A multi-component nutrition intervention utilizing a learner-centered, garden-based nutrition curriculum improves nutrition knowledge among fourth-grade children

The nutrition education and promotion component of the Shaping Healthy Choices Program (SHCP) included classroom education, garden-based learning, and cooking demonstrations in fourth-grade classrooms. Discovering Healthy Choices (DHC), a learner-centered, garden-based nutrition curriculum, was developed for SHCP. The objective of DHC is to facilitate understanding of nutrition concepts and development of critical thinking skills so youth can make evidence-based decisions about the foods they eat. DHC supports Common Core State Standards. Cooking demonstrations were linked to DHC concepts. It was hypothesized that students participating in SHCP would have improved nutrition knowledge and critical thinking skills compared to controls. Schools meeting inclusion criteria in Northern (NC) and Central Valley California (CV) were randomly assigned to control (C) or intervention (I) groups. Pre- and post-assessments included a Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire and the Test of Basic Science Process Skills (BAPS)....