Head to Toe Nutrition

Ting-Wei Li (Alison)

Margaret Schekall

Brenil Soriano

Thao Tran

December 21, 2018

Introduction/Literature Review

The specific nutrition problem we are focusing on is addressing eating a balanced diet

with 2nd grade elementary students. Our overall goal from this nutrition education is to have kids

identify the benefits of eating a balanced diet and how it can aid in their everyday growing life.

Children in the United States do not consume enough fruits and vegetables on average.

Whole fruit intake has been increasing, but vegetable intake has not (Centers for Disease

Control, 2014). The fruits and vegetables children are eating are not varied enough, with dark

green vegetables consumed by less than 15% of children on a given day and fruit juice making

up more than half of fruit intake (National Center for Health Statistics, 2014).

Research by the Journal of School Health has shown that education of children in schools

significantly improves their fruit and vegetable intake, and this difference is even more

pronounced if children are given samples of fruits or vegetables to taste (Gold, Larson, Tucker,

& Strang, 2017). Education focusing on the colors of fruits and vegetables is likely to be an

effective approach because color is cited as a reason for consuming or not consuming a fruit or

vegetable by children and/or their parents (Raggio & Gámbaro, 2018). Also, encouraging

elementary-aged children to eat more fruits and vegetables on the basis of health benefits is

significantly more effective than encouraging them on the basis of it being a social norm, as in

“other kids are doing it” (Sharps & Robinson, 2016).

Methods and Materials

The day before our nutrition education lesson, we gathered all the supply that we needed,

such as the handouts and pre- and post-test worksheets. In addition, we made sure that our

PowerPoint presentation for our session was organized, fixed, and completed. Then, the morning
of our presentation, we went over our lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation and decided who

will do which part of the presentation. After that, the class started and we just waited for our turn

to present.

When it was time for us to present, we set-up our computer and began our lesson. Since

our target population was 2nd graders, we asked our classmates to pretend and imagine that they

are 8 years old and in 2nd grade by giving them some of the characteristics of second graders.

While they had their eyes closed, imaging that they are second graders, we passed out the

pre-test worksheet for them to complete before we began our lecture. After that, we introduced

ourselves and told that the piece of paper in front of them is a fun little quiz about Superfoods.

We gave them 2 minutes to answer the worksheet and collected it after they were finished. This

worksheet will help us determine their prior knowledge about the topic we are teaching. After we

collected the worksheet, we asked them if they know what Superfoods are and what they do for

our body. There were some students who raised their hands and answered the question correctly.

We, then, discussed some brief information regarding Superfoods in order for them to get an idea

about the topic that we will be teaching during that session.

After all of these introductions, we instructed students to view the powerpoint and

started our lesson. For each color of the rainbow, we discussed its health benefits and provided

them few food examples. Two of our group members went over the lecture, in which one person

talked about the benefits and examples of green, blue, purple, white, and brown foods, while the

other person did the yellow, orange, and red foods. When we finished, we summarized the

information that we went over during the lecture and proceeded to some activities we had

provided for them. We asked students to work in pairs for the activity and each pair was given a
worksheet that contained a matching questions and fill in the blanks questions. For the matching

questions, students had to match the food items to the parts of the body that it is good for. Then

for the fill in the blanks questions, we had provided them a word bank and students had to

choose from those words the right answer to the questions given. When everyone was finished,

we asked them to give us their attention again as we would be going over the answers on the

worksheet. Lastly, we concluded our nutrition education session by briefly summarizing what we

went over, asked them one last question, gave them a handout of our lesson for them to take

home.

Results

To measure the effectiveness of our nutrition education, we decided to use pre- and

post-quiz as our evaluation tools. Before we started our lesson, we wanted to see how much the

students knew about the benefits of colored fruits and vegetables. We placed the pre-quiz on

each students desk and ask them to flip it over and answer the question to the best of their

abilities. After all the pre-quiz were collected, we started our nutrition education session,

followed by a worksheet activity, and post-quiz. Towards the end of the session, we gather the

class’s attention to ask them one last final question. We wanted to see if they retained any

information from the lesson, so we asked them what food is good for the immune system and

also helps with colds. All the students answered oranges and we passed out orange cuties as a

sweet treat and a thank you gift for their participation. Presented below is the data computed

from the pre- and post-quiz.

 Figure 1.​ ​Average number of questions answered correctly in the pre-quiz and post-quiz.

The table chart above shows the average score of the class before and after the education.

According to the results, the class average increased after the education which means that the

students retain the information that was given to them. Prior to the education the class’s average

was 73% and it increase to 78% after, with a significant 5% increase between pre and post

quizzes.
Figure 2. ​Pre-quiz results.

Figure 3.​ Post-quiz results.

