Measuring Me: Using nutrition education curriculum activities to teach elementary mathematics

Introduction

Understanding basic functions of mathematics can greatly improve individuals’ future health risk.¹ Numeracy skills help people understand medication prescriptions, nutrition plans, and which treatment option is best for them.² However, one of the largest obstacles health professionals face is patient compliance to interventions; one reason being, lack of mathematical proficiency among the population.^1,2,3,

Teachers in K-12 learning environments have the greatest opportunity to lay core foundations in mathematics.⁵ A mastery of mathematics skills such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, proportions, and fractions is important for children to learn early to assist them in addressing health issues later in life.^{2, 6} School-based health promotion interventions focusing on nutrition and physical activity can also aid children in making connections between mathematics learned in the classroom and healthy living.⁷ Therefore, the authors developed an introductory activity called Measuring Me for the Food Math and Science Teacher Enhancement Resource (FoodMASTER) Initiative (Figure 1) to be used while collecting pre-study anthropometric data for the FoodMASTER study. The educational and developmentally appropriate interactive activity allows students to apply mathematics while becoming familiar with simple anthropometric measurements in the classroom.

Figure 1.

Measuring Me activity sheets.

Program Description

FoodMASTER Intermediate is a 3^rd–5^th grade curriculum that uses food as a tool to integrate nutrition concepts into the standard course of study for math and science.⁶ There are 10 units that make-up the FoodMASTER curriculum, each containing two or three activities (24 activities total). It meets national school standards for mathematics and science education and is also easily adaptable to each state’s standards. During the 2009–2010 school year, self-selected teachers in North Carolina (N=18) implemented the Measuring Me activity in their 4^th grade classrooms as an introduction to FoodMASTER. Researchers from the program visited each classroom in the fall of 2009 to collect pretest data including students’ heights, weights, waist circumference, and food frequency. Other pretest data included nutrition, science, and mathematics knowledge, attitudes, and self-efficacy.

Led by program researchers, Measuring Me was piloted in classrooms to allow children to become familiar with body measurements and connect abstract numbers to concrete applications such as health. Measurement plays an especially crucial role in helping children to identify relationships among objects.⁵ In using their own height measurement, students are able to identify items that are shorter, taller or the same height as them and make comparisons.⁵ Independent comparisons about other anthropometric measures, such as weight, can also be applied by students. Connecting comparisons students make about length and mass with nutrition and health concepts can be beneficial to improving students’ long term health literacy as adults.² In intermediate grades, three core competencies children must learn are standard units of metric and customary measurement; collect, organize, analyze, and report data; and perform standard computations, all of which are included as components of Measuring Me.⁵

The Lesson

Like other FoodMASTER activities, Measuring Me took one class period (30–45 minutes) to complete and is straightforward enough for teachers to pick-up quickly and implement in their classrooms. Eighteen classrooms and 298 students participated in the activity. Measuring Me followed a similar format as other FoodMASTER hands-on lessons. First, elementary student volunteers read a short passage about why health professionals measure height and weight. Next, each student completed the threereading comprehension questions independently and then answers were reviewed as a class.

Subsequently, students participated in Height Math, the hands-on component of Measuring Me. A demonstration in how to measure height with yardsticks was shown to the class. The class was then divided into teams of 3–4 students to measure each others’ height using two yard sticks. The first student removed his/her shoes and stood straight. Limited wall space was available in most classrooms, so students estimated using free-standing heights. A second student held the yard sticks, one on top of the other, and the third student read the height in inches. Students switched roles until everyone in the group had been measured. Heights were recorded after each measurement. Students used individual results within teams to order heights from least to greatest; to calculate the sum, difference between the minimum and maximum height, mean, and median; and to perform several measurement conversions. Anonymous class results were used to make conclusions about students’ heights and to determine the class mode for height. The math concepts covered provided teachers with an opportunity to either review topics or introduce the topic for the first time depending on the teacher’s curriculum schedule. It also gives teachers an opportunity to discuss the nutrition concept of energy balance and how it relates to anthropometric measures.

Key Points

Overall, students and teachers were highly pleased with the activity. Many students volunteered to read the beginning passages out loud. Using reading comprehension, students were successful in identifying what factors affect growth rate, defining calories, and determining whether height or weight changes more in one day. Comments from children included “This is fun” and “When can we do it again?” Comments like these were randomly expressed by students throughout the activity. Many of the children wanted to measure their height with their shoes on in order to make comparisons between the two heights. Researchers did not record student measurements for comparison against researcher measurements because it was not a research objective. However, students did compare their height measurements as researchers discussed these measurements and their differences with them verbally. At the end of the activity most students demonstrated an increased understanding of reviewed math concepts. Students were able to perform measurement procedures to determine the height of another student using yardsticks. They were also able to communicate verbally to researchers the definition of sum, difference, mean, median, and mode, and how to determine each one when asked as a class at the conclusion of the activity. Through informal interactions with teachers some comments included, “I like how several subjects are combined into one activity to maximize time,” “The kids love doing hands-on activities like this,” and “The application component is excellent.” In fact, the students in one classroom already measured and recorded each other’s heights in a separate activity prior to researchers coming. However, Measuring Me took it one step further to introduce new mathematics concepts of mean, median, and mode. The activity established simple foundations of mathematics while beginning to tie in concepts of health. Using Measuring Me as an introductory activity for collecting anthropometric measurements in the classroom was feasible and well received by students and teachers.

Measuring Me is written at a 4th grade level and includes math concepts appropriate for 4^th grade, but it could serve as a guide for other researchers or educators to adapt and use with younger or older students. It is suggested teachers be involved in teaching the lesson in order to maintain better classroom management, as this was the main challenge for researchers. In the few classrooms where time was an issue, modifications were made in these circumstances to shorten the activity. Teachers could easily lead this lesson for future school health program initiatives.