Nutrition education in the kindergarten curriculum: A content analysis

REPORT

Nutrition Education in the Kindergarten Curriculum: A Content Analysis KATIE POWERS,' GRACE HAMILTON,' DAVID HUNTSINGER,' AND PAULA ZEMEL'

lDepartmcnt of Nutrition, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1900; 2Knox County Schools, Knoxville , Tennessee 37901

curricula 6 ,1J- 11 as well as single lessons 2 ">,7,8 and materials developed for federal, state, or local agencies,4 .11 voluntary health organizations,2 and the private seccor. 3,5.8 Use of a framework such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans lR could help to orient the lesson plans toward broad curricular goals. Introductlon of nutrition education materials while also addressing the overall curriculum could provide an opportunity for t"valuating their use and impact in a naturalistic setting. Thus, this study was planned to identify nutrition lesson plans appropriate for kindergarten and to compare these lesson plans with one state's kindergarten curriculum guide. I '1

INTRODUCTION

Although there arc many nutrition education curricula available for use in elementary schools, it is unlikely that the Healthy People 2000 goa) to "increase to at least 75% the proportion of the nation's schools that provide nutrition education" will be met. l Most nutrition education curricula ate developed to be implemented as a unit that is either added to the school curriculum or incorporated into the health or science curriculum. 2- 11 These units may be taught by teachers, school food service professionals, or health professionals, such as nutritionists or health educators. Development and implementation of a separate nutrition education curriculum may be easier to evaluate, but most elementary school teachers already have too much to accomplish in the available classroom time. 12 Thus, additional topics such as nutrition may not receive adequate attention. Trends in education suggest that teachers arc integrating specific knowledge into a generalized learning framework, using approaches such as whole language learning and science-centered curricula. 13 . 14 This approach may make it even more difficult to introduce formal nutrition education curricula in elementary schools. Demicco noted that schools often did not implement nutrition education because of lack of class time and parental support. n Zemel and Huntsinger found that 75% of the teachers who taught about foods and nutrition adapted existing materials to develop their own nutrition education resources. If. Kindergarten teachers reported interest in including nutrition education in their classes. They wanted short lesson plans that used available resources and could be used in subject areas in the regular curriculum. 17 A variety of nutrition education materials have been developed that contain individual lesson plans for teachers to use. These include materials that are a part of larger

METHODS Identification of teachers. Fifteen kindergarten teachers who had previously received mini-grants from the Nutrition Education and Training Program were contacted; all agreed to participate. These teachers invited other kindergarten teachers in the school system (n ;::: 181) to evaluate lesson plans. Kindergarten teachers were the focus of the study because the school district administration had set a goal to incorporate the Dietary Guidelines across the curriculum, beginning at the kindergarten level. Identification of nutrition lesson plans. Lesson plans from lower elementary grades and the preschool level were ob tained. Nutrition education materials were collected from federal, state, and local agencies, voluntary health organizations, and the private sector. Only lesson plans that addressed kindergarten-appropriate activities and the Dietary Guidelines were included in subsequent evaluations. Sources included lesson plans developed either individually or as part of larger curricula, A lesson plan provides an opportunity for children to make observations and verbalize their own experiences through active learning, intt'faction in groups, and spontaneous play. 21)

This work was supportcd by an award frorn Thc TennesSl'c State Department of Education Nutrition Education md Training Prognm. Addr~s.~ for COrT~ ! ponden c ~ : Paula Zemd, Ph. D., R.D ., Deranm~nt of Nutrition, Un ivenity of Te lJnt: ~scc, 12 15 W. Cumb~rlmd Ave ., 229 JI-18, Knoxvitl~ ,

Categorization of lesson plans by dietary guidelines. The content of each lesson plan was evaluated by the

TN 37996-1900; Tel: (615) 974-5445 ; Fax : (615) 974-3491 0 1995 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION

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primary researcher and was assigned to a dietary guideline. A random selection of 20% of the lesson plans were evaluated by another trained coder; agreement about categorization by dietary guidelines was 100%.::!l Evaluation of lesson plans. Lead teachers distributed lesson plans to ocher kindergarten teachers. Each lesso n plan was evaluated by an average of 9 ± 3 teachers to identify lesson plans appropriate for use in kindergarten and the subject areas for which they were appropriate. Any lesson plan identified as being appropriate for kindergarten by at least two-thirds of the teachers was included in further evaluation. Any subje ct that appeared on at least two-thirds of the responses was assigned to that lesson. For example, if at least two-thirds of the respondents agreed that a lesson plan addressed the subj ects of language arts and math, the lesson plan was categorized under both subjects. If teachers indicated that some other subjects were addressed by a given lesson plan, and fewer than two-thirds of the teachers agreed. these subjects were not assigned to that lesson plan. One of the authors classified a random sample of 20% of these lesson plans using the same metho ds. Using these methods, there was 95% agreement in determining which lesson plans were appropriate for use in kindergarten and 94% agreement as to which subj ec t areas were assigned to these lesson plans. 21 Content analysis. Nutrition lesson plam were compared to the kindergarten curriculum guide using co ntent analysis to determine how well nutrition could be inco rporated into the kindergarten curriculum.2~ Each lesson plan was analyzed in relation to the subject areas assigned by teachers. The objectives identified for each subject area in the kindergarten curriculum wefe then compared with those objectives addressed in each nutrition lesson plan. Each lesso n plan was rated for whether it used food samples, school food service activi ties, and paren tal involvement; these issues are specifically addressed as objectives in the Healthy People 2000 goals.' A teacher from a different sc hool district who was certified to tea ch kindergarten reviewed a random sample of 20% of the lesson plam to establish reliability.21 Inter-rater agreement in assigning the objectives to the lesson plans was 98% and 95% fo r deternlining how well the lesson plans incorporated food samples, school food service activities, and pare nt involvement. Codes were assigned to each lesson plan for dietary guideline, subject. and objectives addressed. Codes were also assigned to each lesson plan that included food samples, school food service ac tivities, or parental involvement. All coded data were then entered into a database program 23 and frequency tables were generated. Next, the degree to which nutri ti on lesson plans met objectives of the kindergarten curriculum was detennined and this was expressed as mean percent ± standard deviation for each content area.

