Eating for a Healthier You

NUTRITION GRADE 7 & 8

CONTENTS

Introduction ________________________________________________

Activity 1 Introductory Activity _______________________________

Activity 2 - Nutrition Labels ___________________________________

Activity 3 Community Food Map _____________________________

Final Assessment Snack Master ______________________________

Critique of Resources _________________________________________

Teachers Resources __________________________________________

11

References _________________________________________________

12

PAGE 1

Introduction
Including nutrition information in secondary school health education is crucial to ensuring young
people have adequate health literacy that enables them to make informed and healthy food choices.
As technology has advanced and become more pervasive, the Internet has become a common site
for individuals to seek advice on nutrition and health related concerns. In particular, a study
undertaken by Whiteley, Bailey & McInnes (2008) established that the Internet is a particularly
effective mode and method of communicating positive nutrition information to young people. The
World Health Organisation (2001) suggests that adolescent health-information should be interactive,
involve active participation, and be able to reach as many young people as possible. Interactive
nutrition websites meet these requirements and provide students with the opportunity to gain access
to constructive healthy eating information in a fun and engaging manner.
There are some barriers to accessing health information and care that are commonly experienced by
young people. According to Booth et al. (2002), some of the factors preventing young people from
accessing health information are that they:

Have a poor understanding of their own health needs

Lack knowledge about available health services and how to use them

Have difficulty expressing their concerns because of the sensitivity of many of their health
issues

Feel self-conscious and anxious about being asked personal questions

Defer treatment until at crisis stage

Be reluctant health consumers, often brought along by parents or other caregivers

It is because of these factors that it is vitally important for schools to ensure that their health
education programs in schools include information about accessing resources. Health education
programs should provide opportunities for students to learn about local health services and
resources, and provide instruction on how to access them. Although students may have access to
many health-promoting resources in their community, if they do not know how to access these
resources, or they do not know that they exist, the resources are useless to them. Jennings, ParraMedina, Hilfinger-Messias & McLoughlin (2008), argue that youth empowerment can only be effective
when young people are able to have some control over the social, political and economic contexts of

PAGE 2

their lives. Knowing how to access, and having access to resources that influence young people's
health and wellbeing is central to positive health outcomes.
A study undertaken by Stolp, Wilkins & Raine (2015) found that the most successful strategies to
create healthy school communities involved buy in from other stakeholders and resources in the
community such as health experts like doctors, nutritionist and psychologists. This is consistent with
the whole-school approach that advocates for supporting healthy school environments through
connected communities (SGVET, 2014).
It is just as important for students to be able to analyse the source of the health information that they
access. Health literacy is the key outcome of health education, improving people's access to health
information, and their capacity to use it effectively, increases individual and community health and
therefore improves health outcomes (Nutbeam, 2000).

Activity 1 Introductory Pre Assessment

This activity was designed to gauge students prior understanding and perceptions of food and nutrition.
Students are asked to access a link to a word cloud site where they are to write an answer to the question
what does healthy eating mean to you? The answers will come up in a word cloud with the most commonly
cited answers in bigger, bolder writing. These answers will be used to base a discussion on young people's
perception of food and nutrition, and the community influences on our diet. The activity also gives students a
chance to reflect on their own perceptions of healthy food and what they may have influenced them.

The activity takes a critical inquiry approach, asking students to personally engage with the topic. They need to
give their own opinion as well as listen to the opinion of others. It gives students the chance to critically
evaluate the political, social and economic influences on their local food environments. The activity focuses on
educative outcomes rather than health outcomes by getting students to think about what food and nutrition
means to them, and the positive outcomes of eating healthy foods.

