The State University of New Yorkproposal

The State University of New York At Potsdam LUNCHES SERVED IN SCHOOLS By Shannon Bryant And Donald Brown A Thesis Submitted to the faculty of Education In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Masters of Science in Education Potsdam, New York 23-July, 2007 This thesis entitled LUNCHES SERVED IN SCHOOLS By Shannon Bryant and Donald Brown Has been approved for the Department of Education _ Advisor _ _ Department Chair _ The final copy of the above mentioned thesis has been examined by the signatories and found to meet acceptable standards for scholarly work in the discipline in both forms and content PERMISSION TO COPY I grant The State of New York College at Potsdam the non-exclusive right to use this work for the University’s own purposes and to make single copies of the work available to the public on a not-for-profit basis if copies are not otherwise available Shannon Bryant _ Date Donald Brown _ Date Abstract Nutritional meals and knowledge of nutrition are two weapons needed to fight the battle on school lunches Healthy menus play a significant role in training the minds of our future Nutritional meals have been shown to improve student academic performance Several school systems around the nation are taking strides towards making the meals served more suitable to students Money, quality of the product, and children’s attitudes need to be addressed in order for change Change will not happen over night; therefore, we should not sweep the problem under the rug Teachers, as well as parents, need to take an active role in encouraging and teaching good nutritional eating values CHAPTER Statement of problem: The menu choices in school cafeterias vary greatly across both public and parochial schools “Lunch menus are designed around the demands of taste conscious children who know little and care less about nutrition” (Bushweller, 1993, p.2) Students have a choice in what they select to eat for lunch Quite often these choices are not of a great nutritional value “Cafeterias are selling unhealthy choices along with healthy ones To state it bluntly, I don’t believe most schools are a safe nutrition environment” (Vail, ¶ 16) Purpose of study: The purpose of this study is to examine the menu options in two schools in the North Country One is an elementary parochial school and the other is a public high school It is through this study that the researchers hope to include healthier menu options during school lunches Research question: The following research question will guide this study: How can schools justify serving a numerous amount of non-nutritional food to their students? Rationale: In this research on the nutritional value of school lunches the importance of school lunches the importance of healthier lunches does effect the brain The amount of folic acid intake effects how children function Folic acid is part of the vitamin called “B complex” and in needed in unborn children and children to prevent birth defects of life threatening disease Researchers believe that folic acid is important to have for the health of developing babies This vitamin will help prevent the child being born with Spina Bifida Folic acid also helps keep our blood healthy and can help keep a healthy heart The recommended daily dosages for folic acid are as follows: children under 1years old should have 50 micrograms, children 1-3 years of age should have 70 micrograms, children 4-6 years of age should have 100 micrograms, children 7-10 years of age should have 150 micrograms and teenagers and adults should have 200 micrograms a day We can see that folic acid does help prevent serious birth defects or illness Folic acid is found in a lot of different foods Knowing the amount of intake of folic acid a child should have will help with this study The food that schools serve should have the recommended dosage of folic acid in it to help the child live a healthier life Assumptions: The following assumptions will be made during this study: Teachers need and want to involve themselves and their students in a democratic process (Mills, 2007) Teachers want to develop a community of learners Teachers want to achieve their full potential as well as the potential of their students Autonomy of the teacher researcher who can determine the nature of the investigation to be taken Teachers are committed to the continued professional development and school improvement Teacher researchers want to reflect on the practices Teacher researchers will choose their own area of focus, determine their data collection techniques, analyze and interpret their data, and develop action plans based on their findings Definition of terms: The following definitions will apply to this study: Action plan: This is any systematic inquiry that is conducted by a teacher researcher or other stakeholders in education Assumptions: Challenges that are taken for granted of a daily classroom setting and presents truths that are relative, conditional, and situational and based on the previous experiences Conformability: Any neutrality or objectivity of the data that has been collected Credibility: The researchers’ ability to take into account the complexities that will present during a study and to deal with issues that are not easily explained Some examples would be peer debriefing, triangulation, collection of documents and member checks.) Data Analysis: An attempt by the researcher to summarize the collected data into a dependable and accurate manner Dependability: The stability of the data that is collected in a study Generalizability: With in the community that is being studied and settings that were not studied by the researcher Informed consent: The principle that seeks to ensure that the human subjects of the study retain autonomy and the ability to judge for themselves what risks are worth taking for the purpose of furthering scientific knowledge Reliability: The degree of a test that consistently measures whatever it entails to measure Triangulation: