Obesity in NYC schools: Causes,
Impact, Solutions
Tracey Steele
Urban Assembly Academy for Future
Leaders
Introduction:
“Once you get on that train towards
elevated weight gain, it’s really hard to turn it around, so prevention of
overweight and obesity really early on are so important,” said Solveig Argeseanu Cunningham, first author of the study and
associate professor of global health and epidemiology at Emory University in
Atlanta.
Obesity occurs when a person has
excessive fat accumulation that presents a health risk, according to the World Health Organization.
Childhood obesity is measured not by exact BMI, but by comparison to other
children of the same age and sex. Those who are in the 95th percentile of BMI
for their age and sex are considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
District 5 has implemented the new reform
of having Meatless Mondays, Salad bar daily, and No vending machines. All part
of NYC push for healthier food options in public schools.
Task:
F
or this assignment you will work collaboratively to raise
awareness within your school community on the need to create healthier food
options in school environments for ALL youth.
You will work collaboratively
to conduct research on the topic of obesity, its causes, impact and
potential solutions. You will prepare a visual and verbal presentation to raise
public awareness and convey your message to your peers and school community.
You will create a
google slides presentation that will introduce the problem to your audience and
offer several solutions and your recommendation for the best solution. Your
presentation must include graphics, present your research, and offer solutions.
The presentation must include at least 8 slides, with an additional slide citing
all of the sources used.
***Your group will use the Public Policy Analyst (PPA)
Tool as an outline for your products***
Process:
To complete this project regarding obesity. What do these
policies say? Who do they benefit? Do they address the issue of how obesity can
be prevented? Do these policies need to be changed?
STEP 1: You will be placed in groups to complete the gathering of
information for the PPA worksheets. Each
member of the group will have a specific role. Your group roles are as follows:
**All group members are
required to contribute to the completion of the worksheets AND completion and
presentation of the slides.**
STEP 2: Along with the information from
your research, follow the Public Policy Analyst (PPA) 6 Step Process. Complete the worksheets and
allow them to guide you with your slide presentation and bumper sticker
project.
1. Define the Problem: Identify and explain the
problem that you are researching. Ensure that you can convey why this condition
is undesirable.
2. Gather Evidence: The goal of your research is to
find proof that this problem actually exists. You can use statistics, primary
or secondary sources, articles from newspapers or magazines, blogs, podcasts,
etc.
Consider the following
questions:
- What is obesity? What does it look like?
- What are different forms of obesity?
- What percentage of students suffer from obesity in
schools (statistics)?
Group Roles: Captain- The captain keeps the group on task, ask questions and
facilitates the readings.
Reporter- The reporter presents the
group's findings to the class.
Recorder- The recorder records all
written responses.
Materials Manager- This person gets the supplies and makes sure they are
working, they put all supplies away once activity is over.
Time keeper- I keep track of how long my
group has to complete the assignment, I will tell the group how many minutes
are left every 10 minutes.
Interviews:
- You will formulate a series of questions on the topic of
obesity and interview 3-4 of your peers and/or teachers. Interviews will be
recorded and included in the presentation.
3. Identify Causes: Why do some children become
obese? What are some of the consequences of obesity? What groups are identified
as high risk for this disease?
4. Evaluating Existing Public Policies: Find policies that already
exist regarding obesity. What do these policies say? Who do they benefit? Do
they address the issue of how obesity can be prevented? Do these policies need
to be changed?
5. Developing Solutions:
Provide
new/original public policy alternatives (solutions) for your social problem.
What are some alternatives you think will solve or help with the problem that
exists?
6. Select Preferred Policy: Ask yourself how realistic the proposed solution is? How
likely would it be to lessen the problem? Are there any obstacles that can
prevent it from working? Is there anything that can be done to overcome those
obstacles?
Evaluation
|
CRITERIA |
PTS |
|
|||
|
|
UNSATISFACTORY |
MINIMAL
SATISFACTORY |
SATISFACTORY |
EXCELLENT |
|
|
Less than 65 |
65-79 |
80-90 |
90-100 |
||
|
Organization |
Audience cannot understand
presentation because there is no sequence of information. |
Audience has
difficulty following presentation because student jumps around. |
Student presents
information in logical sequence which audience can follow. |
Student presents
information in logical, interesting sequence which audience can follow. |
____ |
|
Content Knowledge |
Student does not
have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject. |
Student is
uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions. |
Student is at
ease with content, but fails to elaborate. |
Student
demonstrates full knowledge (more than required) with explanations and
elaboration. |
____ |
|
Visuals |
Student used no
visuals. |
Student
occasional used visuals that rarely support text and presentation. |
Visuals related
to text and presentation. |
Student used
visuals to reinforce screen text and presentation. |
____ |
|
Mechanics |
Student's presentation
had four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors. |
Presentation had
three misspellings and/or grammatical errors. |
Presentation has no
more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors. |
Presentation has
no misspellings or grammatical errors. |
____ |
|
Delivery |
Student mumbles,
incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back
of class to hear. |
Student incorrectly
pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation. |
Student's voice
is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly. |
Student used a
clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms. |
____ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conclusion
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Thank you
for your commitment and dedication. We have learned a lot from each other. Your
level of organization and cooperation skills have reached new highs. Now that
you learned a lot about obesity in children and adolescents is generally caused
by the lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns or a combination of
the two. From this webquest,
you should have learned many issues concerning adolescent obesity. You will be
able to analyze articles and extract critical information. In addition, you
will also be able to explore this topic using the internet as a main source of
information. In addition you will create new policies
that contribute to the health and well-being of the general public.
Some questions to consider:
1. If you were to do the same activity
again, would you do something differently? Explain.
2. What did you like? What didn’t you like?
Standards
COMMON CORE
LEARNING STANDARDS
Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5
7. Draw on information from
multiple print or digital sources demonstrating the ability to locate an answer
to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
9. Integrate information from several texts on
the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
Speaking & Listening K-5
1. Engage
effectively in a range of collaborative discussions, building on others’ ideas
and expressing their own clearly.
3.
Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering
appropriate elaboration and detail.
4.
Report on a topic with appropriate facts and relevant descriptive
details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
Resources:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/obesity/symptoms-causes/syc-20375742
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/11209-weight-control-and-obesity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3916087/