SLP 2nd Grade, Greater Plains Elementary School

Madison Freeman, Alexandria Muller, Dietetics Students

Community Partner: Debra Harlem
Mary Ann Dowdell, Ph.D., RDN, CDN Faculty Advisor

Needs Assessment Intervention Methods Discussion

Methods: An interview was conducted with Mrs. • Completed on 4/5/17 at 9:00 a.m.
Harlem in order to gather more information about • In order to increase the student's acceptability of vegetables, a • Based on needs assessment children tended to
her classroom and her students, in order to presentation discussing the importance of eating vegetables of eat small selection of vegetables; based on the
determine any obvious problem among the intervention discussion, students had limited
students. Two surveys were then conducted among a variety of colors was delivered.
the students and their parents to determine • Following the presentation, the students were asked to knowledge and lack of exposure to wide variety
acceptability of fruits and vegetables, the amount of participate in a game where 5 vegetables (eggplant, red bell of vegetables.
physical activity students are getting, and screen pepper, zucchini, yellow tomatoes and carrots) were placed in • Children were responsive to the discussion and
time per day. participated in the lesson. Generally, they
brown paper bags, and students were asked to guess the
Results: The interview with Mrs. Harlem highlighted vegetable. expressed interest in the topic as well as
the best methods to teach the students, while the • After participating in the game, students could try the expanding their pallets.
student and parent needs assessment highlighted a • "Eating the Rainbow" presentation technique
general lack of acceptance and variety of vegetable vegetable in their raw form, and were then asked to rate the
vegetables on a hedonic scale. proved an effective way to engage the 2nd grade
consumption
students.
• Further education should be done to expand
Outcome Results
students' knowledge on vegetable preparation as
Goals and Objectives • Students who tried each of the vegetables were counted.
a means to further increase variety of intake.
• 86% of the students tried all 5 vegetable samples
After studying the results of the needs assessment, CONCLUSION
it became clear that the primary problem among Through utilization of an "Eat the Rainbow"
this target audience was low vegetable intake and presentation and mystery bag activity, 2nd grade
variety. The goal of the intervention was to increase students had an increased exposure to more unique
• Hedonic Scale rating of each vegetable based on following
acceptability and knowledge of a variety of vegetables. With an 86% sample rate, and a 56%
scale:
vegetables. likeability rate, the presented intervention had an
outcome objectives: overall positive impact on students and future
1) 75% of students will rate 75% of the vegetable acceptability of vegetables. Based on results the
samples positively intervention was highly effective as a nutrition
• 53% of students rated the vegetables positively
2) Students will try 75% of vegetables presented to education platform for increased vegetable intake.
following the intervention
them during the span of the intervention.