Building the Capacity of Classroom Teachers as Extenders of Nutrition Education through Extension: Evaluating a Professional Development Model

Linnell, Jessica D.; Zidenberg‐Cherr, Sheri; Scherr, Rachel E.; Smith, Martin H.

doi:10.54718/lxjk7332

Cited by 4 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Training for Classroom Teacher Extenders is more robust than training for SRTs because SRTs often have additional training in subject matter relevant to the health education topic (Kelder et al, 2003;Levine et al, 2002;Perry et al, 1997). Most professional development for Classroom Teacher Extenders consist of one or two days trainings, with some as short as a half day and others spread over the entire academic year (Kelder et al, 2003;Levine et al, 2002;Lewis et al, 2017;Linnell et al, 2018;Perry et al, 1997). In these professional development opportunities, researchers have utilized lesson modeling with curriculum and other support materials to achieve fidelity to the program procedures and improve likelihood of implementation (Auld et al, 1999;Levine et al, 2002;McKenzie et al, 2001;Sallis et al, 1997).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A well-structured program utilizing Classroom Teacher Extenders can reach many students, as children spend the majority of their time in a classroom (Briggs et al, 2010;Kraak et al, 2005;Prevention & Glickman, 2012). Although the setting is ideal, classroom teachers have extensive barriers to supporting education and programming that is not required for testing, including limited time, program cost, lack of background knowledge, and lack of institutional support (Bice et al, 2014;Levine et al, 2002;Linnell et al, 2018;Prelip et al, 2006;Smith et al, 1993).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Undergraduate students who participated in the internship attended an immersive, threeday training in Davis, CA, modeled from a previously tested professional development model (Bergman et al, 2018;Linnell et al, 2018;Scherr et al, 2020), that focused on building capacity to teach an inquiry-based, food literacy curriculum designed for adolescents. The curriculum, which was based off a successful multi-component program model (Scherr et al, 2017), includes gardening and cooking as well as nutrition and food system education.…”

Section: Sample and Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite ongoing development of increasingly complex evidence-based health promotion programs by researchers, few of these programs successfully diffuse from the evaluation phase into practice (Osganian et al, 2003). Efforts to broaden the reach of these programs to serve more students have been met with countless challenges (Jones & Zidenberg-Cherr, 2015;Linnell et al, , 2018Radtke et al, submitted;Ruiz et al, 2020;Scherr et al, 2020). In response to limited funding and staff, local organizations have turned to classroom teachers to help support health education initiatives in the classroom (Auld et al, 1999;Kelder et al, 2003;Levine et al, 2002;Lewis et al, 2017;Mcgraw & Sellers, 1996;McKenzie et al, 2001;Parcel et al, 2003;Radtke et al, submitted;Scherr et al, 2020;Smith et al, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In response to limited funding and staff, local organizations have turned to classroom teachers to help support health education initiatives in the classroom (Auld et al, 1999;Kelder et al, 2003;Levine et al, 2002;Lewis et al, 2017;Mcgraw & Sellers, 1996;McKenzie et al, 2001;Parcel et al, 2003;Radtke et al, submitted;Scherr et al, 2020;Smith et al, 1993). Despite efforts to train classroom teachers to deliver education related to nutrition, cooking, and other health-related subjects, a multitude of barriers stand in the way of teacher success, including lack of adequate instructional time, knowledge, a paucity of materials and mounting pressures to focus on core subjects that will be tested in state exams (Arnold & Schreiber, 2012;Auld et al, 1999;Bice et al, 2014;Graham & Zidenberg-Cherr, 2005;Jones & Zidenberg-Cherr, 2015;Kelder et al, 2003;Levine et al, 2002;Lewis et al, 2017;Linnell et al, , 2018Prelip et al, 2006;Scherr et al, 2013Scherr et al, , 2020Smith et al, 1993). In California, nutrition education is not mandated and infrastructure support for health education or physical activity specialist positions that serve physical activity, physical education, and nutrition are the exception and not the rule (Bice et al, 2014;Levine et al, 2002;Prelip et al, 2006;Scherr et al, 2020;Smith et al, 1993).This evidence prompted the exploration of alternative avenues for delivery of programs that teach nutrition, cooking, physical activity, and other health-related subjects, which is the foundation of this thesis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connecting Undergraduates and Adolescents through Food Literacy: Development of a Cross-age Teaching, Service-Learning Internship

