HEALTHY ROLE MODELING IN
SCIENCE & HEALTH CLASSROOMS
Including Nutrition Education
Nutrition Ed in Science Preschoolers
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Plants give us food.
Healthy foods give us energy and make us
strong!
Nutrition Ed in Science & Health Elementary School
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Information about plants and farming.
Use MyPlate as a tool to introduce healthy
foods.
Compare and contrast foods that people
eat vs. foods that animals eat, food that
plants eat, food that fish eat, etc.
Elementary Students, cont.

Let students become the teachers
 Host
a small nutrition/physical activity-related
science fair
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Healthy foods provide more efficient “fuel”
for the body
Discuss what a calorie is and how many are
burned in different activities
Nutrition Ed in Science & Health Middle/High School
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Grow a garden or help younger children
start a garden
Nutrition relating to human anatomy &
physiology, cell growth & development, etc.
Middle/High School Students,
cont.

Explore how unhealthy foods can affect the
body
 Weight
 Heart
disease
 Cancer
 High cholesterol
 High blood pressure
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Calorie discussion and activity
Cooking activities in chemistry
Calorie Activity
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Definition of a calorie
How many calories are in some fast foods?
How much activity does it take to burn half
the calories you consume?
Food Safety

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Fits easily into science classes for all grade
levels
Young children – learning the importance of
hand washing
Older students – Types of foodborne illness
and how to prevent them
Fight Bac! campaign from
Partnership for Food Safety
Education
Including Physical Activity
Physical Activity in Science Preschoolers

The body and its parts
 Benefits
of exercise (strong bones & muscles,
etc.).
 Demonstrate body movements
 Hands-on lessons and
“experiments”
 Gardening activities
 Activity’s effect on the body
Preschoolers, cont.

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Have students demonstrate their favorite
sports/activities.
Discuss how it is good to move and not sit at
a TV or computer for too long
Physical Activity in Science & Health –
Elementary School
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When learning about the body, talk about
exercise and how it affects the body (bones,
muscles, etc.).
Watch muscles shorten to lift an object or
bend a joint.
Feel muscles lengthen during a stretch.
Elementary Students, cont.
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Discuss calories with students. What are they and
how does our body use calories?
Make it real: compare different activities
(walking, jumping, stair-climbing, etc.) to show
how muscles have to work harder in
some activities than others.
Elementary Students, cont.

Hold a nutrition/physical activity-related
science fair.
Physical Activity in Science & Health –
Middle/High School
Talk about it…
 Discuss the physiology of exercise and how
it affects the body.
 Talk about the definition of a calorie and
how many calories are burned doing
different activities.
 Explore how sedentary behaviors can affect
the body (weight control, chronic disease,
etc.).
Middle/High School, cont.
…Then get moving!
 Build “human molecules”
 Mimic the movements of planets/moons in
the solar system
 Get outside!
 Make up an anatomy dance
Middle/High School, cont.
Explore how sedentary behaviors can affect
the body
 Weight control
 Chronic disease, etc.