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RESULTS AND D ISCUSSION Identification of teachers and dietary guidelines. A total of 120 teachers assisted the 15 le ad teacht:rs in evaluating lesson plans, for a total of 75% of all kinderga rten teachers in the school system. Demographic information was obtained fo r only t he lead teach ers. O ne was male (6.7%) and one was African American (6.7%); this reflected the gender and minority distribution of teacht:rs in the school system. Lead teachers who had attended an inservice program on the Dietary Guidelines agreed that four dietary guidelines were developmentally appropriate for kindergarten students: (1) eat a variety of foods; (2) eat plenty of fruits , vegeta bles, and grains; (3) decrease fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol intake; and (4) decrease sugar intake. Identification and evaluation of nutrition lesson plans. Ten sources of early elementary nutrition education lesson plans were identified.::! 11 These sources contained 400 lesson plans that addressed the Dietary Guidelines}S Of these, 102 lesson plans were identified by the teachers as being appropriate for kindergarten. Together, these 102 lesson plans addressed all eight content areas in the kindergarten curriculum: language arts, math, social studies, science, health, physical development, art, and music. The percentage of lesso n plans that addressed each co nten t area ranged from 5% for health to 78% for language arts. Seventy-seven percent of the kindergarten objectives were met at least once in the nutrition education lesson plans.

Language arts. Seventy-eight percent (n :;;; 80) of lesson plans addressed language arts. These lesson plans addressed 50%± 31 % of the kindergarten language arts objec tives. The objectives addressing the skills of observation and verbalization of experiences, classification of objects. and comprehension of stories were most often incorporated into the lesson plans. The objectives that were met least often required knowledge of the alphabet.

Math. The teachers placed 52% (n ~ 53) of the lesson plans in the math area. These lesson plans addressed 65% ± 33% of the math objectives. Most of the kindergarten math objectives addressed topics such as cou nting, size. and shape, which could easily be demonstrated using different types of foods. The objectives met least often were those addressing measurement of time, money, and temper'lture. Social studies. Only 17% (n ~ 17) of the lesson plans were categorized in the subject of social studies. These lesson plans cove red 17% ± 28% of the social studies objec tives. The most often covered objectives addressed similarities and differences of tastes and food choices between people, The social studies objectives incorporating differences between

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cultures were covered least often by the lesson plans. Nutrition lesson plans addressing cultural food differences might increase the extent to which nutrition is taught in social studies in kindergarten.

Science and health. Twenty-five percent (n = 25) and 3% (n ;:::. 3) of the lesson plans were assigned to the subj ects of science and health, respectively. The lesson plans that addressed the subject of science covered 42% ± 39% of the science curriculum. The three lesson plans that addressed the subject of health covered 37% ± 46% of the health curriculum. The topics most often covered in the nutrition lesson plans were plants, the senses, nutrition, and taste differences among people. Those objectives least often covered addressed physical science concepts.

Physical development. Only 14% (n ~ 14) of the lesson plans were assigned the subject of physical development. These lesson plans covered 37% ± 30% of the objectives of the physical development curriculum and addressed gross motor functions such as role playing and exercising. Th e objectives addressing specific sports w ere covered least often.

The results of this research indi ca te that nutrition lesson plans can meet broad objectives in a curriculum as well as address nutrition education. Thus, children m ay be able to learn what to ea t while learnin g how to read. Every nutrition education lesson plan need not address all parts of th e curriculum. Rather, the goal is to develop nutrition education materials that, when taken as a whole, can address the objectives of the cu rriculum. Nutrition educators whose work involves identifying or developing nutrition education materials for early elementary curricula should be aware of the curricular objectives and collaborate with teach ers and / or curriculum development specialists. Future research should focus on the effectiven ess of nutrition education materials and their inclusion in the general curriculum_ Nutrition educators should use edu cational theories to design, develop, and disseminate nutrition education lesso n plans and materials in schools. Evaluatio n research is needed to assess the effectiveness of nutrition education on knowledge , food choices, and family eating patterns that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines.

Art and music.

Nine percent (n ~ 9) and 22% (n ~ 22) of the lesson plans were assigned to the subjects of art and music, respectively . The lesson plans that addressed art covered 54% ± 32% of the art obj ectives. The kindergarten curriculum objectives most often covered were those that addressed shapes, colors, and texture. The lesson plans that addressed music covered 39%± 40% of the objectives in the music curriculum. Lesson plans incorporating songs and arts and crafts easily met these objectives. The objectives met least often related to hannony , rhythms, and the concept of feelings being expressed in art.

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