A major national science education goal is to promote scientific literacy for all Americans. At the same time, a major national health goal in Healthy People 2000 is for people to eat healthful diets to reduce risk of chronic disease. Thus, children living in poverty have important nutrition and health literacy needs. Additionally, because inner-city children are largely disconnected from nature, it is particularly hard for them to analyze how the products of scientific advances may negatively impact the sustainability of the ecosystems on which all life depends. Consequently, the goal of this Phase I project is to transform inner-city children's, their teachers' and their parents' or care givers' experiences with something familiar, i.e., food, into an inquiry-based science program.
The specific aims of this project are to develop and evaluate a new inquiry-based science education model (classroom curriculum plus activities such as field trips) for inner city school students, grades four and five. This curriculum is designed to link science literacy and nutrition literacy by creating a coherent understanding of the complex relationships between food production, processing and consumption practices, human health, and the sustainability of the natural environment. The project will develop and evaluate programs with teachers, parents and care givers to assist them in implementing the food-based curriculum, to increase their own scientific and nutrition literacy, and to improve their own attitudes towards science. The curriculum will address growing food, preparing and eating food, creating a food system, and making choices. After development and formative evaluation of the program, it will be implemented in 20 classrooms with 20 classes serving as controls in two New York City Schools districts where students are predominantly African American. Summative evaluation will measure children's, teachers' and parents' conceptual knowledge; their understanding of, and engagement with, the processes of science and attitudes towards science; and their understanding of the interactive nature of science, technology and society. Results of the evaluation will be used to revise the program for dissemination.
| Contento, Isobel R; Randell, Jill S; Basch, Charles E (2002) Review and analysis of evaluation measures used in nutrition education intervention research. J Nutr Educ Behav 34:2-25 |
