- Email: [email protected]
Engaging Community Nutrition Students Through an In-depth Service-Learning Experience
S16 Poster Abstracts
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 43, Number 4S1, 2011
P8 (continued) frequently than control students from these 2 ethnicity groups. There was no significant difference in fruit selection between Latino intervention and control students. Conclusions and Implications: The HOTM program appeared to promote familiarity, preference, and consumption of fruits and vegetables from school salad bars. Funding: Network for Healthy California. Grant Number: 64126.
P9 Cooperative Learning in Nutrition Through the Life Cycle: An Inside-Out Approach to Classroom Instruction L. Suzanne Goodell, PhD, RD, [email protected], North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695 Objective: To increase undergraduate student ability to achieve higher-level learning outcomes through an alternative classroom teaching technique, cooperative learning. Use of Theory or Research: Cooperative learning, an instructional method in which students work in small groups within the classroom to accomplish specific tasks and meet common goals. Target Audience: College students. Description: In this course, students were responsible for viewing/reading learning materials as presented through lectures posted on the class Web site and the course text. Students were purposefully assigned to a 4- to 5-person group according to previous performance in other courses. Each group, composed of students with a mixture of academic abilities, completed case study assignments during class time. Groups were also responsible for helping their group members understand and apply academic content as outlined in learning objectives. Evaluation: Student performance was measured through group-based case study assignments and individual examination grades. Students also completed a pre-post questionnaire about group work. When compared with previous semesters that followed the traditional lecture model of learning, students in the cooperative learning course were better able to answer complex problems requiring higher-level thinking, scored higher on case studies and individual examinations, and reported greater satisfaction with the course. Conclusions and Implications: Cooperative learning could be used in a variety of courses to provide students structured opportunities to learn from one another and to improve their problem-solving abilities. This model could be applied one time in the course or throughout the semester. Funding: None.
P10 Engaging Community Nutrition Students Through an In-depth Service-Learning Experience Natalie Cooke, BS, [email protected], North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695; L. Suzanne Goodell, PhD, RD
Objective: To strengthen students' ability to apply classroom content through community engagement opportunities. Use of Theory or Research: Service-learning pedagogy: Engaging in service in the community while applying information learned in the classroom; DEAL Model for Critical Reflection: A model that allows students to critically reflect on their service-learning experience. Target Audience: College students. Description: Students in a community nutrition course participated in a service-learning project in which they implemented an established nutrition education program called Cooking Matters. Students engaged in 7 weeks of training before teaching Cooking Matters classes at community partner sites (afterschool programs and preschools). Before implementation, students learned to use Bloom's Taxonomy when writing lesson plans, to incorporate facilitated dialogue into all parts of the class, and to evaluate participant learning through hands-on activities. After training, students taught the Cooking Matters cooking and nutrition classes at community partner sites once a week for 6 weeks. Evaluation: We assessed student learning through their critical reflection essays that followed the DEAL Model for Critical Reflection. Instructors also objectively evaluated and provided constructive feedback of student performance through video recordings of the students teaching the Cooking Matters classes. Conclusions and Implications: The DEAL Model allowed students to determine areas of their own learning; instructors were able to use this knowledge to improve student learning outcomes throughout the course of the semester. Instructors guiding students in service-learning experience could strengthen student learning through application of the DEAL Model. Funding: North Carolina State University Undergraduate Research Grant.
P11 Diet-Disease Relationship: What Do College Students Know? Krisha Thiagarajah, PhD, RD, [email protected], Indiana University, Department of Applied Health Science, 116 HPER Building, 1025 East 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405; Mohammad Torabi, PhD; Alireza Geshnizjani, MS, MPH Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore college students' knowledge about diet-disease relationship and dietary recommendations. Design, Setting and Participants: A purposive cluster sampling technique was used to collect data from a representative sample of college students in a Midwestern university. A total of 617 college students with a response rate of 85% participated in this cross-sectional survey. The questionnaire was adopted from the previously validated Nutrition Knowledge questionnaire with 25 closeended questions and measured demographic, nutrition recommendations, and diet-health knowledge. Continued on page S17
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior Volume 43, Number 4S1, 2011
P8 (continued) frequently than control students from these 2 ethnicity groups. There was no significant difference in fruit selection between Latino intervention and control students. Conclusions and Implications: The HOTM program appeared to promote familiarity, preference, and consumption of fruits and vegetables from school salad bars. Funding: Network for Healthy California. Grant Number: 64126.
