The Curriculum

Blog Post #5

With all the weeks of research, I wrote a curriculum about sugar addiction. Originally, I wanted the curriculum to be for a short time each day, over the course of a week. For example, one day would be about the basics of sugar and the next day would be about sugary drinks.  However, since I am beta-testing the curriculum on the children I babysit, I have to structure it as a single lesson. Following is the basic outline of the curriculum:

1. Ask what the children know about sugar.  Questions to ask may include: Do you guys like eating candy? How do you feel after eating it? Do you feel really energetic after eating it? Do you think a lot of sugar is good or bad for you?

2. Play a true or false game with the children. 

• Make index cards with facts about sugar on each and then have the kids categorize each one as true or false.
• True
• Children ages 4 to 8 eat about 21 teaspoons of added sugar each day (I will hold up that amount with sugar packets).
• Children ages 4 to 8 should limit added sugar to about 3 teaspoons a day (I will hold up that amount with sugar packets).
• You are born with a sweet tooth.
• Soda and juice are the No. 1 source of added sugar.
• There is hidden sugar in foods that do not taste sweet, such as pasta and BBQ sauce.
• False
• Sugar does not occur naturally in fruits and vegetables.  
• It is not possible to become addicted to sugar.
• Apples, bananas, and oranges do not have sugar in them.

3. Find 2 foods and 2 drinks in the kitchen and measure the amount of sugar in each.

• Compare the amount of sugar in each food item with how much a person should eat in one day

4. Talk about the activities.

• Discuss each activity and conclude with how bad excess sugar is for your health, talk about natural versus added sugar, and give them suggestions on how to reduce the amount of sugar they eat.

On Wednesday, I babysat a six year old boy and an eight year old girl. They are the target age for my curriculum, so I was excited to see how the curriculum would work. The girl has a big sweet tooth. She is always sneaking a cookie or a spoonful of nutella.  When I asked what they already know about sugar, they said things such as, “its in candy”, “I get a stomach ache if I eat too much”, and “I love chocolate”. They both knew it was bad for their health, but they had no idea why it is bad or what effect it had on their body. They chose to measure the sugar in lemonade, apple juice , Coco Puff Cereal and a Kit Kat. They were surprised by how much sugar was in each, and by how many health problems can be caused by eating too much sugar.

Based on my interaction with the two kids, I decided that the other children I babysit are too young to understand the curriculum. For this reason, I think the best age for this curriculum is 2nd or 3rd grade.

Overall, I believe the curriculum was a success and that the kids learned a lot about sugar.  However, I do not know if it will change how they eat, or how long they will remember what they learned.  Next, I plan on refining the curriculum and brainstorming how best to make it memorable and effective at reducing sugar addiction.