Knowledge Of School-age Children Research Articles

Impact of a Short Nutrition Education Program on Food and Nutrition Knowledge of School-Age Children Graduating from Elementary School: A Follow-Up Study 1995–2000, Chillán, Chile

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of a nutrition education program (NEP) on food and nutrition knowledge (FNK) of a representative sample of 283 elementary school graduates in Chillán, Chile. A comparative study of two groups was carried out: the Control Group (CG, n = 134) and the Experimental Group (participating in the NEP) (EG, n = 149) paired by sex, age, intellectual ability (IA), and socioeconomic stratum. Results showed that in the EG, the NEP had a positive and significant impact on FNK scores, which significantly increased from the pre-test to the post-test. In retests completed both 3 months and 5 years after the NEP had been completed a slight significant decrease was observed, but FNK scores remained quite high. These findings point out the significant impact of the NEP on FNK and may be useful as a model for nutrition education programs designed to improve the food and nutrition knowledge of the school-age population. Michelaine D. Salgado’s thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master on Public Health degree. Presented in part at the II Conferencia Latinoamericana de Promoción de la Salud y Educación de la Salud, Santiago, Chile, October 13–17, 1996 and the XI Congreso Latinoamericano de Nutricionistas-Dietistas, Montevideo, Uruguay, November 16–20, 1998. The authors are very gratefully to the Ministry of Education of Chile for the facilities provided to carry out this research; to the research direction from University of Bío-Bío, Chile, Grant 992916-3; to Oscar Brunser, MD, and to Prof. Patricia Arancibia, PhD, for helpful comments and suggestions; to Mr. Francisco Rodriguez and to Ms. Claudia Illanes, from University of Bío-Bío, for their computational assistance.

The Educational Benefits of a Ten-Week Home-Based Wild Bird Feeding Program for Children

ABSTRACTThis study evaluated a ten-week educational home-based program for feeding wild birds, intended to increase elementary school age children's knowledge about birds, especially those wild birds commonly encountered at outdoor home feeders. We measured changes from pre- to post-program in 65 seven- to 12-year old children's knowledge about wild birds, as well as in environmental attitudes. The goal was not only to increase bird knowledge in the target child but also to involve other family members in home-based nature education activities. After the program, seven- to nine-year old boys and girls showed significant gains in bird knowledge, but older children (10–12 years) did not significantly improve. Children's increased knowledge was positively associated with parental education. There was no systematic change in environmental attitudes. Parents identified family involvement as a particularly beneficial aspect of the program, and 90% of contacted families were still feeding birds one year after program termination.

Vocabulary Development: A Morphological Analysis

Focusing on school-age children's knowledge of morphology and word formation, this monograph presents a detailed analysis of vocabulary development among six- to ten-year-olds. Among the results discussed here is the significant distinction between recognizing words that were previously learned, and figuring them out by means of morphological analysis. The author's argument of the importance of morphological knowledge to children's lexical growth will intrigue child development specialists, linguists, and educators alike.