Running head: FOOD 4 YOU 1

Food 4 You
Shelby N Furubayashi
Westminster Nursing College

Abstract
FOOD 4 YOU 2

The younger population is getting left behind in developing healthy eating habits because of their

lack of education. Most children around five to thirteen years of age at STEM Promise are

unable to identify basic foods, because of their lack of exposure and education on nutrition. This

is why we conducted a presentation on the basics of nutrition, teaching the five basic food groups

and helping to identify food items from these particular groups. Teaching children at this young

age in their psychosocial development is difficult because of their lack of attention span. We had

to brainstorm teaching strategies and come up with an easy-to-follow outline for our presentation

that would suit the cognitive level of the audience and keep them engaged. Using the evidence-

based content we observed to create this presentation, we focused on having the children of

STEM Promise reach the goals and outcomes of nutritional learning to develop a healthier

lifestyle.

Nutrition is a main physiologic need that is vital for human life. Without consuming

adequate nutrients, a human body will not be able to properly function. Because nutrition plays
FOOD 4 YOU 3

such an important role in people’s daily lives, we conducted a presentation on nutritional value to

the kids of STEM Promise. To be able to teach to a pediatric population, education needs to be

at their level of cognition by taking into perspective what developmental stage the kids of

Promise are in. Nutrition is a part of our everyday lives and education on this important

physiologic need should be implemented at a young age to start nutritional habits that will last a

lifetime.

Education Needs for the Target Population

At STEM Promise, the kids typically come from a lower socioeconomic household or are

refugees and come to this after-school program for multiple reasons: to gain social experiences

with children of the same age, to be in a safe environment after school, or solely to receive a free

meal. To see the kids of Promise anxiously run to the food and many of them not knowing what

a lot of the food they were being fed even was, is why we decided to educate this group on

nutrition. Many of the kids had no idea what the name for a carrot even was, let alone what food

group it fell into or how nutritional these little orange sticks are to our health. Even though most

of the kids that attend this Promise are just hoping for something to eat for dinner, it is crucial to

teach them good nutrition at their age so they can develop healthy eating habits so that it

becomes second nature throughout their lifetime and be passed down from generation to

generation.

Erikson Stage and Developmental Level

The children of STEM Promise are five to thirteen years’ old which puts our pediatric

population in the industry vs. inferiority stage of Erikson’s psychosocial development

(Hockenberry & Wilson, 2015, p. 571). Teaching for an audience that is in this particular stage
FOOD 4 YOU 4

needs to have a positive and encouraging atmosphere. When observing the kids at STEM, there

was a significant change in personality and an increasing capability to learn when the kids were

given more attention. When they felt they were being ignored, which is what typically happened

when the child was being good, an outburst would occur when they could not take the isolation

any longer. During this stage kids are gaining more knowledge but also feeling a sense of

competitive edge with peers on succeeding in learning and activities (Hockenberry & Wilson,

2015, p. 571). Giving positive feedback and making each child feel they had one-on-one

attention was our goal during our presentation to help this specific population grow as an

individual through knowledge and the feeling of competence. Another reason we wanted to

educate on nutrition was to help these children, in this stage, gain more information on general

food and the basic foods groups so that they did not feel inferior to the rest of their age

population. According to Hockenberry and Wilson (2015), “Feelings of inferiority or lack of

worth come from children themselves or from the social environment” (p. 571). Erikson’s

psychosocial stage of industry vs. inferiority is where confidence in oneself is able to grow or

deteriorate depending on the feeling of being inferior or superior to one’s peers.

Topic

Our education topic was nutrition, including basic food groups and identifying various

foods. We based our nutrition presentation on these two main points because of the lack of

nutritious foods these kids get exposed to in their daily lives which was shown when they

couldn’t identify the carrot sticks that they were consuming. Nutrition is an important topic to

focus on with this age group because this is when they start developing eating habits that follow

them for the rest of their lives.

Objectives
FOOD 4 YOU 5

The objective of our presentation is to primarily keep the kids involved to help keep their

attention span alert so they can learn about nutrition. We wanted to get across the point of why a

balanced nutrition is so important in our daily lives and teach the basic food groups via MyPlate.

Our outline consisted of the following:

 Introduce ourselves and what our presentation will be on, which is nutrition.

 Start off by giving them a couple examples of how to sort objects by us sorting the kids

by height and gender.

 Have volunteers sort the various foods provided in any way they want. I.e. by color, by

shape, by size. Various foods provided are:

o Vegetables - carrots and a pepper

o Fruits - bananas and an apple

o Grains - bread and a box of pasta

o Protein - peanut butter and an egg

o Dairy - cheese sticks and a pint of milk

 Have them explain their reasoning on how they sorted the food.

 One of us will sort the foods into the basic food groups and then ask the audience if they

know why the foods were sorted this way.

 Explain why we sorted the foods into the basic food groups and give brief description of

each group.

 Put up the big MyPlate poster on the board and hand out various foods cut outs to the

kids.

 Have the kids tell their neighbors what foods they were given in the cutouts and what

food group they would fall in while we walk around and observe and help each kid.
FOOD 4 YOU 6

 Have kids go put their given foods under the food group they believe it falls under on the

MyPlate on the board.

