子供たちの生活の場である小学校と山口県立大学食育プログラム開発チームが連携して、食育体験プログラムを実施した。プログラムは視覚や嗅覚といった感覚を用いて食べ物についての興味・関心を高めるとともに、食べ物を摂取した際に無意識に行っている咀嚼および消化の仕組みについて学び、自身の体について考えるきっかけづくりとなる食育活動とした。本研究では、このプログラムの有効性について検討した。 小学校1 年生108 人を対象とした。食育体験プログラムでは「食べ物の断面の特徴や前歯の役割」「食べ物のにおいの特徴や奥歯の役割」「咀嚼による唾液分泌促進がう蝕や歯周病予防につながること」「咀嚼や唾液が食べ物の消化を助けること」の4 つをテーマとした活動を行った。評価には、食育体験プログラム実施前に行った事前ワークシートと実施後に行った当日ワークシート及びふりかえりシートを用いた。ワークシートは4 つのテーマについて2 問ずつ正誤問題を設定した。 その結果、実施前と比較して実施後の当日ワークシートにおいて、8 問中6 問について正解した児童の数が有意に増加した。ふりかえりシートでは「給食はよく噛んで食べたよ」等、実践したことを記述した児童が30.6%、「これからはよく噛んで食べたいです」等、実践意欲を記述した児童が12.0% みられた。 本食育体験プログラムの実施により、食べ物の特徴および咀嚼の大切さや消化の仕組みを学ぶことで、食べ物への興味・関心を高めるのみならず、自身の体と結び付けて食行動や考えを変えるきっかけになったと示唆された。
A food education experience program was conducted through the collaboration between an elementary school, as the setting of children’s daily lives, and the food education program development team at Yamaguchi Prefectual University. The program was designed to fulfill the following goals: to increase children’s interest in food by applying their own senses, such as vision and smell, to teach them about the involuntary mechanisms of chewing and digestion that occur with food intake, and to encourage them to reflect on their own bodies through these processes. The study investigated the efficacy of this program. Participants were 108 children in the first grade. The food education experience program covered four topics: characteristics of food cross-sections and roles of the front teeth, characteristics of the smells of food and the roles of molars, chewing as a way to promote salivary secretion and the associated effects of periodontal disease prevention, and the roles of chewing and saliva in aiding digestion. Assessment was made by a preliminary worksheet administered before the food education experience program, a worksheet administered on the day after conducting the program, and a reflection worksheet. The worksheets consisted of two true-or-false questions on each of the four topics. The number of children who answered six out of the eight questions correctly increased significantly between the preliminary and post-program worksheets. Nearly a third (30.6%) of the children mentioned that they applied their newly acquired knowledge, such as “I chewed a lot during the school lunch.” Meanwhile, 12.0% mentioned their desire to apply their knowledge in practice, such as “I want to chew well from now on” in the reflection worksheet. Our findings suggested that the present food education experience program allowed the children to learn about the characteristics of food, the importance of chewing, and the mechanisms of digestion, which increased their interest in food. They were also inspired to link the knowledge to their own bodies