Health Care Need

Health Care Need

School-age children are in the developmental latent time of growth. During this period a child's growth rate slows and developmental changes are gradual. The introduction of school and other outside activities presents new food options that include school lunches, vending machines, and snacks in the homes of friends. The introduction of new food options can cause a challenge in encouraging healthy eating behaviors for the parents or caregivers. It's important for parents/caregivers to know what the child is eating during school hours, this way they can provide healthy snacks as well as a nutritious breakfast and dinner. Research studies show foods provided and eaten by the parents/caregivers strongly influence the foods chosen by their children when away from the home environment as well as influence the child's performances in school (Herring & Engelke, 2018).

Healthy eating can help children maintain a healthy weight, avoid certain health problems, stabilize their energy, as well as support a healthy growth and development leading up to adulthood. A healthy diet can also have a reflective effect on a child's sense of mental and emotional wellbeing (Help Guide, 2018). According to the American Journal of Health Education the main concern regarding physical dietary behaviors of children is the increased risk for obesity and its potential effect for some health issues. These heath risk include chronic hypokinetic diseases including coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, hypertension, and certain cancers. Obese children are twice as likely to be obese as adults compared to nonobese children. Therefore, it is critical to examine factors on decisions making about healthy eating with the elementary school population to help provide important information to aid in obesity prevention (American Journal of Health Education, 2015).

Target Audience

Oliver Beach Elementary school located in Baltimore, MD opened in 1981 and teaches Pre-K through 5th grade. Ranked 560th out of 858 elementary schools, Oliver Beach holds a capacity of 265 and has total enrollment of 204 students for the 2017-2018 school year (BCPS, 2018). The student body consists of 91% White, 3% African American, 3% Asian, 2% 2 races, 1% Hispanic and <1% American Indian/ Hawaiian Native. Gender is 55% male and 45 % female. Students from low-income families make up 26% of the total student population. The students per teacher ratio is 14:1, 89% of teachers have three or more years of experience (Great schools, 2017). The principle states Oliver Beach's vision is to create customized and personalized learner-centered environments that focus upon high-quality, effective first instruction, and high expectations in a safe and inclusive environment that maximizes the potential of all students to be globally competitive. (BCPS, 2018).

Barriers to Learning

Possible learning barrier for Oliver Beach follows:

1. 26% of students come from low income families may not have the money/resources to afford the healthy foods needed for school-aged children (Great schools, 2017)
2. 22.9 % of students are free lunch holders and may only be receiving what the school provides for them during the week (Schooldigger, 2018)
3. There is a 14:1 student per teacher ratio which can be hard for teachers to assure all the students are receiving/eating appropriate meals (Great schools, 2017)

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the presentation, students will:

• Be able to create their own My Plate meal as well as learn portion sizes (USDA,2018)
• Know the importance of eating a balanced breakfast and lunch
• Inform children and their parents of age-appropriate, nutritious consumption of foods while encouraging them to make healthy choices

Method of Content Presentation

Lisa M. Sullivan, Associate Dean for Education Professor and Chair for Department of Biostatistics Boston University School of Public Health list reasons in a presentation on how to keep students engaged and interactive during a class room presentation. She states that children (1) Want solid knowledge base and real-world application (2) Want clear and organized presentation of material (3) Want to be stimulated, active and participatory (4) Want to know why (how does this activity, reading connect to my future career?) And (5) Want faculty to be enthusiastic, helpful and engaged (Sullivan 2013). I will be presenting my health material on a poster board this way students can visually see what foods they should be eating and how much they should be eating daily. I will engage them in a little activity that will have them choose what foods they think are healthy or unhealthy using visual pictures, this way every student can interact.

Method of Evaluating the Learning Outcomes

A paper by the World Bank (2013) defined that assessing students is the process of gathering and evaluation information on what students know, understand, and can do in order to make informed decisions about next steps in the educational process (IEA, 2016).

Learning outcomes will be evaluated by observing students:

1. Describe the five major food groups including dairy, protein, fruits, vegetables, and grains
2. Correctly categorize different foods within the appropriate food group
3. Develop and draw their own healthy meal plan in accordance with MyPlte.gov (USDA, 2018)

Content Outline

I. Introduction

A. Introduce myself as well as each other

B. Explain that the topic of presentation is Eating Healthy

II. Begin breaking the ice with a fun matching game of food group categories

A. Each student will be given cut outs of different foods to place on the poster board that will be separated into 5 categories: fruits, vegetables, grains, proteins, and dairy

B. This will assess their current knowledge of each food groups and any misunderstandings

III. After activity is done this will lead us into discussion about the 5 major food groups and their nutritious benefits by showing them a visual poster board I created.

IV. After learning about the food groups, I will provide a printed empty MyPlate for students to color in their own healthy nutritious meals (USDA, 2018)

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