Use of medical students in a flipped classroom programme in nutrition education for fourth-grade school students

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a flipped classroom progamme, designed and implemented by medical students, in communicating nutrition education to fourth-grade school students aged 9-10 years and to characterise teachers' assessments of the progamme, which was designed to minimise the burden placed on teachers. Design: Each student-participant served as control before and as case after exposure to the novel healthSLAM (hS) curriculum. The results on the pre-tests and post-tests were matched and compared. Teachers completed a one-time survey after observing the new curriculum. Setting: The study was conducted in 2013 in the fourth-grade classrooms of an elementary school in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, USA. Methods: The hS progamme included a web-based video that delivered nutrition education didactics and a classroom portion in which medical students guided exercises to reinforce nutrition concepts discussed in the video. A pre-test and post-test were given to students, and teachers completed a survey to determine the effects of the curriculum on nutrition knowledge, and teacher surveys were administered to assess the appropriateness and acceptability of the curriculum. In all, 166 students' pre- and post-tests from nine different classrooms were analysed. Results: Significant improvements in nutrition knowledge in both median and mean test scores were found (p < .001), and the raw pre-test and post-test score distributions were found to be homogeneous across the nine different classrooms studied. Teachers reported the new curriculum to be feasible and grade-appropriate. Conclusion: The hS programme, rooted in flipping pedagogy using a video didactic lecture and an activity-based classroom session to reinforce concepts, appeared to communicate nutrition information successfully and was seen as both feasible and acceptable by teachers.