Background: Peer teaching to college students can be an effective method for improving knowledge and attitudes toward healthy eating. MyPlate and Su-perTracker tools are valuable resources for healthy meal planning. However, awareness and knowledge of these tools are necessary to effect change. Objective: To evaluate university students' knowledge and attitudes about the USDA's MyPlate icon and SuperTracker tools before and after peer teaching by a nutrition major. Design: Cross-sectional online pre and post-survey administered to participants before and after peer teaching. Participants/Setting: 264 mixed majors enrolled in First Year Experience (FYE) classes at a large university were peer taught by upper class undergraduate nutrition majors on a relevant nutrition topic in 20-minute presentations that featured MyPlate and Super-Tracker tools. Statistical analyses performed: Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) were used for categorical variables and parametric tests (independent paired t-test) were used for continuous variables. P < .05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The majority of participants were female (68.2%), freshmen (53.8%), white (83%), and non-nutrition majors (96.2%). Both males and females indicated favorable views towards the MyPlate icon post-presentation. From pre to post presentation, responses related to knowledge about portions (p < .001) and reminders to eat healthfully increased significantly (p < .001). After the presentation, 92.4% of students agreed that SuperTracker tools are useful for college students, and 88.6% thought they could benefit from using them. A confidential online survey was completed by the peer nutrition educators after their teaching experience. All who responded (14/16) indicated that their presentation skills improved as a result of the experience. Conclusion: Peer teaching
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.