This project is funded through Texas A&M University's Targeted Proposal Teams grant and carried out in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley.
Our work explores how mathematical modeling can help students connect mathematics with real-world issues in food science. Using a multi-tier, design-based research framework, we collaboratively plan, teach, and reflect on lessons that integrate food science and mathematical modeling. This study highlights how scientists, educators, and community members can work together to create meaningful and relevant learning experiences—and why this matters for students, researchers, and society.
Historically marginalized students often have limited access to healthy food options, making them more vulnerable to the long-term health effects of poor diets. These same students also face persistent opportunity gaps in education, including limited access to instruction that is culturally responsive and relevant to their lived experiences. Mathematics, in particular, is frequently taught in ways that feel disconnected from students’ cultural and everyday knowledge, contributing to lower achievement among culturally, linguistically, and developmentally diverse learners.
To address these inequities, we partnered with local communities to co-teach interdisciplinary lessons that connect mathematics and food science. Students engaged in hands-on activities such as counting healthy bacteria in kimchi and simulating the sugar and liquid content in yogurt using mathematical models. These activities provided opportunities for students to use mathematics to analyze health-related data, ask critical questions, and consider the role of food in their well-being.
Our findings suggest that students, educators, food scientists, and community members all found value in this collaborative approach. The partnerships helped sustain the work and fostered a sense of shared purpose. This study provides a model for how interdisciplinary, community-centered approaches can make mathematics more accessible, relevant, and empowering for students and communities.
References
Cobb, P., Confrey, J., diSessa, A., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2003). Design experiments in education research. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 9–13.
Lesh, R., & Doerr, H. M. (2003). Foundations of a models and modeling perspective on mathematics teaching, learning, and problem solving. In R. Lesh, & H. M. Doerr (Eds.), Beyond constructivism: Models and modeling perspectives on mathematics problem solving, learning, and teaching (pp. 3–33). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Martínez Steele, E., Popkin, B. M., Swinburn, B., & Monteiro, C. A. (2017). The share of ultraprocessed foods and the overall nutritional quality of diets in the US: evidence from a nationally representative cross-sectional study. Population Health Metrics, 15, 1-11.