Evaluation of a Two-tiered Cross-age Teaching Model for Food Literacy-based Education

NCT ID: NCT04098419

Last Updated: 2023-06-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: TERMINATED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 24 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-09-18
• Study Completion Date: 2020-03-12

Brief Summary

This project will serve adolescents from low-income and historically underserved communities through expansion of existing after-school programs. Adolescents from these communities tend to have slower academic progression and higher high school dropout rates. Extracurricular activities, including informal education through after-school programming, have been suggested to improve these rates and increase college enrollment by supporting traditional classroom-based education. The proposed project aims to educate high school-aged adolescents in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences through informal food literacy education. The project also includes a two-tiered cross-age teaching model, allowing for adolescents to be educated by college interns and to become educators for younger youth. Existing curricula, that encompass FANH sciences, will be utilized at each stage of the project. The purpose of the project is not only to educate adolescents in FANH sciences, but also to advance their motivation and efficacy for graduating high school, attending college, and majoring in FANH sciences. The project aims to accomplish these objectives through empowering adolescents to obtain knowledge, skills, and excitement for food literacy. As this model has not been utilized previously, this project will produce a best practices guide for implementing the existing curricula within a two-tiered cross-age teaching model. Additionally, the college internship and mentoring program created through this project will be continued at the initial sites and expanded to other communities. This will allow for a sustainable approach to educating adolescents in FANH sciences and providing mentorship that encourages future enrollment in college.

Conditions

Food Literacy; Adolescent Health; Cross-age Teaching; Nutrition Education; Experiential Learning

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Williams Implementation

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Science for Life

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The implementation for both school years will follow the same procedures with different cohorts. Sixteen adolescents will be recruited through existing after-school programs at each location (32 total each year). College interns will facilitate food literacy lessons after school once per week with high school-aged adolescents. Beginning in January, adolescents will participate in training led by project staff and college interns to become competent cross-age teachers for garden-enhanced nutrition curricula. This training will consist of instruction in utilization of inquiry-based teaching practices and will be followed by adolescents practicing facilitating the curricula in teaching pairs. Up to 32 younger youth participants at each location (up to 64 total each year) will be recruited from local elementary schools while adolescents complete the cross-age teaching training. With mentorship from college interns, adolescents will facilitate curricula in pairs with younger youth.

Pittsburg Implementation

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Science for Life

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The implementation for both school years will follow the same procedures with different cohorts. Sixteen adolescents will be recruited through existing after-school programs at each location (32 total each year). College interns will facilitate food literacy lessons after school once per week with high school-aged adolescents. Beginning in January, adolescents will participate in training led by project staff and college interns to become competent cross-age teachers for garden-enhanced nutrition curricula. This training will consist of instruction in utilization of inquiry-based teaching practices and will be followed by adolescents practicing facilitating the curricula in teaching pairs. Up to 32 younger youth participants at each location (up to 64 total each year) will be recruited from local elementary schools while adolescents complete the cross-age teaching training. With mentorship from college interns, adolescents will facilitate curricula in pairs with younger youth.

Interventions

Science for Life

The implementation for both school years will follow the same procedures with different cohorts. Sixteen adolescents will be recruited through existing after-school programs at each location (32 total each year). College interns will facilitate food literacy lessons after school once per week with high school-aged adolescents. Beginning in January, adolescents will participate in training led by project staff and college interns to become competent cross-age teachers for garden-enhanced nutrition curricula. This training will consist of instruction in utilization of inquiry-based teaching practices and will be followed by adolescents practicing facilitating the curricula in teaching pairs. Up to 32 younger youth participants at each location (up to 64 total each year) will be recruited from local elementary schools while adolescents complete the cross-age teaching training. With mentorship from college interns, adolescents will facilitate curricula in pairs with younger youth.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• There are two groups of participants (adolescents and younger youth) that will be recruited for this study. Adolescent participants must be high school-aged, approximately 13-17 years. Younger youth must be upper elementary school-aged, approximately 9-12 years. Participants for both age groups will be recruited from existing afterschool programs within each participating school district. Comparison youth for both age groups will be recruited from other students within the same school districts.

For the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years, the participating school districts will be in Pittsburg and Williams, California.

Exclusion Criteria

• Youth from other school districts

• Minimum Eligible Age: 9 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of California, Davis

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

University of California, Davis

Davis, California, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

1473718

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id