Youth Understanding MyPlate Improves Behaviors of Elementary School Students

Abstract

To determine whether participation in six lessons of the Youth Understanding MyPlate (YUM) curriculum leads to a change in nutrition and physical activity behaviors in elementary school students. Elementary school students (N=535) in grades 2-5 throughout Florida participating in the Family Nutrition Program (FNP - Florida’s SNAP-Education program). Experiential Learning Theory. YUM teaches elementary students the basic messages of MyPlate through activities that reinforce the messages and encourage them to make healthy eating and physical activity choices. Each grade-specific lesson contains learning and physical activities, a recommended children’s book, worksheets, and a healthy snack. These lessons are designed to be taught in a classroom setting and incorporate applicable Florida Standards. A seven-item Youth Behavior Survey was developed by FNP faculty to capture nutrition and physical activity behavior changes of students in grades 2-5 participating in six YUM lessons as part of FNP education. This tool was used with YUM during the 2014-2015 school year. Students reported consuming vegetables, fruits, whole grain foods, and low-fat/fat-free dairy; choosing healthy snacks; eating breakfast; and doing physical activities more often after six YUM lessons compared to baseline (P<.00). Chi-square tests were used to determine change from baseline to post using SPSS. Participation in six lessons of the YUM curriculum improves the nutrition and physical activity behavior of elementary school students. As a practice-based curriculum, YUM is a good choice for direct education in elementary schools as part of SNAP-Education programming. More research is needed to increase the evidence to research-based.