Nutrition Nuggets for the Family and Consumer Sciences Classroom: An Experiential Approach to Professional Development

Abstract

Less than five percent of professional development (PD) opportunities for educators in Iowa are related to health and physical education (Iowa Area Education Agencies, 2017). Even fewer opportunities are specific to health and nutrition-related disciplines such as family and consumer sciences (FCS). Iowa educators are required to earn six license renewal credits every five years to renew their teaching license (Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, 2018). This article describes and evaluates a project designed to provide nutrition PD for FCS educators that included technical content for high school nutrition and health educators to improve nutrition self-efficacy, cooking skills and attitudes, and eating competence.