This is a curriculum designed to increase awareness of the importance of calcium in the prevention of osteoporosis. This five-lesson curriculum encourages students to incorporate calcium-rich food in their diet and participate in weight-bearing activities. The lessons are 50 minutes and the curriculum includes a PowerPoint presentation, note cards for each lesson, and a student workbook that can be reproduced.
- Evaluated
Based on evaluations conducted with middle school students, program impact was found to be statistically significant among the core curricular concepts related to (a) students’ knowledge and understanding of the importance of calcium as it relates to growth, bone health, physical activity, and disease prevention, b) students’ knowledge of the calcium intake recommendation for their age group; c) students’ ability to identify calcium-rich foods; and d) students’ ability to interpret food labels to identify calcium-rich foods.