Using a TV game show format to teach head start staff

Abstract

In a workshop designed for four hundred Head Start staff members, we used a television show format to focus on nutrition topics that are important for those working closely with low-income, minority preschoolers and their families. After observing that game show devotees can readily spout the prices of mink coats, trips to Hawaii, and new cars, we were confident that our audience could just as easily learn facts about the nutrient values of common foods. With an agenda that read like a page from TV Guide, we brought the allure and exuberance of television game shows into the classroom, and transformed passive viewing into lively participation. We explored basic concepts, including some rather technical information, in lecture and game segments that we titled after familiar television shows. For example, participants examined factors influencing nutrition knowledge and food choices in activities such as What's My Line? and Face the Nation. We discussed nutrient needs throughout the life cycle in Days of Our Lives. And important messages about nutritional claims in advertising were addressed in ... and Now a Word from Our Sponsor. Without question, the highlight of our workshop was the exciting episode Let's Make a Meal! our version of a popular television game show. We randomly chose four contestants to Come On Down! from the audience to place their bids on the amounts of key nutrients in ordinary foods like whole milk, american cheese, liver, and canadian bacon. Since our format was modeled after the Price Is Right TV game show, the contestant who came closest to the actual amount of the nutrient in the food, without going over that amount, was invited on stage to playa more intricate nutrition game. We used the familiar TV devices (raucous buzzers and bells) to signal right and wrong answers. The object of each game was to make correct food choices based on knowledge gained during the lecture segment. We emphasized information on iron, calcium, sodium, and fat. A brief description of each game follows: o Fill 'er Up (calcium)-The contestant is asked to make selections from a group of ten foods exhibited in a display. After each choice is made. the calcium value of the food is revealed. Using a large cardboard model of a drinking glass, fitted with an adjustable white bar graph (representing milk), the player's calcium total is tallied. To win , the contestant must reach 100% of the RDA for calcium, thereby filling the entire bar graph (glass with milk). o Iron ' em Out (iron)-The contestant is presented with a meal that fails to provide onethird of the RDA for iron. This meal must be traded for one of three alternative meals hidden behind a mixing bowl, a cast iron pan, and a wok. The player is shown the foods composing these meals, but not their iron content. If the trade produces a meal higher in iron, the player wins. o In a Pickle (sodium)-The object of this game is to determine the amount of sodium in a dill pickle. First , the player has to make decisions about the amount of sodium in four other foods , one of which is secretly marked with a hidden salt shaker. Two possible sodium values are shown for each food , and the player must choose the correct one. After each selection, the player receives a card showing one digit in the amount of sodium in the pickle (1,928 mg), and places it on a board. After the player arranges the digits in what he or she believes is the correct order, the actual sodium values for the original four foods are revealed. A contestant who has selected the correct sodium value for the secretly marked food is awarded a final opportunity to rearrange the sodium digits on the board . If the digits are ultimately in the correct order, the player wins. o Slim Pickins (fat)-In this game contestants attempt to advance spaces on a miniature golf course to improve their chances of putting a hole-in-one. To advance, they must consider several food pairs and select the food lower in fat (Note 1) for each pair (see figure). For every correct choice, the player advances one space. A hole-in-one wins the game .