Applying Creative Problem Solving Approach in Culinary Course

Abstract

With increasing competition in the hospitality market, it is critical to improve the competitiveness of prospective culinary professionals. Therefore, culinary and hospitality education must help to inspire students' creativity and their creative problem solving ability. In this research, an experimental creative culinary curriculum was developed to explore its ability to enhance students' creative problem solving ability. Thirty senior students from a hospitality department were invited to participate in the experiment. Based on the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model, the experimental curriculum was designed and revised through expert validity analysis. The curriculum included 6 CPS units, which lasted 16 weeks at 4 hours per week. A creative problem solving test was used to measure students' performance before and after the experiment, which had an interrater reliability of .98. The qualitative data of students' learning profiles and feedback were also collected and analyzed. The results of a paired-samples t-test and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that student performance considerably improved. These results, together with analyses of the students' learning profiles and feedback, proved that the experimental curriculum helps to upgrade students' creative problem solving ability. The results will serve as a reference for future curricular and instructional designs. The various CPS teaching strategies could be integrated into hospitality and culinary curricula, while teachers could integrate CPS theory and concepts into culinary research and development practices and product improvement experiments.

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