Food,Policy & Health
Knowledge Translation: Lesson Plans
As early as the 1950s, sugary cereals in the grocery store were targeting children. Today, packaged food products specifically designed to appeal to children have proliferated throughout the entire supermarket—from dinosaur-shaped processed cheese, fruit gushers, and yogurt tubes to Dino-egg “hatching” oatmeal.
The Lesson Plans (Medial Literacy & Food Marketing I & II) draw from focus groups and surveys totalling over 600 children, and seek to provide an innovative form of Knowledge Translation that work to provide children with the skill set that they require. This is especially since Canada's Food Guide for Healthy Living (which highlights whole, unprocessed foods) does not easily translate into making choices in an environment dominated by packaged food products. These materials will aim to supplement previous Media/Nutrition materials as part of the media literacy initiative for the Alberta school curriculum.
This project is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Alberta Innovates Health Solutions ( AIHS). Special thank you to the Calgary Institute for the Humanities ( CIH).
Understanding how children view and interpret packaged foods
Media Literacy & Food Marketing Fact Sheets
Today’s packaged food aisles are a flurry of information.
In order to help families make critical packaged food decisions,
researchers at the University of Calgary have produced
“Fact Sheets” based on focus groups and surveys with over
600 children. Each Fact Sheet provides information about the
supporting research, "things to thing about," and "things to try
at home."