The numerous amounts of sources for the data collection Validity: This is how the researcher knows that the data collected will accurately gauge what they were trying to measure Limitations: This study will be limited by the following limitations: This research is limited to one parochial and one public school in the North Country This research will be limited to the lunch menu served on the day of the observations This research will be limited by time because school is only in session for one more month Delimitations: This study will be further defined by the following delimitations: The theories for this research will draw primarily from Lev Vygotsky (1926) and the theories of Jerome Bruner (1966) The guidelines from the USDA defining what constitutes a nutritional meal This research will only examine and benefit the students at Canton Central and Holy Family in Malone Methodologies: Methodology for this research is action research as described by Mills Mills (2007) says action research is any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers, principles, school counselors, or other stakeholders in the teaching/ learning environment to gather information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach, and how well their students learn This information is gathered with the goals of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, 10 effecting positive changes in the school environment (and on educational practices in general), and improving students outcomes and the lives of those involved Summary: A problem in school cafeterias across the Northern New York and across the country is the nutritional value of the meals served Schools need to evaluate the meals served and make a conscious effort to better the nutritional quality of said meals Several rationales pertaining to the need for nutritional change are discussed The definitions provided will help people better understand research on the nutritional value of meals The limitations to researching are time, the number of schools being observed, and the fact that lunch will be the only meal researched The theories of Lev Vygotsky (1926) and Jerome Bruner (1966) will aid in the research of school lunches The goal of the research is to benefit the two schools being researched The methodology for the research was borrowed from Mills (2007) The methodology is also the way researchers go about collecting the data 30 L1= Line 1, L2= Line 2, L3= Line 3, etc P1= Principal CSD1= Canton Central District The following categories began to emerge during analysis of the data: Category 1: For the school lunches, what did students not eat? Fruit was a strong theme across all grade levels; peaches (C1, L1), apples (C2, L1 & C5, L2), pears (C4, L2) and oranges (C5, L5) A second theme that was beginning to emerge was garlic bread (C3, L2 & C5, L6) The researchers note that one questionnaire stated that the bread was burnt Because of this information the researchers believe this to be an anomaly Category 2: What is for lunch today? In the parochial school the classroom teachers observed on two different days On day one the children had a choice of spaghetti with meat sauce, French bread pizza, milk (white, chocolate, or strawberry), sandwich wrap, chef salad or yogurt Each student had to take some oranges or an apple On day two the choice was macaroni and cheese, tater tots, canned pears, hot turkey sandwich with gravy, sandwich wrap, chef salad and a choice of milk This indicates choices for the students to choose everyday Category 3: For the school lunches, what did the students eat? Spaghetti without sauce was the most popular for the students (C12, L1 & C11, L3) Another theme that emerged in this category was chocolate milk Students mostly chose to drink chocolate milk (C11, L2 & C14, L4) There 31 was one teacher who observed on day two lunch day From this group all the students but one ate the entire hot turkey sandwich (C15, L1 & L2) Category 4: What did students bring from home to eat for lunch? A constant theme in this category is that most students brought a sandwich for lunch The sandwiches consisted of ham (C 20, L 1), peanut butter (C 20, L & C19, L2), turkey (C19, L 1), and bologna (C19, L3 & C16, L2) Another important theme in this category is that students brought in fresh fruit or vegetables (C19, L1, L2 & C 18, L1 & C 17, L4 & C16, L5) Category 5: What did the students eat from the lunches brought from home? A reoccurring theme in this category is that apart from scraps, everything that was brought from home was eaten by the students Category 6: What did the students throw away when finished with their lunches from home? The only theme in this category is that the crust from sandwiches was thrown away (C28, L1 & C30, L1) Category 7: Notes from the teachers The first theme in this category is that students who had to buy lunch ate mostly everything and liked what they ate (C 34, L1 & C35, L1) An interesting comment from one student said that school lunches are cheaper that is why they always buy (C 31, L1) Category 8: Notes from the principal and Canton School District 32 A theme that emerged in the data from both schools is that the students have different opinions and choices Yogurt was a theme that was seen in both schools For the whole month, Canton only sold eleven yogurts (CSD, L 28) At Holy Family students have this option everyday and only one student chose to eat yogurt (C11, L8) After speaking with the principal of Holy Family, she chooses to not eat the school lunches unless in a hurry (P, L1) She feels that the school lunches are not appealing and are of one color (P, L4 & L5) After comparing the data concerning lunches from the principal of Malone and the lunch personnel at CSD, the following similarities and dissimilarities began to emerge At Canton Central the student’s most popular menu is the pizza or submarine sandwich (CSD, L9) As seen in the above categories the pizza was chosen but not one of the most popular choices Another difference was the hot turkey