My driving question has boiled down to "Is there a correlation between a student's nutrition and their learning process throughout the day?" My educational context begins internationally - How are high achieving countries feeding their students? I have menu's for school lunches in these countries that look nothing like our's here in America. In most of these countries food is prepared from fresh foods that are cleaned, prepared by a certified chief, and it is a concern of the school whether or not the kids are well fed. Then I move onto what other states are doing comparatively to California. I found that there is an alternative school in Wisconsin which has used nutrition to changed student behavior. After the menu was changed from the typical school lunches to salads, meats, whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables they found that "Grades are up, truancy is no longer a problem, arguments are rare, and teachers are able to spend their time teaching." NVUSD is working toward improving lunches in schools which has bee wonderful, but is it enough? The food looks and tastes better, but is it fresh? Do we have a chief preparing it? If this saves us time in the classroom and if this is a basic, effortless intervention we could do then I cannot understand how it would be considered an "extra cost". IRB Draft
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2/25/2018 02:21:13 pm
I'm glad that there has been more of a focus on nutrition in our schools lately. It does seem kind of crazy that in years past we weren't providing healthy options for our students. I still remember being at my last school and seeing the microwaved pizza in the plastic bag as a pretty normal option for kids during lunch. The kind of pizza that you could fold in half and it would return back to its original form. My current school made the change a few years back, and if I am not mistaken, I think it has actually been cheaper to provide the lunches they have now compared to prior years. When I see the options for lunch now, they are actually options I would eat too.
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James Macariola
2/25/2018 05:02:15 pm
I LIKE IT! I think you have a good idea where you want to go with your DQ and how it can change many students and teachers with your research. At my site we have food that students don't want to eat, but according to our food director it is healthy for the students. Yet, students don't want to eat their food and instead bring their own food off campus which are unhealthier than the food being offered on campus. If you can find a happy medium within your research that would be a "GAME CHANGER!"
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Paula Sotiras
2/26/2018 08:18:04 pm
This is an interesting topic. Good nutrition does play a huge part in a person's well being. I have heard how other countries will have a chef onsite to feed children good food. I am curious about the school in Wisconsin. Has the students' demeanor changed because of a meal they get during school? Is there some type of shift in the food that a child will eat throughout the day because of nutritional education? I'm not sure, but I think that we as Americans consume the most processed foods in the world. I'm sure you will encounter a lot of interesting information.
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Kendra Parsons
2/27/2018 07:07:18 pm
I think this is a great topic! I believe food/nutrition has so much impact on so many aspect of our lives. Something stuck out to me as I was reading an article the other day, "knowledge does not mean change". As a school we not only need to educate our students about nutrition, we need to give them practice in doing it well and show them how powerful it can be. During NTHS's pilot project coming up, all 9th graders will be focusing on food security and partnering with Napa's community garden, I wonder if there is anyway we could support each other. I hope your work in this area can lead to progress within our district when it comes to how we feed them. Awesome driving question.
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