P9 Cooperative Learning in Nutrition Through the Life Cycle: An Inside-Out Approach to Classroom Instruction L. Suzanne Goodell, PhD, RD, [email protected], North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695 Objective: To increase undergraduate student ability to achieve higher-level learning outcomes through an alternative classroom teaching technique, cooperative learning. Use of Theory or Research: Cooperative learning, an instructional method in which students work in small groups within the classroom to accomplish specific tasks and meet common goals. Target Audience: College students. Description: In this course, students were responsible for viewing/reading learning materials as presented through lectures posted on the class Web site and the course text. Students were purposefully assigned to a 4- to 5-person group according to previous performance in other courses. Each group, composed of students with a mixture of academic abilities, completed case study assignments during class time. Groups were also responsible for helping their group members understand and apply academic content as outlined in learning objectives. Evaluation: Student performance was measured through group-based case study assignments and individual examination grades. Students also completed a pre-post questionnaire about group work. When compared with previous semesters that followed the traditional lecture model of learning, students in the cooperative learning course were better able to answer complex problems requiring higher-level thinking, scored higher on case studies and individual examinations, and reported greater satisfaction with the course. Conclusions and Implications: Cooperative learning could be used in a variety of courses to provide students structured opportunities to learn from one another and to improve their problem-solving abilities. This model could be applied one time in the course or throughout the semester. Funding: None.
P10 Engaging Community Nutrition Students Through an In-depth Service-Learning Experience Natalie Cooke, BS, [email protected], North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695; L. Suzanne Goodell, PhD, RD
Objective: To strengthen students' ability to apply classroom content through community engagement opportunities. Use of Theory or Research: Service-learning pedagogy: Engaging in service in the community while applying information learned in the classroom; DEAL Model for Critical Reflection: A model that allows students to critically reflect on their service-learning experience. Target Audience: College students. Description: Students in a community nutrition course participated in a service-learning project in which they implemented an established nutrition education program called Cooking Matters. Students engaged in 7 weeks of training before teaching Cooking Matters classes at community partner sites (afterschool programs and preschools). Before implementation, students learned to use Bloom's Taxonomy when writing lesson plans, to incorporate facilitated dialogue into all parts of the class, and to evaluate participant learning through hands-on activities. After training, students taught the Cooking Matters cooking and nutrition classes at community partner sites once a week for 6 weeks. Evaluation: We assessed student learning through their critical reflection essays that followed the DEAL Model for Critical Reflection. Instructors also objectively evaluated and provided constructive feedback of student performance through video recordings of the students teaching the Cooking Matters classes. Conclusions and Implications: The DEAL Model allowed students to determine areas of their own learning; instructors were able to use this knowledge to improve student learning outcomes throughout the course of the semester. Instructors guiding students in service-learning experience could strengthen student learning through application of the DEAL Model. Funding: North Carolina State University Undergraduate Research Grant.
P11 Diet-Disease Relationship: What Do College Students Know? Krisha Thiagarajah, PhD, RD, [email protected], Indiana University, Department of Applied Health Science, 116 HPER Building, 1025 East 7th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405; Mohammad Torabi, PhD; Alireza Geshnizjani, MS, MPH Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore college students' knowledge about diet-disease relationship and dietary recommendations. Design, Setting and Participants: A purposive cluster sampling technique was used to collect data from a representative sample of college students in a Midwestern university. A total of 617 college students with a response rate of 85% participated in this cross-sectional survey. The questionnaire was adopted from the previously validated Nutrition Knowledge questionnaire with 25 closeended questions and measured demographic, nutrition recommendations, and diet-health knowledge. Continued on page S17