sandwich At Canton this is one of the least favorite for the students (CSD, L 11) Discussion of the Research Question: The research question that guided this study was: How can schools justify serving a numerous amount on non-nutritional food to their students? The teacher researchers wanted to study this question for numerous reasons As future teachers we notice how obesity plays a major role in the health of students School food choices were the first place the researchers chose to look because students get most of their meals at school The teacher researchers decided to 33 gather important information that might assist the health problem by encouraging the schools to include the food choices that are healthier Implications for Future Instructional Practices: The following are implication for future instructional practices: The teacher researchers need to find out more information about why the lunch programs in schools decide to serve what they do? The teacher researchers will need to interview and discuss the lunch programs with the head of the lunch programs Research Recommendations: The following are research recommendations for the future: Nutrition needs to be discussed in the classrooms A curriculum or unit will need to be made to help students realize the importance of nutrition The teacher researchers need to talk with administration about why they choose the lunch program that they have in the school system The teacher researcher needs to set up a website that will allow parents and students to read about nutrition This website will be a great place for students and parents to download and print off some information about the importance of nutrition Summary: After conducting this research, the teacher researchers found several categories or themes throughout the data gathered The school lunches in both schools were similar in the fact that they attract the students due to the many 34 choice options Most students tend to choose to eat the fatty snack foods before they eat the healthier fruit and vegetables Since the teacher researcher collected and analyzed the data, now they can set out and develop an action plan This action plan would be to help school districts change or include healthier choices for their students 35 Reference List Buchanan, B (2005) Getting to wellness An American School Board Journal [on-line] Available: http://www/asbj.com/wellness/s1.html Burghardt JA, Devaney B Background of the school nutrition dietary assessment Am J Clin Nutr 1995; 61(suppl): 178s-181s Bushweller, K (1193) Noontime nutrition The American School Board Journal, 180, 31-34 Bushweller, K (1994) Health on the menu The American School Board Journal, 181, 38-40 Christie, K (2003) Even students are what they eat Phi Delta Kappna, 85 (5), 341-42 Frazee, Carol, James, Delores, Rienzo, Barbera (1996) Using focus: Group interviews to understand school menu/choices Journal of School Health, 66 (4), 128-131 Harris, K (2002) The USDA school lunch program: new approaches to meeting the demands of child health and nutrition in the 21st century Clearing House, 75 (6), 310-11 Mills, G (2007) Action research a guide for the teacher researcher (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall (2005, September 20) Model wellness policy Retrieval date April 7, 2007, from 36 Montana Office of Public Instruction web site: http://www.opi.mt.gov/pdf/schoolfood/SDwellnesspolicy(11-05).pdf Vail, K (2004) Raising the salad bar on obesity Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 69, 45-51 37 Appendix A The following is the audit trail for Shannon Bryant: Friday, March 16th: Today was my first class for educational Research I was so nervous I believe I was nervous because the end of my college career is coming to an end In a few months I will have my thesis proposal completed I will then start working on collecting the data to complete my thesis When our class was done I was ready to dig in and start working on my proposal Saturday, March 17th: Day of class We got more notes on what to and not to with our educational research We were given time to work with our partner and search for journal articles My partner is Donald, Rob, Brown and we decided to a proposal on the lunches served in schools Sunday, March 18th: Time to some work I started working on the CITI Program online I have to complete this program before I am allowed to any research This information was similar to our class this pass weekend Their was also some information that was more in depth and useful to me Monday, March 19th: I finished the CITI Program I am glad it is done so now I can work on the fun stuff Tuesday, March 20th: Today I worked on our outline I started typing up a rough draft There are a few things I am unsure of, hopefully Rob will know I realized that meetings with Dr Valentine for clarifications will improve our proposal 38 Thursday, March 22nd: Tonight I read articles on lunches in schools I took important notes on them and wrote summaries on the articles Friday, March 23rd: Tonight I typed up my summaries Tomorrow Rob and I will meet at the Crumb library in Potsdam I will need to ask him about the rough draft outline that I typed, his articles, citing references and when to meet again Saturday, March 24th: Rob and I met at 9:00 at SUNY Potsdam We saw that the Crumb library didn’t open until 10:00 so we went over to the Saterlee Hall student lounge We talked about the outline that I have started and made some corrections We also discussed our articles and how we will use them At 10:00 we headed over to the library We soon realized that the library was closed for spring break We laughed and set up our next meeting Sunday, March 25th: Today I worked on definition of terms for our proposal When I completed it I worked on the rest of my journal article summaries Saturday, March 31st: This morning I worked on our proposal some more I started typing in the definitions of terms that would be useful for our proposal Sunday, April 1st: Today I worked on the rest of