INTRODUCING SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS INTO FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

This study has been conducted in the context of the Research and Excellence Secondary School Program (RESSP) (a two-year Secondary School Course for High-performers). The region of Castilla y León (Spain) implemented this program in 2012 (ORDER EDU/551/2012). This program caters to students with excellent talent and interest in research and in the learning of experimental design and its application in the resolution of concrete problems. University lecturers and professors engage in collaborative work with students’ teachers for some of the tasks involved. This paper presents and discusses some of the training activities planned to bring RESSP students close to Food Science and Technology field, including some notes about the students’ feedback. Based on obtained results, the present study illustrates the effectiveness of the offered tasks in order to encourage and motivate students within research field, as well as the development of cognitive skills that allow students to integrate easier theoretical and practical contents, what was specially detected during the second RESSP year.