My emphasis in this assignment is to develop, implement, and assess a teaching plan concentrated on good nutrition and daily exercise for school age children. The early years are a critical time for founding good eating habits and attitude about food and exercise. Children who are obese are more likely to be obese as adults. This is a major public health risk to the wellbeing of children. Recent literature supports the positive effects of good nutrition on the brain development and mental health. Limited exercise in school age children is linked to decreased performance on standardized test scores.
Healthy eating and exercise not only directly affect a child’s long term health but also may pass on positive welfares for future generations. Assessment of Learning Needs The learning group involved six children between the ages of eight to ten. None of the children were diagnosed with learning disabilities, behavior problems or special needs, however one of the children reported having asthma and one child used eye glasses. No other health issues were identified. Ethnic considerations were taken into account and cultural diversity was limited.
School age children are capable of logical reasoning and learn best through their senses. It is important to use learning activities that stimulate their senses. Activities should be interesting and meaningful. School age children like to play games and role play is appropriate, also they like things that can be taken home with them, such as books and stickers. Learner Objectives The learning objectives are as follows: Affective Domain: The children will actively listen to their instructor’s presentation on nutrition and exercise while participating in a group
project. Cognitive Domain: Each child will be able to state one benefit of proper nutrition and one benefit of daily exercise. Psychomotor Domain: After participating in a five minute exercise session correlated to music the children will be able to properly take their own heart rate with minimal assistance from the instructor. Teaching Plan As an instructor it is important to always be flexible in regards to the learning objectives and the teaching plan in an effort to meet the individual needs of each learner.
The teaching plan will be implemented in the following order: · Presentation on good nutrition and daily exercise to include the following health benefits: decreased risk of problems related to type II diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Increased cognitive performance, sleep, and improved quality of life. · Guidelines for good nutrition and exercise: eat a variety of foods every day to include, fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Decrease the amount of fatty, sugary foods and drinks consumed. Drink more water. Get 30-60 minutes of exercise daily.
· Instructions for obtaining your own heart rate: to locate your pulse on the side of the neck, place your first two fingers, which are called the index and middle finger on the side of the neck in the hollow between the windpipe and the large muscle in the neck. Press lightly until you feel a pulse (These instructions may also be demonstrated by the instructor for a visual aid), count the pulse for one minute using a watch or a clock with a second hand. The number you count is your heart rate. The normal heart rate for school age children is 70-100 beats in a minute.
To predict your maximum heart rate for exercise you deduct your age from the number 220, for example if you are 10 years old use the formula 220 – 10 = 210. This would be your maximum heart rate during exercise. It is recommended that your heart rate not go above this number during exercise. It is important to talk with your primary care provider before starting an exercise program. Evaluation of Teaching and Learning The final phase of the health promotion teaching plan is the evaluation of components. The teaching plan was clear, concise, and engrossed on the learner in the targeted age group.
Any registered nurse, school teacher, or social worker who follows the format of this plan would have the ability to teach this topic to school age children, with the subsidiary materials from the following web sites; health fitness food for thought, evidence based health promotion program for schools, teaching school age children, and pulse and target heart rate. In an effort to evaluate if the learner’s objectives were met, each child was asked to state one benefit of good nutrition and one benefit of daily exercise and received instructions on taking their own pulse.
At the end of the teaching session all six children were able to correctly state one benefit of good nutrition and one benefit of daily exercise; also, after five minutes of exercise to music all the children were able to properly take their own heart rate with minimal assistance from the instructor, thus meeting the objective for the psychomotor domain. During the presentation of the teaching plan the children were good active listeners and participated in answering questions. It was interesting to know one out of the six children reported exercising with a parent one time weekly for an evening walk.
Three children reported getting most of their exercise at school during gym and recess and two girls in the group reported that they participated in dance at a local dance studio. When questioned about activities during the summer two of the children were noted to have passes to the local high school pool, which allowed them to swim daily from 12:00 noon until 6:00 pm. One child reported that he will attend a daily camp while his parents are at work and three children reported that they spend their days at a sitter until their parents come home from work.
All of the children reported playing video games of some sort. When asked if they had a time limit for playing video games, one child reported that he did not have a limit, two children had limits of no longer than 45 minutes three times a day, two children had limits of one hour two times a day, and one child had the restriction of playing video games on the weekend for 40 minutes at a time and could play the games no more than five times. When questioned concerning nutrition attitudes and habits at the beginning of the session, four children reported eating fast food three times a week or more.
One child said “I only get to eat at Mac Donald’s when my mom doesn’t want to cook”. Another child made the statement” I can only eat at Mac Donald’s sometimes; because my mom says it makes people fat”. The children were asked to raise their hand if they thought it was healthy to eat at Mac Donald’s every day. Four of the six children raised their hands. The health promotion teaching plan was held at the Stockart Youth Center in a safe facility, where we had use of the gymnasium and a classroom.
At the end of the program each child was given a healthy snack that consisted of apples and bananas with peanut butter dip, pretzels, and milk, water was also offered. Take home bags were made for the children and consisted of crayons and a coloring book, literature containing tips for parents regarding good nutrition and daily exercise, one free ticket to attend a dance hip hop session for beginners at a local dance studio, and one voucher foe a free smoothie at a local health food shop.