the terms I also worked on citing our work I have never used APA format; it was definitely confusing and took some time to get use to Monday, April 2nd: Today I met with Dr Valentine and Rob at SUNY Potsdam We sat down to discuss our draft for our proposal and the journal articles I found that Dr Valentine was very helpful and useful to us She helped 39 us organize our journal articles into categories When I walked out from our meeting I felt so much relief knowing we were on the right path Tonight I did more research for journal articles Dr Valentine told us to try and find more articles on the USDA and medical aspect of nutrition I found a great topic to discuss; The Model Wellness Policy I believe this is another category we will be able to add to our review of literature (journal articles) Tuesday, April 3rd: Tonight I worked on fixing our outline Dr Valentine showed me things that needed to be centered and changed Then I started reading my journal articles I worked on the review of literature for our first category Wednesday, April 4th: Tonight I read more journal articles This information is very interesting I then worked on typing up my review of literature for the third category Friday, April 6th: Today I read the article that I found on the Model Wellness Policy I found that a couple of journal articles were of no use to our proposal Saturday, April 7th: Rob emailed me yesterday stating he couldn’t make it to our meeting We re-schedule for Tuesday at 10:00 at the Crumb Library in Potsdam Monday, April 9th: Today I worked more on my review of literature and journal articles I can’t wait to meet with Dr Valentine to see how much progress we have made I started working on our power point for our presentation 40 Tuesday, April 10th: Rob and I me at the library in Potsdam We worked on our proposal We went over our journal articles and decided what to put in for out entries Saturday, April 14th: I had class with Dr Valentine today After our class I went to her office and she helped me with our limitations and delimitations Thursday, April 19th: Tonight I typed in the limitations, delimitations, Rob’s summary of the journal articles and our reference list Friday, April 20th: Tonight Rob and I met with Dr Valentine at Jefferson Community College We discussed our whole proposal Dr Valentine was so helpful Monday, April 23rd: Rob and I met today to discuss what our next step would be We decided on different tasks each other would and when we would meet again to check on each others work We also worked on our power point for our presentation Sunday, April 29th: Today I worked on typing up our proposal and making all the changes that Dr Valentine made on our outline I also worked on our power point Wednesday, May 2nd: Today Rob and I met with Dr Valentine We schedule this meeting to make sure that we have no holes in our proposal and that our presentation is ready for Friday The following is the audit trail for Donald Brown: March 16th: We selected a topic for our proposal project We chose to look at school lunches We 41 took several notes as to what procedures to use We also selected partner’s top share the work load March 17th: We dedicated our class time to information on how to use the electronic library to acquire information on our proposal topic The rest of the day was used to locate articles that pertain to our topic March 19th-23rd: I read and reviewed the articles from the internet search I spent much of the time highlighting the important information I also made notes on what was pertinent to out topic March 24th: I met with my partner, Shannon, on campus today We were supposed to work in the library, but the library was closed due to spring break This was a minor inconvenience Even though we weren’t able to use the library, we were able to meet in an open room in another building We talked about the information gathered and shared ideas about the proposal March 26th-30th: We e-mailed Dr Valentine about certain question and problems we were having The feedback she gave us was very helpful We like the fact that we could ask her any question and she is willing to share her ideas with us April 2nd: Shannon and I met with Dr Valentine in her office We worked with her on the literature review Sr Valentine helped us categorize our articles into three different headlines At the end of the meeting we were more informed as what needed to be done 42 April 3rd-7th: I spent several days reading the material again and taking more notes I was able to locate new information and added it to the literature review April 8th-14th: I worked for several days reviewing the literature and writing my portion of the proposal concerning the lunches being served in schools I met with Shannon on the 10th to share information each of us had come up with We spent hours working on the bibliography and how to cite the information in the proposal I received her part of the literature review, combined with my portion and wrote a summary of the literature review April 16th: I e-mailed my portion of the literature review and the summary to Shannon for her to put them in the proposal April 23rd: Shannon and I met at the library to work on our proposal We went over the outline that she corrected and the power point for our presentation May 2nd: Today we met with Dr Valentine at her office We scheduled this meeting to make sure that we were ready for our presentation on Friday 43 44 ... COPY I grant The State of New York College at Potsdam the non-exclusive right to use this work for the University? ??s own purposes and to make single copies of the work available to the public on... a community of learners Teachers want to achieve their full potential as well as the potential of their students Autonomy of the teacher researcher who can determine the nature of the investigation... the lives of those involved Summary: A problem in school cafeterias across the Northern New York and across the country is the nutritional value of the meals served Schools need to evaluate the