Assessment
The assessment of this activity will be formative, the teacher will assert that each student is participating via
the word cloud and the class discussion. The teacher can also assess the student's general understanding of
food and nutrition related concepts so that they can determine or adjust the activities that will follow in other
classes.
PAGE 3

Links to Curriculum
Years 7 and 8 Band Description
Food and nutrition (FN)

Years 7 and 8 Content Descriptions

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
Being healthy, safe and active

Evaluate health information and communicate their own and others health concerns practicing ways to
communicate concerns about their health to a variety of support people (S, RS, FN, AD, HBPA,
MH)

Practicing ways to communicate concerns about their health to a variety of support people (S, RS, FN,
AD, HBPA, MH)

Investigate and select strategies to promote health, safety and wellbeing

Introducing the sub strand of being healthy, safe and active

Activity 2 Food Labels

This activity is designed to promote health literacy around food packaging and labels so that students are able
to gain access to, understand and use health/nutrition information. It also takes a strengths-based approach
with a stronger focus on supporting students to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills they require
to make healthy and safe choices that will enhance their own and others health and wellbeing.

During class time students watch a video about food labels and then access a link on the
What am I?
1. Occurs naturally in some foods, like fruit and dairy products, and is often added to foods. Essentially, it
is a carbohydrate, and is a source of Kj.

2.

Is important in maintaining water balance and blood pressure in our bodies as well as being
essential for muscle and nerve activity.

3.

Keeps you warm, protects your organs and helps absorb and move nutrients around your body.
PAGE 4

4.

Is the part of plant food (fruit, veggies, whole grains and nuts) that our bodies do not absorb and
keeps our intestines healthy.

Who knows?
5. We should look for product labels with sodium levels below what?

6.

We should look for products labels with sugar levels less than?

7.

Healthier choices have a fat content of around what?

8.

We should aim to eat food products with at least how much fibre?

True/False

9.

The healthiest foods always have food labels that show you how much fat, sugar, fibre and sodium
they contain?

10.

We should choose foods with the lowest saturated fat possible.

Answers
1. Sugar, 2. Salt, 3. Fat, 4. Fibre 5. 400mg/100g 6. 10g/100g 7. 5-10g/100 8. 3g/100g 9. F 10. T

Assessment
This will be a formative assessment, to determine the ongoing progress of the students in this unit of
work. The answers to the quiz will be collected and recorded for each student.

Links to Curriculum
Focus on educative purposes: students progressively develop knowledge and understanding of
nutrition contexts in order to practice, create, apply and evaluate healthy food choices.
Develop health literacy: students access and critically analyse health information from a variety of
sources which include, health brochures or messages in the media, in order to take action to promote
personal health and wellbeing.
PAGE 5

Aims: to provide students with the necessary knowledge required to access, evaluate and synthesise
information and to assist students to effectively analyse how varied and changing personal and
contextual factors shape understanding of, and opportunities for, health locally, regionally and
globally website to an interactive poster with examples of food products and labels. Students then
answer a series of questions based on the food labels provided:

https://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/wp-

content/uploads/2014/02/U1L4R4SuperSluethChallange1.pdf

After the quiz students will hand their responses to the teacher who will then go through the correct
answers with the students, engaging a whole-class discussion.

Activity 3 Community Food Mapping

This activity is designed to assist students to make connections with their community. The activity will help
them identify the positive and negative influences on individual and environmental health in their local area.
The task takes a critical inquiry approach, requiring students to examine the social, cultural, scientific and
political contexts that influence their food environments locally. It will also help students to apply a critical lens
to these influences, in determining why these environments are the way they are in our community. For
example, what happens to small businesses that supply locally grown food to the community when a
Woolworths opens nearby. Or how does having a McDonalds restaurant across the road from a high school
influence young peoples food choices.
The focus of the activity is on educative outcomes, developing students knowledge about the resources and
influences on health in their own community. It does not focus on specific health outcomes, but teaches
students skills and strategies they can use to critically evaluate food environments. The activity also places the
student at the centre of their own learning, ensuring they are actively involved.

Students will access google maps from their personal devices and find:

One positive influence on their local food environment or nutrition

One negative influence on their local food environment or nutrition

Students need to come up with reasons as to why this is a positive or negative influence and consider things
such as cost-effectiveness, environmental sustainability and personal health.

PAGE 6

They will then access the padlet link on the Food and Nutrition website and write their answers on the
community notice board. Once everyone has done this they we will hold a class discussion based on
everyones answers.