Gerdes¹

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Undergraduate students (n=15) from two universities attended a three-day workshop in Year 1 of the program on learner-centered, experiential education and inquiry-based facilitation strategies.Undergraduates engaged in experiential professional development by observing and facilitating lessons from the learner-centered curriculum Teens CAN: Comprehensive Food Literacy in Cooking, Agriculture, and Nutrition (L. D. Ruiz et al., 2021). Undergraduates participated in a two-tiered, cross-age teaching service-learning project (SLP) to deliver food literacy education to adolescents in two school districts in California. Results indicate that fidelity for all lesson components exceeded the 80% threshold associated with measurable student outcomes. Average fidelity of lesson implementation was 96%. Furthermore, the five lesson observers had high agreement with an inter-rater reliability of 0.94. After the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the project pivoted virtually. Utilizing the lesson study design of professional development, undergraduate participants (n=12) from two universities participated in a yearlong servicelearning project to develop online enhancements for the Teens CAN curriculum. Undergraduate participants self-reported that the SLP improved their confidence in professional collaboration and communication. Participants self-reported that they applied their improved skills in communication, collaboration, and feedback into their other courses, and that the SLP was a novel experience that prepared them for job acquisition post-graduation. v

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sample and Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connecting Undergraduates and Adolescents through Food Literacy: Development of a Cross-age Teaching, Service-Learning Internship

Gerdes¹

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Assessing the Effectiveness of an Extender Model Partnership in Implementing a Multicomponent, School-Based Nutrition Intervention

Scherr

Jones

Colorafi

et al. 2020

Health Promotion Practice

Self Cite

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Childhood obesity continues to be a problem of national concern; school-based obesity prevention programs that incorporate nutrition education are among the efforts to address this issue. Implementation of these programs is often conducted through partner agencies like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed). As educators within these agencies have limited time and many schools qualify for programming, developing programs that extend reach by partnering with classroom teachers to deliver nutrition education is critical. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of a teacher extender model compared with direct nutrition education from trained staff using the research-tested, evidence-based Shaping Healthy Choices Program. Data collected as part of this evaluation in intervention and control groups included nutrition knowledge, body mass index percentile, and vegetable identification in youth; lesson fidelity observations and feasibility from teachers; and demographics from parents. Overall, unequal within variances did not allow for the statistical power to detect change. Generally, teachers enjoyed the program but found it too time-consuming to implement. While results were unclear, important lessons were learned regarding the implementation of extender programs warranting further research. Overall, this study aligns with others in the literature that indicate time is a major barrier to implementing nutrition education in the classroom. This study underscores the need for policy mandating nutrition education in schools.

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Training to Teach: Exploring the Feasibility of Service-Learning Projects to Prepare Undergraduate Learners to Be Community Health Educators

Gerdes,

Jones,

Fetter

et al. 2023

Trends in Higher Education

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Undergraduate learners are ideal candidates for participation in service-learning projects, which allow learners to apply course concepts in a community setting where both the university and community benefit. In pre-health fields, undergraduate students can serve as teachers for concepts such as food literacy. This study examined whether a rigorous virtual professional development model would improve self-efficacy of undergraduate participants to teach food literacy to adolescents. A purposive sampling of participants (n = 12) from two universities participated in a yearlong virtual service-learning project and a community of practice professional development model. Tasks included virtual lesson modeling and virtual development of short, learner-centered activities for an adolescent food literacy curriculum. Informal interviews were conducted at the end of the academic year. Participants reported that the virtual service-learning project connected to their coursework, improved their confidence and professional communication, and was a safe space for growing their teaching practice. Findings were not generalizable due to the small n and purposive sampling, and participants were unable to teach adolescents during the pandemic. The service-learning project may be transferable to local health departments as there is a demonstrated need of alternative implementation models for health education interventions.

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Building the Capacity of Classroom Teachers as Extenders of Nutrition Education through Extension: Evaluating a Professional Development Model

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Connecting Undergraduates and Adolescents through Food Literacy: Development of a Cross-age Teaching, Service-Learning Internship

Connecting Undergraduates and Adolescents through Food Literacy: Development of a Cross-age Teaching, Service-Learning Internship

Assessing the Effectiveness of an Extender Model Partnership in Implementing a Multicomponent, School-Based Nutrition Intervention

Training to Teach: Exploring the Feasibility of Service-Learning Projects to Prepare Undergraduate Learners to Be Community Health Educators

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