 Go through each food item under each food group and explain if it is in the right group or

the wrong group - have kids help using question and answer.

 For the quiz give each person a printed out MyPlate to draw in a meal they would

consume with at least one food item in each food group.

 Close by handing out one food item from each food group to each individual to take

home and eat.

Teaching Strategies

With this specific age population, we knew it would be a challenge to keep them alert and

focused throughout the presentation. We based our presentation around keeping the kids

involved and being hands on by having them participate in activities rather than sitting and

listening to a lecture. Going to STEM Promise a couple weeks in advanced helped us gain

rapport with the students and learn each child by their name, which was beneficial in grasping

attention by having them feel included and involved. With our audience being in the industry vs.

inferiority stage we thought it would be beneficial to go around to each child while sorting out

their food cutouts and helping them and to make sure they grasped the concept of the food

groups. Helping each kid one-on-one in this stage of development makes them feel a sense of

belonging and helps them feel competent in the knowledge presented to them. For our

presentation we are using, MyPlate. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

created MyPlate in 2011, that took the place of the food pyramid used many years before this

new development. MyPlate is based on the Dietary Guidelines for America to help Americans

eat healthier by using a visual place setting of the five food groups ("MyPlate/MiPlato," 2011).
FOOD 4 YOU 7

MyPlate helped present our information at the right cognitive level for this age population

because of its easy to understand graphic design of a plate cut into the five main food groups. It

helped the kids visualize the different foods that should be seen on a plate. MyPlate is easy to

understand and helps educate, especially the young population, on healthy eating habits to live

by which is why we centered our presentation on it.

Evidence-Based Content Included

Being able to go to Promise for a couple weeks before our presentation I was able to see the lack

of knowledge of nutrition when they couldn’t identify what the orange sticks were given to them

to eat. It is so important to teach kids at this young age basic nutritional information. Lineberger

and Zajicek (2000) state, “Most personal food and exercise habits, that continue throughout life,

are established by the age 15” (p.593). Our nutrition presentation stayed pretty simple starting

with identifying certain foods and the five main food groups because of the lack of education

given to these kids on nutrition. Teaching these kids basic nutrition facts can be the start of the

learning process of a balanced nutrition, and help them develop healthy eating habits that can

become part of their daily lives.

Procedures and Materials

For our lesson we wanted to make sure that the kids of STEM Promise would be able to

sort various foods into the basic food groups by using trial and error. Having them physically

sort the foods the way they wanted to and going over why each food cutout placed on the

MyPlate was right or wrong, helped us along with our procedure of educating on the basic food

groups. By using actual food products and using a blown up MyPlate with food cutouts gave

them a hands-on approach to learning the basics of the MyPlate groups. At the end of the lesson
FOOD 4 YOU 8

we had the kids draw a meal using a printed out MyPlate to reassure their learning on the

nutrition lesson we presented. Children in this stage of development like to be rewarded for

participating and learning. Rewards motivate children to learn new habits with positive behavior

(Eugster, 2011). This is why we brought different foods from the various food groups for each

kid to try which also exposed them to different foods they don’t regularly get to consume.

Expected Goals and Outcomes

The outcome that we wanted to achieve through this presentation is the understanding of

basic information on the five main food groups and why each group is important for a specific

function for overall health. Before this goal can be accomplished we need to educate the kids on

more food items, especially fresh produce, that they typically do not get to see in their every day

meals by bringing in different food products that they can observe and learn. We want them to

start developing nutritional habits at this young age, so picking healthier options becomes a part

of their daily lives and follows them throughout their lifetime. Teaching this age population is

difficult because of the high energy these kids have, which can affect their attention span.

Another goal that we wanted to achieve was to try and keep them entertained and focused by

incorporating hands on approach to our lesson. Having these kids at this age be able to develop a

healthy nutritional background would be an ideal outcome.

This Promise assignment has shown how important it is for the younger population to

start learning nutritional benefits and information early so that they grow into a healthy

individual. Seeing how little these kids knew about the basic food groups and how difficult it

was to keep their attention expresses how important it is to know what age population the

information is being presented to. If the information is not at the cognitive level of the particular

age group, the information will not be properly processed. Nutrition is important for human
FOOD 4 YOU 9

survival and needs to be presented and taught to kids under the age fifteen so that they can

establish a healthy lifestyle that can be implemented throughout the rest of their lives.

References

Eugster, K. (2011). Using incentives or rewards to motivate positive behaviors in your child.

Retrieved from http://www.kathyeugster.com/articles/article010.htm

FOOD 4 YOU 10

Hockenberry, M. J., & Wilson, D. (2015). Developing a sense of industry (Erikson). In Wong's:

Nursing care of infants and children (10th ed., p. 571). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Inc.

Lineberger, S. E., & Zajicek, J. M. (2000). School gardens: Can a hands-on teaching tool affect

students’ attitudes and behaviors regarding fruit and vegetables? Horttechnology, 10(3),

593. Retrieved from http://horttech.ashspublications.org/content/10/3/593.full.pdf

MyPlate/MiPlato. (2011). Retrieved from United States Department of Agriculture website:

https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/MyPlate