 The pre-quiz and the post-quiz data shows how many students got each question correct

or incorrect. More students got questions incorrect on the pre-quiz compared to the post-quiz. In

general, the class had basic knowledge about the benefits of fruit and vegetable. On the contrary,

they did not know the specific benefits of the different colored vegetables. For example, the class

knew that fruits and vegetables are good for the body but did not know that each food had a

special role in the body e.g carrots are good for the eyes. Overall, the majority of the class was

able to retain some knowledge through our nutrition education.

Discussion

The results are not very conclusive as the questions in the pre and post survey did not

assess the same knowledge. It is not possible to know if the participants’ knowledge of green,

red, and orange foods improved as a result of our lesson because we did not assess their

knowledge of those foods before the lesson. The only question shared between the pre and post

surveys asks if carrots are good for the eyes, and the percentage of correct answers actually

decreased between the pre and post surveys. However, there was a significant increase in the

average number of questions correct after the lesson and both surveys did contain questions

regarding health benefits of different foods, so it is probable, although not confirmable, that the

participants learned something during the lesson. The results also may have been skewed by the

fact that our audience was a group of students in a college class pretending to be 2nd grade

students, not actual 2nd grade students. College students are likely to have more knowledge and

better attention spans than children, leading to different results. Unlike the education plans

reviewed in the cited articles, in which the lessons were evaluated based on a follow-up diet

recall, we were not able to conduct such a thorough follow-up and therefore could not assess our
lesson in the same way as the researched lessons. This means we don’t know whether or not the

lesson produced a change in eating behavior.

Research shows that children in the United States do not consume enough fruits and

vegetables (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Our results suggest that the

message of focusing on colors and health benefits of fruits and vegetables may have been

effectively transmitted, but this lesson’s evaluation plan needs to be revised so that the pre-quiz

and the post-quiz are more similar to confirm this. An effectively transmitted lesson on health

benefits of fruits and vegetables is likely to produce a change in behavior (Sharps & Robinson,

2016), so this lesson may also produce a change in behavior (eating more fruits and vegetables).

This will lead to children having better health and a lower risk of chronic disease later in life.

One advantage for each person in the group is that we work together well. We discussed

ideas freely and listened to each other respectfully. However, we struggled with the timeline of

the project and waited until the last minute to finish the work. This led to work being rushed and

not of the best quality. Also, we failed to organize and delegate tasks which led to group

members getting an uneven amount of work. Overall, we think the main limitation was coming

up with age appropriate activities. We thought of many activities that could have been used, but

as a group we thought they would be too easy. In the end, we ended up doing no activity because

we could not think of one in time. In the future, with group work, we should come together

earlier to decide on a topic and finalize the assignment earlier so we do not have to finalize

details in a rush. We should also make an effort to communicate better as a group because as we

were going through the assignment, one person got motivated on the idea and got started on the

assignment. If we had come together and updated each other, we would have known who got
what done to help keep each other on track along with divided the written part better. Also we

hope to have the opportunity to work with the target audience so we can get an accurate result.

Conclusion

After spending a few weeks thinking about our topic and planning what we wanted to do

for our nutrition education, we carried out our lesson and were satisfied to say that our lesson

plan was successful. We did have minor roadblocks along the way due to communication, but

was able to resolve the issue. Throughout the process of the nutrition education, we learned that

children, especially those in elementary school, response better to interactive learning such as

hands-on activities, group work, along with making a connection with their brain, heart, and

hand.

Helping children learn by making a connection to everyday life tends to have more of an

affect on them and it is something that they will remember. In addition, having interactive

activities such as having the students participate by answering questions and doing a worksheet

activity with their partner was effective since it helped stimulate their brains while encouraging

them to practice their social skills. When working with young students, it is important to

incorporate hands-on experience and interactive learning into the lesson plan because it helps

keep the students engage. A few things that we could have done different was eliminate the

powerpoint and use food models to show the students what the fruit and vegetables actually look

like and be able to hold the different food models in their hands. We also could have made the

activity more interactive and have the students stand up and move around instead of just sitting

in their seats doing a worksheet.

 Working with young children can be chaotic at times due to their impulsiveness and high

energy but it can also be a great experience. Young children are like sponges; they quickly

absorb​ information from the ​external​ stimuli surrounding them. This time in their life is a crucial

point in their development which is which is why it is important to start fostering good eating

habits in them.

Overall, nutrition education for young students needs to be interactive, hands-on, and

stimulating. Doing this will not only help the students but it will also promote other communities

to incorporate nutrition lesson into their curriculum. Teaching children early on in life will help

prepare them to make better choices during their adolescence and into their adulthood.
 References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, August 8).​ Vital Signs: Fruit and Vegetable

Intake Among Children — United States, 2003–2010. ​Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6331a3.htm?s_cid=mm6331a3_w

National Center for Health Statistics. (2014, July). ​Fruit and Vegetable Consumption of U.S.

