Introduction

In 2018, Dairy Council of California updated its 3rd grade nutrition education program. Changes included condensing the nutrition lessons into five topics that can each be taught in one or two class blocks; aligning the lessons with Common Core State Standards, in part by providing more collaboration opportunities; and adding online components to the lessons. The initial 3rd grade evaluation report includes a description of the full evaluation from 2011.

A sample of 3rd grade teachers around the state implemented the updated lessons in their classrooms. This report provides a summary of the evaluation findings for the updated 3rd grade program.

Evaluation Summary

The 3rd grade nutrition program consists of 10 nutrition lessons filled with interactive activities, simulations, and reflections delivered by classroom teachers. The program is aligned with California’s Common Core Content Standards and the US Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines for Americans and teaches students about healthy eating and physical activity choices. It also includes family activities allowing the classroom lessons to extend to families as well. An evaluation of our program has been published in the peer-reviewed journal of Public Health Nutrition.

Lessons Cover

• The five food groups
• Main nutrients in foods, and their roles in the body
• How to read food labels
• Choosing appropriate serving sizes
• Choosing beverages low in added sugars
• Being physically active for 60 minutes each day

Program Materials

• Teacher’s guide and online resources, such as SmartBoard activities
• Student workbook
• Family homework activities
• Online training video for teachers

Evaluation Design

Twelve California teachers from San Diego to north of Sacramento volunteered to teach the updated five lessons with their students. The evaluation consisted of the following methods:

• 3rd Grade Surveys: Pre- and post-program surveys were used to gauge student knowledge of healthy eating and the MyPlate food groups. A total of 285 pre-assessments and 295 post-assessments were submitted electronically and 253 pre- and post-program surveys were successfully linked.
• Teacher Satisfaction Surveys: At the end of program implementation, teachers received an online survey to complete, which asked about implementation of the 3rd grade program as well as recommendations for improving the program. All 12 teachers completed the survey.
• Teacher Interviews: At the end of the 3rd grade program implementation, Dairy Council of CA staff conducted a one-on-one interview with each teacher to get a deeper understanding of how the lessons were implemented, what worked and what could be improved.

Key findings from research evaluating the program

• The program increased knowledge of the five food groups, main nutrients in foods, and for identifying breakfast and snack foods from the five food groups instead of foods high in empty calories. 
• The program improved children’s beliefs towards nutrition, and increased their confidence (self-efficacy) to eat healthy
• The program  reduced children’s  consumption of foods high in empty calories, such as cookies, candy, and sugar-sweetened beverages
• The program increased children’s consumption of  foods belonging to the five food groups, indicated by an increase in the intake of milk, vegetables, fruit, and 100% fruit juice 
• Almost 80% of teachers reported that they planned to re-order the materials the following school year

Results

Student Results

The 3rd grade pre- and post-program surveys were made up of 25 questions each. There was a statistically significant improvement in the percentage of children who correctly answered the questions between the pre- and post-program surveys for all the questions except one (identifying the food group of grapes, which improved from 93 percent to 95 percent).

Teacher Results

Lessons 1 and 3 received the highest overall satisfaction rating by the teachers and were considered the easiest to teach. For approval of lesson length, teachers rated Lesson 3 (Breakfast Blast) the highest.

In addition, teachers found the updated lessons:

• Easy for students to learn using the color charts and resource pages in the student workbooks.
  
• An effective and engaging way of promoting healthy eating using the simplified teacher guide.
• Strongly connected with Common Core State Standards, with excellent collaborative group work in each lesson.

Conclusions

Teachers reported that the updated 3rd grade program was effective in teaching students about nutrition and that the lessons were successful in achieving student learning objectives. The program was successful as evidenced by the significant improvement between pre- and post-program surveys of student knowledge on healthy eating. With the results of this pilot, updates were made to the program prior to its 2019 release.

View 3rd grade program materials, including online resources for educators.

About our studies

The 3rd grade curriculum was developed, tested, and refined in the 2009-2010 school year, and an evaluation of the program was conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California and Harder & Company Community Research, Inc during the 2010-2011 school year. Nearly 200,000 3rd grade students attending public elementary schools in California received the program that year. Fifty classrooms in California were randomly selected into either an Intervention or Control group in order to test whether the nutrition education lessons improved children’s nutrition knowledge, beliefs towards nutrition, and their healthy and unhealthy food consumption. Students were measured prior to participating in the program, after participating, and again three months later to test changes in important variables. 

Read the 3rd Grade Evaluation.

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