Hosted by SALL , contributed by teacher22 on 9 May 2024
An introductory video about diet in ancient times.
Background
Pupils do not generally follow a balanced diet either at school or at home. They tend to adopt unhealthy eating habits due to their fast moving pace of daily lifestyle. They prefer easy-to -buy or make snacks, that are not either nutritional or healthy.These eating habits can be proven detrimental for their wellbeing as well as development, as children should have a minimum intake of a variety of nutritional elements. This variety can only be achieved by following balanced diet patterns, such as the traditional Mediterranean Diet. An introduction to a balanced diet has been made through Skills Lab, where pupils are acquainted with the basics regarding healthy eating habits.
In the following activities, pupils are encouraged to learn more about the Mediterranean Diet, where meals are built based on vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, beans and whole grains. Moderate portions of dairy, poultry and eggs are part of the Mediterranean diet, as is seafood. In contrast, red meat is rarely eaten. They also learn more about the food groups as well as the nutritional elements that each food group contains. Pupils will realise the importance of healthy eating habits in their daily life for their wellbeing and proper development.
Aim
- To raise awareness about the importance of Mediterranean Diet.
- To promote healthy eating habits.
- To inform about the food groups available.
- To elaborate more on nutritional elements.
Co-creation with societal actors
A local organisation that is engaged with Nutrition and Healthy Eating Habits has been collaborating with our school in order to help us create an educational program for pupils aged 6-7 years old, so as to promote the Mediterranean Diet. A dietician/nutritionist that collaborates with the aforementioned organisation is the one responsible for the scientific background of the project, as he is the one helping us how to address this important issue to children. The set up of the project has taken about 3 months.
Implementation
The issue of healthy eating habits was selected among others because pupils at our school followed a rather unhealthy eating lifestyle. As a school community, we came up with different ideas on how to cope with this problem. The one that intrigued us the most was the Mediterranean Diet Lifestyle, because the basic principles of this diet can help a person build healthy eating patterns and simultaneously nurture himself properly. We collaborated with an organisation that promotes healthy eating habits and we created a project with playful activities for children with the aim of raising awareness about the Mediterranean Diet and the shifting from fast, unhealthy eating to a more healthy and nutritional one. The project was implemented in two classes of six -year-old pupils with remarkable results. As a first phase, we wanted to address the issue to our pupils. For this reason, an introductory video about the importance of mediterranean diet is viewed. Pupils are encouraged to discuss the issues being addressed in the video. They are asked whether they know about the mediterranean diet and the impact on their health and the environment. Into the community, the pupils are taken to a local organisation that develops activities based on the mediterranean diet and generally healthy nutrition with the aid of a nutritionist- specialist on mediterranean diet. The characteristics of the healthy eating and wellbeing are stressed along with the nutritional value of each food group. A registration form is used in order to interview the nutritionist about the value and characteristics of mediterranean diet. Back in the classroom, a discussion is held about the new information obtained along with educative activities, such as a quiz based on knowledge on healthy eating and the execution of a recipe based on olive oil and honey, the basic elements of healthy nutrition. The quiz is the: https://wordwall.net/el/resource/73876601 . The co-creation process entails the organisation of a meeting with the responsible of the school canteen in order to inform him about the healthy products that could include in the menu, as well as the organisation of a shared lunch for the school community based on the mediterranean diet. Information could be also gathered about local food products of each region of Greece. As a prototype, we could construct the map of Greece, in which students could stick pictures of different products that each region produces.
Reflection
The living lab project implementation was accompanied with success, as the pupils were acquainted with the Mediterranean Diet, the healthy eating patterns. This process made them also realise the unhealthy eating habits that they had so far and how they could change them. The school community also benefited from this project, as the school canteen served only healthy snacks which contributed further to the additional future value of the living lab project. The feedback from the pupils was very positive, as they were very excited with the idea of healthy eating, nutrition and how healthy eating promoted their development and wellbeing. All the phases worked really well and no problem throughout the process was detected. A questionnaire was distributed to students about the evaluation of the program they participated. A questionnaire was also completed by the teacher who coordinated the program.
Futurel Plans
As a successful future plan, we, as a school community, intend to repeat it during the next school year and further develop it to include a more vast age range (6-12 years old). We also intend to further develop it in order to include minor living lab projects about the honey and olive oil in pupils' daily diet.
