A research about the effectiveness of the nutritional education given by different methods to the fourth and fifth graders at primary schools

IV ABSTRACT The research has been carried out over the 73 students of Altındağ Şair Nedim primary School which is controlled by the Ministery of National Education in order to determine the effects of nutrition education given to the fourth and fifth graders in primaery schools by different methods on the student's knowledge, attitude and habits. The inquiry prepared by the researcher to collect data is used as a pre - test and the student's present attitudes and related information are determined. Then, the students are separated into three groups as a presentation method group, an integrated method group and a control group. For the students in presentation method group, the brochures prepared by the researcher are distributed and they are given oral education for six weeks. As for the students who constitute the integrated method group, applied education including various activites perpared by the researcher like stories, songs, puzzles and acrostic along with brochures is given throughout a six week period. For the control group as the last group of the research, no education is given. The inquiry used as a pre - test is applied for the three groups as a final test and the student's knowledge and attitude after the education is measured. After four mounths have passed from the time the final test is applied the same testis applied as a follow - up test to determine the durability of educational methods and the student's knowledge and attitude are measured. For evaluating the data, programme called 10.0 for Windows SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences) is used; t - test, test of importance are applied and their numerical values and percentages are calculated. To determine the difference between the groups occurred after the pre - test, final - test and follow - up test, p<0.05 level of importance is used. On the one hand, the difference between the presentation and integrated methods in terms of the result of pre - test, final - test and follow - up test is found statistically meaningful (p< 0.05); on the other hand, for the students in the control grup, the difference between the result of the pre - test, final - test and follow test is not found statistically meaningful (p>0.05). According to the data gathered from the pre-test, 52.9% of the students in presentation group, 10.7% of the ones inintegrated method group and 27.3% of those in control group pass over having their breakfast. 55.6% of the students in presentation group, 67.9% of the ones in integrated method group and 50,0% of those in control group indicate that the reason why they ignore having breakfast is because they just don't want to. When the groups are evaluated in terms of their habits of toothbrushing, despite the fact that according to the data gathered from the pre-test, 24% of the students in the presentation group, 10.7% of the students in the integrated group, 15.8% of those in the control group have the habit of regular toothbrushing; in the last test, 32.0% of the students in the presentation group, 39.3% of the students in the integrated group and 15.0% of those in the control group express that they have the habit of regular toothbrushing. Although it is indicated that as for the groups on which the presentation and integrated techniques are applied, the statistical difference between the nutritional information points of the pre, on and follow-up tests is crucial (p<0.05), as for the control group it is determined that the statistical difference between the points of pre, on and follow-up tests is not important (p> 0.05). In addition to this, because education is a dynamic process and the conditions are constantly changing, to help the students in every age group adapt to these changes and impnouements in the field of nutrition, several possibilites are suggested for giving individuals nutrition education starting from the school age. Key Words : Nutrition in School Age, Nutrition Education, Nutrition Behavior, Methods of Education.