Assessment

Students will not be formally assessed, rather the teacher will take a note of how each student is
progressing based on their understanding and input into the activity and class discussion.
Links to curriculum:

Sub strand: Being healthy active and safe

Focus area: Food and Nutrition

Content Descriptors:

Investigate and select strategies to promote health, safety and wellbeing (ACPPS073)
Elaborations:

Researching a variety of snack and lunch options, and evaluating nutritional value, value for
money and sustainability impacts to create a weekly menu plan (FN).

Relevant achievement standards: By the end of level 8 students can gather and analyze
health information. They demonstrate skills to make informed decisions, and propose and
implement actions that promote their own and others health, safety and wellbeing.
Collaborating the students new knowledge with prior knowledge, the students are able to
actively participate in a healthy lifestyle and promote healthy life choices.

Final Assessment Snack Master

The most recent national health survey found that discretionary foods made up 41% of 14-18 year olds diets,
with the vast majority of these discretionary foods being consumed as snacks (ABS 2012).

This activity is designed to get students thinking about how they can change their snacking habits to healthier,
more cost effective, and sustainable foods while improving their health through the benefits of eating healthier
food, such as, increased energy, better concentration and improved sleep (Florence, Asbridge & amp;
Veugelers 2008, Chaput 2014, Kuczmarski et al. 2010). The learning activity is also compatible with the
multiliteracies theory, devised by the New London Group in 1994, which encourages the use of multimodal
forms of linguistic expression. In this activity, students form groups of two and come up with an idea for a
quick, healthy snack idea. Once they have found or created their recipe, the students are required to film the
PAGE 7

preparation/cooking of their snack. They have five minutes in which to make the snack. While they are
searching for, or creating their snack idea they are asked to make some considerations about how healthy the
snack is, for example how much fat, sugar, sodium and fibre it contains. They also need to consider how cost
effective it is and how environmentally sustainable. The activity requires students to culminate the information
they have gained over the course of the unit to create a snack that showcases their understanding and
knowledge of healthy, cost-effective and sustainable food choices.

The activity takes a critical inquiry approach, helping students identify the social, cultural and political
influences on the types of food we eat. This approach enables students to actively investigate and prepare an
example of healthy food that actually appeals to them. The activity focuses on educative outcomes, developing
students understanding and skills surrounding healthy food choices rather than focusing on health outcomes.
Likewise, the activity takes a strengths-based approach, focusing on strengths, resources and capacities.

Assessment
Students will be assessed in their groups. Between them they need to submit a video demonstrating
the preparation or cooking of their chosen snack. During the 5-minute video students also need to
discuss why they believe their snack is healthy, cost-effective and sustainable.

Links to Curriculum
Years 7 and 8 / Personal, Social and Community Health / Being healthy, safe and active / ACPPS073

Content Descriptor - Investigate and select strategies to promote health, safety and
wellbeing

Elaborations - researching a variety of snack and lunch options, and evaluating nutritional value,
value for money and sustainability impacts to create a weekly menu plan
(FN)

PAGE 8

Critique of Resources
Nutrition Australia
The Nutrition Australia website provides lots of information for individuals and workplaces that want to
improve their food choices, health and wellbeing. The website provides access to many resources
including educational products, webinars and recipe suggestions. Young people could use this
website as a starting point, to access advice on what changes they could make to improve their
health and wellbeing.
However, the website does have a few disadvantages. The nutrition Australia website does not
provide information designed specifically for adolescents. Rather, it focuses on children and adults,
and therefore fails to provide targeted advice to young people who experience challenges in
accessing healthy food environments and who have specific dietary needs at this time in their lives. In
addition, although the website has a designated section for workplace nutrition, there is no similar
section provided for schools, which is disappointing given that dietary habits tend to be learnt young
and are conveyed throughout life. Finally, the website does not seem to take into consideration the
wide and diverse cultures of Australian people, nor does it provide information for new Australians
who are not familiar with the foods available locally.
http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/

The Department of Education

The Department of Education has a section in their website dedicated to healthy eating in schools
where the importance of healthy eating within the school environment is discussed. Here the website
provides links to resources that support healthy eating in schools including the Victorian healthy
eating advisory service which provides free, tailored advice to early years, primary and secondary
schools.

