies, in consultation with the Learning Centre at the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (FLFS). The Project Coordinator is responsible for assisting the PI in recruiting, training, and logistic supervision of GRAs. We hired an elementary and high school teacher, currently a PhD Candidate at UBC with a thesis focused on the core educational goals of Think&EatGreen@School Project and the PI supervises his work. He has many years of involvement with environmental campaigns and experience in the integration of school gardens with curriculum and community. He has been involved, from the early stages, in the development of the CURA grant proposal and also has a strong interest and experience in food system and sustainability education. His supervisor is the Principal Investigator.
The Project Manager is a member of the CURA Project Coordinating Committee (CCC). She works with the PI overseeing the preparation of project resource materials and in identifying potential project opportunities and networking with other projects with similar goals elsewhere; preparing project schedules and budgets; tracking activity progress against schedules; maintaining the records management
infrastructure for project activities; acquiring and managing the resources required to carry out project activities, such as tracking time and resources devoted to various project activities with the budgets; and, acting as a liaison between UBC Financial Services and the project management for policy and procedure and having signing authority on all project-related expenditures. She holds an MA in Anthropology, with many years of experience and expertise in business management, intercultural communication, and international and national project management. She has excellent communication and practical conflict resolution skills. She is also responsible for directing communication and information between the GRAs and the PI & Co-Investigators, a task shared with the Project Coordinator.
The Project Community Liaison is a member of the Coordinating Committee (CCC) and is responsible for the links between the latter and the community-based and area-based project partners. He connects the interests and practical concerns of the community-based and area-based partners and co-investigators with the CCC. The Project Community Liaison also assists in communicating and implementing the project goals and work plans through acting as a bridge between all research partners and project stakeholders. To that effect, the Liaison must work closely with the PI, the Project Coordinator, Project Manager, the GRAs and community- and area-based Co-Investigators in order to facilitate engagement of school authorities and staff. For this position we hired an elementary school teacher, school-community garden coordinator, and the Co-Chair of the Vancouver Food Policy Council, a core partner in Think&EatGreen@School Project. He has significant experience in community engagement and the organization of food related programs in schools. He has experience in food and educational policy issues and acted as the CURA Community Liaison during the development of the CURA full grant application.
As in the first half of the project all the staff positions will continue to have annual or periodical reviews.
VII.b.ii. Travel and Subsistence for Applicants and team members
The travel costs associated with research, annual CURA team meetings and travel to conferences for research dissemination purposes for years 2013 to 2015 will be approximately as per original budget.
VII.b.iii. Other Expenses
Costs for supply and office support systems (including photocopying, office stationary, telecommunications charges, postage and other materials required for research) are approximately $4368.17 for years 3 to 5 of the project. Office space for Think&EatGreen@School will continue to be UBC’s in kind contribution of $9,000 a year.
Research expenses include expenses incurred for focus groups, interviews, data collection (statistics, freedom of information), honoraria for research participants and teachers’ professional development.
It also includes Think&EatGreen@School series of regular working meetings that are difficult to allocate to a specific category because they perform a planning, reporting, theoretical discussion, action and dissemination role. Regular meetings include:
! 1 or 2 whole team meetings per year; ! 1 Advisory Committee meeting per year; ! 2 meetings with teams from Think&EatGreen schools; ! Monthly meetings of the 4 working groups; ! Twice a month Coordinating Committee Meetings; ! Weekly meetings of staff and PI; ! Bi-weekly or monthly meetings of GRAs with staff and PI;
! 1 meeting per year of the Co-investigators and UBC researchers; ! Meetings of Project coordinator and GRAs about facilitation of school community of impact projects
in which undergraduate UBC courses are involved as part of Think&EatGreen@School.
The Think&Eat@School Mini-Grants have not been included as an expense for 2010/11, because these funds came entirely from UBC’s contribution of $10 000 a year. These expenses will need to be partially included in future years of the project since they will be paid partially from SSHRC funds.
Summer Institute
The Summer Institute has been paid almost entirely out of SSHRC funding. In the past two years this successful three day event has enrolled approximately 80 participants that include school teachers, community partners, staff, students, UBC professors and co-investigators.
Dissemination
We project incurring similar expenses for dissemination during the next two years as we have for the past years. These expenses covered our web site, annual report, curriculum materials for summer institute, posters about school Think&EatGreen@School activities and brochures.
VII.b.iv. Projected Expenses:
! Summer Institute ! Mini Grants ! Final Conference ! Data Collection ! Conference participation (same) ! Staff (2% annual salary increase) ! Graduate Students (same) ! Working Groups ! 2015 Research Seminar (5 small theme groups seminar) before final conference.
