I wasn't sure how to best select the actual issue that we were going to investigate further. Initially I was going to take a class vote, but as we were discussing the three issues before the vote,1. Deportation & Immigration, 2. Child Labor in the United States, 3.Identifying consumption trends of fresh food and causes, the students passionately spoke about wanting to learn more about fresh foods and how they help the body. Even though I already knew that they expressed a deep interest in the topic of foods, we democratically voted on an issue. My predictions were right and they ended up picking the issue on accessibility of fresh foods and their Social Action Project. They were curious to learn more about the relationship their body had with food. I figured this would be the vehicle I would use to get them to first analyze their eating habits, importance of nutrition and then look at the systemic reasons as to why they are eating more or less of certain foods.
I think that learning further about this topic could help them make healthier food choices which is a life skill. In addition, they will gain the experience of identifying an issue and working towards change! Now that the students had finally decided on a topic, it was time for me to start researching information. I am not sure what direction we are going to go, but I feel that once we go through the learning stage I will get a better sense of where students are in their thought process and then identify possible action steps.
May 4, 2012 -
After over a month investigating nutrition and health the students were able to identify a more specific issue within the field of nutrition that they wanted to take action on. After analyzing our food consumption data, taking pictures and observational notes on school meals, and learning about the body/food relationship, the students agreed that they were not eating enough fruits or vegetables. As a result they want a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables within their school meals to choose from. Their action steps will be to work towards increasing the amounts of fruit and vegetable choices they have at school. :)
