CognitiveCognitive Ability and Ability and Breakfast:Collaborating with Parents Breakfast:Collaborating with Parents to Promote Balanced Breakfaststo Promote Balanced Breakfasts

Seminar in Applied Theory and Research II ED 703.22 Spring 2010ED 703.22 Spring 2010By Tanisha Hanley

Table of Contents

Introduction Statement of the Problem Review of Related Literature Statement of the Hypothesis

Methods Participants Instruments Experimental Design Procedure

Results Discussion Implications

Statement of the Problem The rate of skipping breakfast in children and

adolescents is on the rise. Students who do receive breakfast at home

may not be receiving a nutritionally balanced breakfast.

Many parents are unaware that balanced breakfast consumption may provide benefits toward cognitive function and academic achievement.

Review of Related Literature Pros of Effects on the Brain

Breakfast is the most

important meal of the day (Matthews & Pollitt, 1998; Anand, 1999).

There are two possible biological mechanisms in which breakfast can affect brain function and cognitive test results (Matthews & Pollitt, 1998).

Deficiencies of micronutrients have been shown to have an impact on cognitive development (Malone, 2005).

Cons of the Effects on Cognition Particular macronutrient

compositions of a meal may be more relevant to cognitive function than the

meal itself (Matthews & Pollitt, 1998).

Timing of the breakfast meal

may play an important role (Matthews & Pollitt, 1998).

In some studies the effects on cognitive function are limited to “at risk”

undernourished children (Bro, McLaughin, Shank & Williams, 1996; Chinen & Cueto, 2008).

Review of Related Literature Pros of Parental Involvement

Parental engagement in student’s learning at home makes the greatest

difference to achievement (Goodall & Harris, 2008).

Children need to know their parents care if they eat

breakfast (Cheng, Griffiths, Tse & Yu, 2008).

Cons of Parental Collaboration Parents must be nutritionally

educated to be able to guide their children to make healthy choices.

Parents need to be assessable and support

learning in the home (Goodall & Harris, 2008).

Many parents regardless of socioeconomic status are unaware of what a balanced

breakfast consists of (Worobey & Worobey, 1999; Bhattacharya, Currie & Haider, 2006).

Theorists Piaget’s Cognitive Adaptation Theory-Children have to construct their

own knowledge and eventual understandings (Beichner & Dobey, 2004).

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory-Children can learn behaviors rapidly and efficiently by observing other people who model the behaviors (Berndt, 1997). Ex: Children make healthy food choices by watching their parents

make them.

Threats External:

Ecological Validity: Pretest Treatment: Selection-Treatment

Interaction Multiple Treatment: Experimenter

Effects Reactive

Arrangements/ Participants Effects

Internal:

History Maturation Testing/ Pretest sensitization Instrumentation Mortality

Statement of the HypothesisHR1: Integrating parental involvement in ensuring balanced

breakfast consumption will increase scores on a problem solving math quiz for 16 third-grade students at Private School X over a three week period.

HR2: Nutritionally educating both children and parents

through a home to school educational partnership will promote better breakfast attitudes for 16 third-grade students at Private School X over a three week period.

Methods Participants

The participants for this study were selected from the total population of 24 third-grade students.

The students consisted of ten girls and six boys ages eight to nine. The students were from low to middle income working class families in

Brooklyn, New York. The participants were 56.5% Hispanic, 25% Asian 12.5% White and 6%

Black.

Instruments 2 ten question problem solving quizzes (multiplication, division, addition, subtraction)

Parental consent form Principal consent form Balanced Breakfast Information Handout for parents 1 Student Pre-survey 1 Student Post-survey 1 Inventory of Parental Influence (Campbell, 1986)

Research DesignPre-Experimental Design: One-Group

Pretest-Posttest Design.

Single Group: Single group is Pretested (O), exposed to a treatment (X), and Posttested (O).

Symbolic Design: OXO

Pretest and Posttest One single group of

students were given 2 surveys to access breakfast attitudes before and after a balanced breakfast intervention.

Pretest: 1 Pre survey was administered to student group without balanced breakfast intervention (BBI).

Postest: 1 Post survey was administered to student group after balanced breakfast intervention has taken place.

Procedure February, 2010 researcher emailed the administrator his consent letter.

March, 2010 Principal X introduced the researcher to Mrs. X.

March, 2010 the researcher distributed parental consent forms.

April 13, 2010 the researcher collected signed parental consent forms.

April 14, 2010 researcher facilitated the pre survey and quiz one to participating students.

April 15, 2010 students received a balanced breakfast in their classroom. Students were then accessed using quiz two (25-30 minutes after consumption).

April 16, 2010 the researcher facilitated a nutrition lesson. Researcher sent home the balanced breakfast information handout to parents which included the class average increase. Students were given a post survey in class to access attitudes as a result of the intervention. Students were sent home with the Inventory of Parental Influence (IPI) Survey.

April 19-20, 2010 researcher followed up with Mrs. X retrieving all paperwork.

ResultsMath Quiz Scores

Student #Quiz 1(%)

Quiz 2(%)

% change

Average 68.75 76.875Note. Total % increase = 196.55%

16 90 90 33.33%

15 50 70 100.00%

14 80 80 14.28%

13 60 70 25.00%

12 80 60 50.00%

11 60 40 40.00%

10 60 80 -12.50%

9 90 90 0.00%

8 80 60 -25.00%

7 60 80 33.33%

6 50 100 100.00%

5 70 80 -14.28%

4 80 100 25.00%

3 60 90 50.00%

2 50 70 40.00%

1 80 70 -12.50%

Quiz 1 Quiz 2

Mean 68.75% 76.875%

Max. 90 100

Min. 50 60

Range 40 40

On the second quiz nine out of 16 students (56.25%) improved their score after consuming the balanced breakfast provided in class.