The webpage itself provides information about healthy food environments, but does not provide
actual useful or basic information that teachers can apply in their own classrooms or school
environments. Additionally, a whole-school approach advocates students being active in their own
learning and environments, however the webpage discusses only a top-down approach, leaving the
students themselves out of the equation. Finally, the department of education website does not
discuss direct strategies for the many schools without a food service, where students are bringing
food from home.
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/health/Pages/healthyeatingadvisory.aspx
PAGE 9

Eat for Health

The Australian Governments Eat for health website provides Australians with the latest evidencebased research informing the Australian guide to healthy eating. It includes detailed information
around the guidelines, food groups, serving sizes, discretionary foods and tips for eating well. It also
provides information specifically designed for young people.

The website has a few limitations, it seems to lack the information needed to actually convert the
material within the website to practical knowledges, such as examples of simple daily food plans, or
healthy, convenient meals. For most people, and for young people especially, convenience is a
significant consideration. Additionally, Eat for Health does not consider the importance of seasonal
produce, food sustainability, and cost effectiveness in peoples food choices. Finally, although the
website provides information for different genders, age groups and life stages such as pregnancy, it
does not acknowledge individual differences within those categories, for example diverse cultures,
body types and personal preferences.
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/

PAGE 10

Resource Links

Activity 1 Introductory Quiz

https://www.polleverywhere.com/
https://quizlet.com/latest
https://getkahoot.com/

Activity 2 Nutritional Labels

https://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/U1L4R3LetsSolveTheMysteryOfFoodPackaging.pdf
https://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/U1L4R4SuperSluethChallange1.pdf
https://www.healthyactivekids.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/U1L4R5SuperSluethChallange2.pdf
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/eating-well/how-understand-food-labels
Activity 3 Community Food Mapping
https://padlet.com/
https://www.zeemaps.com/
Activity 4 Snack Master

ACARA - http://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/

PAGE 11

References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012). 4364.0.55.007 - Australian Health Survey:
Nutrition First Results - Foods and Nutrients, 2011-12. Retrieved from:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.007~201112~Main%20Features~Discretionary%20foods~700
Booth M, Bernard D, Quine S, Kang M, BeasleyL, Usherwood T, Alperstein G & Bennett D. (2002).Access
study phase I - access to health care among NSW adolescents. NSW CAAH: Westmead, NSW
Chaput, J. P. (2014). Sleep patterns, diet quality and energy balance. Physiology and
Behaviour, 134, 86-91.
Cole, D. R., & Pullen, D. L. (2009). Multiliteracies in motion: current theory and practice.
Retrieved from http://www.eblib.com.
Florence, M. D., Asbridge, M.,Veugelers, P. J. (2008). Diet quality and academic
performance, Journal of School Health, 78(4), 209-268
doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2008.00293.x
Jennings, L. B., Parra-Medina, D. M., Hilfinger-Messias, D. K., & McLoughlin, K.
(2008). Toward a critical social theory of youth empowerment, Journal of
Community Practice, 14(1), 31-55.
Nutbeam, D. (2000). Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for
contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st
century. Health Promotion International, 15(3), 258-268.
State Government of Victoria, Education and Training. (2014). Health Education
Approaches, Retrieved from
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/principals/spag/curriculum/Pages/health.aspx
Stolp, S., Wilkins, E., & Raine, K.D. (2015). Developing and sustaining a
healthy school community: Essential elements identified by school health
champions. Health Education Journal, 74(3), 299-311.
Whiteley, J. A., Bailey, B. W., & McInnes, K. J. (2008). Using the internet to
promote physical activity and healthy eating in youth. American Journal of
Lifestyle Medicine, 10(1), 118-215.
World Health Organisation. (2001). The second decade: Improving adolencent
health and development. Retrieved from:
http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/frh_adh_98_18/en/

PAGE 12