Teachers receive extensive instruction on how to teach knowledge-based topics such as math or literature, but they are often left hanging when it comes to behavior-based topics such as nutrition education. A new study in Advances in Nutrition by Program in Nutrition alum Marissa Burgermaster as well as Tisch Food Center Executive Director Dr. Pam Koch led by Caroline Dunn along with other researchers, explores how professional development could be used to improve nutrition education in schools.
Schools provide the best environment to change eating behaviors; they are where students spend half their waking hours and where they eat one-three meals a day. But to change the way students eat and approach food, teachers cannot just share facts. Although facts are important, teachers need to improve students’ motivation and beliefs that they can make changes (self-efficacy). Unfortunately, school based nutrition education intervention studies do not provide enough details to know how to make teacher professional development the most effective.
Teachers are the perfect role models to teach kids early how to eat healthy, yet there is a huge gap in nutrition education professional development research. We encourage researchers conducting nutrition education in schools to provide more details on their teacher professional development when they publish their findings.
– Dr. Pam Koch