ResultsMath Quiz Scores Continued

M ath e m at ica l P r o b le m So lv in g Q u iz Sco r e Be fo r e an d A f te r BBI

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Stu d e n t

Qui

z Sc

ore

Perc

enta

ge Q uiz 1

Q u iz 2

Results-Pre Survey Post Survey

QuestionPre Survey

AveragePost Survey

Average

1 3.5 3.8125

2 3.1875 3.4375

3 3.375 3.4375

4 3.1875 3.375

5 3.25 3.1875

6 3.5625 3.6875

7 3.1875 3.4375

8 2.8125 3.375

9 3.1875 3.0625

Average 3.25 3.42

A ve ra g e B re a kfa st A tti tu d e S u rve y A n sw e rs P e r Q u e stio n

0

0 .5

1

1 .5

2

2 .5

3

3 .5

4

4 .5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Q u e s t io n Nu m b e r

Like

rt Sc

ale R

atin

g

Pre S u rv ey A v e rage

Pos t S u rv ey A v e rage

The student’s ratings increased in seven out of nine questions or on 77.7% of the questions. This is due to students who in the pre survey answered a question

strongly agree (4) and then in the post survey answered agree (3) for the same question.

Correlation

C o rre la tio n B e tw e e n P a re n ta l C o o p e ra tio n a n d S tu d e n t's N u tri tio n a l A tti tu d e

0

0 .5

1

1 .5

2

2 .5

3

3 .5

4

4 .5

0 1 2 3 4 5

Po s t Su r ve y Qu e s t io n 8

Po

st

Su

rve

y Q

ue

sti

on

9

Ser ies 1

L inear (Se r ies 1 )

StudentPost SurveyQuestion 8

Post Survey Question 10

1 4 4

2 4 4

3 3 4

4 3 3

5 4 4

6 4 1

7 4 4

8 3 2

9 4 4

10 2 2

11 2 1

12 3 1

13 4 4

14 4 3

15 4 3

16 4 4

Correlation between parental collaboration and student’s long term nutritional attitude post intervention.Post Survey Question 8:I plan to make smart breakfast choices all of my life.Post Survey Question 9:My parent and I have talked about making smart meal choices. With a correlation coefficient of (rxy) = .60 there seems to be a low fair positive correlation.

CorrelationCorrelation between the child parent dialogue at home and a parents desire to collaborate with their child’s school in the future.Post Survey Question 8:I plan to make smart breakfast choices all of my life.IPI Question 10: I would like to collaborate more often with my child’s school regarding his/her nutrition.With a correlation coefficient of (rxy) = -.78 there is

a low fair negative correlation.

Post Survey Question 8

IPI Question 10

4 1

3 4

2 4

3 4

3 3

3 4

S tu d e n t a n d P a re n t P o s t S u rv e y C o rre la tio n

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0 1 2 3 4 5

P arenta l IP I Q ues t ion 10

Stu

de

nt

Po

st

Su

rve

y

Qu

es

tio

n 8 S e rie s 1

L in e a r(S e rie s 1 )

A high parental rating usually correlated with a lower student rating. Table 5 indicates that five out of six parents (83.3%) who returned the survey would like to collaborate more often with schools regarding their child’s nutrition.

Analysis of Data Based upon the data there is:

a positive effect between a parent’s willingness to collaborate with schools by continuing dialogue at home and the benefits it provides to their child’s nutritional outlook for the future.

the bar graphs illustrate that student’s math quiz scores increased after balanced breakfast consumption and student attitudes regarding breakfast improved post intervention.

Though few parents answered the IPI their interest in their child’s nutrition education and their role as a collaborator in it proved consistent.

Discussion of Hypotheses

Integrating parental involvement in ensuring balanced breakfast consumption did increase math class average scores at Private School X over a three week period.

Nutritionally educating both children and parents through a home to school educational partnership did promote better breakfast attitudes for 16 third-grade students at Private School X over a three week period.

Discussion

What the results support: Researcher Ronald Kleinman, M.D.’s findings that math grades

are positively affected by breakfast consumption (“Breakfast and Learning,” 1999, p. 29).

When children do not eat breakfast there is a lack of nutrient

availability to the brain and problem solving skills are affected (“Breakfast and Learning,” 1999).

Students ages eight to nine are at a pivotal age for making significant mathematical improvements due to breakfast

consumption (“Breakfast and Learning,” 1999). There are certain distinct ages where children may be

particularly responsive to healthier food selection particularly third and fourth graders.

Breakfast timing may impact performance (Matthews & Pollitt, 1998).

Children do adopt their habits and attitudes from the adults in

their life (Melanson, 2008).

Discussion

What the results contradict:

the theory that positive short term effects of eating breakfast on students’ school performance are limited to undernourished populations (Taras, 2005; Chinen & Cueto, 2008).

Undernourished-individuals whose food intake is chronically insufficient to meet their minimum energy requirements.

Implications

Studies should focus on what can be done to include parents within the school setting.

The connection between which aspect of the treatment proved most influential to student attitude warrants further investigation.

Future research is needed on the impact of breakfast consumption timing on mathematical problem solving performance.

Alternative methods of assessing cognitive performance should also be explored.

Additional research needs to be done implementing this breakfast intervention to younger and older students to determine the effect on different age groups.

Studies need to be conducted in a variety of settings to determine the true value of parental collaborations with respect to nutrition education.

References

O’Connor-Petruso, Sharon. A. (2010, February 18). Descriptive & Inferential Stats, Analyses, Threats, & Designs. Presented at an Ed 703.22 lecture at Brooklyn College.