An evaluation of five lessons from Discover MyPlate : an inquiry-based nutrition education curriculum for kindergarten students

Discover MyPlate, a nutrition education curriculum for kindergarten students, was published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in June 2014. This study measured the impact of five 30-minute nutrition education lessons from Discover MyPlate on the nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and healthy eating behaviors of kindergarten students in a rural, Midwestern school district. Students were given a pre-assessment survey that measured specific constructs from Discover MyPlate. The lessons were taught in two of four kindergarten classes (treatment group); the remaining two classes served as the control group. After the intervention, all kindergarten students were given the post-assessment and their parents were asked to complete a survey to measure perceived changes in their child’s eating patterns in the previous month. Results indicated treatment group students were significantly more likely to acknowledge what is a food group (p<0.001), state the number of food groups (p<0.001), give the names of each food group (p<0.001), identify the MyPlate logo (p<0.001), and assign foods to their corresponding food group (p<0.001). No significant differences were noted between the control and treatment groups regarding the parents’ observations of any changes in their child’s eating behaviors. Overall, Discover MyPlate was effective for teaching children about healthy eating, but, no evidence was obtained to indicate eating behaviors were immediately affected.