Youth, 2009–2010 ​[PDF document]. Retrieved from

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db156.pdf

Gold, A., Larson, M., Tucker, J., & Strang, M. (2017). Classroom nutrition education combined

with fruit and vegetable taste testing improves children's dietary intake.​ Journal of School

Health, 87​(2), 106-113.

Raggio, L., & Gámbaro, A. (2018). Study of the reasons for the consumption of each type of

vegetable within a population of school-aged children. ​BMC Public Health, 18​(1),

N.PAG. ​https://doi-org.jpllnet.sfsu.edu/10.1186/s12889-018-6067-4

Sharps, M. & Robinson, E. (2016). Encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables: Health

vs. descriptive social norm-based messages. ​Appetite, 100, ​18-25.

https://doi-org.jpllnet.sfsu.edu/10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.031
Thao Tran, Brenil Soriano, Ting-Wei Li, Margaret Schekall
DFM 655

Head to Toe Nutrition Lesson Plan

Duration: ​25 minutes

Target Group: ​2nd grade elementary students

Overall Goal: ​Increase the knowledge of the functions and benefits of different colored fruit and
vegetables.

Major Concept:
● Benefits of fruits and vegetables
○ Vitamins and minerals
○ Vitamin A, Carotenoids
● Eating the color of the rainbow
○ Red - tomato
○ Orange - carrots, squash
○ Yellow - bananas
○ Green - leafy greens
○ blue/purple - blue berries, purple cabbage
○ White - onions, garlic, cauliflower

Icebreaker or Attention Grabber: (​5 minutes)

● Student are given pre-test about superfoods
● Student are ask question about what superfoods are and what they do for us
● A brief definition of superfoods will be given

Objectives and Learning Domains; Generalization and Learning Experiences

1. Children will be made aware that eating healthy foods can make healthier bodies.

Domain:​ Cognitive domain - knowledge

Generalization: ​Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that are helpful for the
body.

Learning Experience: ​(10 minutes)

 ● Students will follow along with a powerpoint presentation covering the following:

Benefits of Eating the Colors of the Rainbow

● Red are good for the heart, mind, and memory
● Orange foods contains lots of vitamins, especially vitamins A and C
○ Vitamin A is good for eyes and skin
○ Vitamin C keep people from getting sick and diseases
● Yellow foods boost the immune system and protect cells and heart
● Green foods are good for your whole body, especially for eyes and nails.
● Blue and Purple foods are good for mind and memory
● Foods that are white and brown are good for heart and brain. It also helps fight diseases.

2. Children will be able to choose colorful foods and incorporate it into their diet daily

Domain: ​Psychomotor - perspective

Generalization: ​Colored fruits and vegetables like carrots have properties that help the eye and
also the immune system.

Learning Experience: ​(10 minutes)

● Students will learn different colored fruits and vegetable benefits different areas of the
body
● Students will participate in an activity worksheet with a partner
● Students will fill out the worksheet and also take a post-quiz

3. Children should appreciate the benefits that food do to our body.

Domain: ​Affective - valuing

Generalization: ​A positive attitude towards consuming more colored fruits and vegetable can
contribute to increasing healthy habits

Learning Experience: ​A peer leader will go over the answers from the worksheet activity and
also the post-quiz. Another peer leader will recap the session and provide and example of a fruit
that helps the immune system by handing out oranges while explaining its health properties.

Teaching Aids and Materials:

● Superfoods pre-test
● Laptop
Appendix I: Handout

Appendix II: Worksheets

 ● Powerpoint projector and screen
● Superfoods lecture slides
● Superfood activity worksheet
● Superfood take-home handout
● Oranges

Summary: ​Superfoods are everyday foods such as vegetables and fruits, bread and cereal,
meat/protein and dairy food helps keep children strong, give them the energy and power they
need and help their minds stay healthy. Foods from each color of the rainbow provide benefits to
our body. Red foods protect hearts, mind, and memory while orange foods contains vitamin C
and Vitamin A, which protects our eyes. Yellow foods help boost immune system and green
foods are good for the whole body. Then, foods that are blue and purple help with mind,
memory, and mineral absorption. Lastly, white and brown foods protect body from diseases.

Evaluation: ​(1 minute)

Students are given a post-quiz within their activity worksheet. The students did not know that it
is a post-quiz nor does the worksheet indicate that it is a post-quiz. By eliminating the title of
“Nutrition Education Post-Quiz”, the student’s answer will be organic and it will remove the
pressure and stress of it begin a normal grade that will affect their grade. The students were also
asked one question at the end of the nutrition education session regarding the superfoods in order
to assess their knowledge of the information.