Teaching The Food Guide Pyramid to Kindergartners: Does it Affect Their Choices During School Lunch?

Abstract

This study set out to determine if kindergartners can learn nutrition information from the Food Guide Pyramid, and if they put this information into practice during school lunch. Seventy kindergarten students from two public schools were involved, two classes from one school served as the experimental group, and two classes from the other school served as the control. Subjects completed oral pre- and posttests of Pyramid knowledge, before and after 13 weeks of nutrition lessons were given to the experimental classes. Tray waste data were collected for one week before and after the intervention, and two days were selected to use for comparison. Paired samples t-tests were used to compare pre- and post-intervention knowledge scores and to compare pre- and post-intervention tray waste data. Independent samples t-tests were used to compare the two schools to each other. A statistically significant difference was found between the experimental and control schools’ nutrition knowledge scores on posttests, and between the two experimental classes on posttests. A significant difference was found between the experimental and control schools during the pre-intervention tray waste survey; therefore, they could not be directly compared to each other. There were no significant differences found in meat, vegetable, fruit, or bread consumption. The only significant difference was an increase in milk waste for both intervention classes from pre- to post-intervention. Teaching the Food Guide Pyramid to kindergartners increases their knowledge; however, it has no effect on the proportion of waste they leave on their tray. Dietitians could be instrumental in developing ways to affect behavior change. As dietitians, we need to continue looking for creative ways to help children translate their knowledge into practice.