Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:Fifteen participating centers, with the full sample of 321 children enrolled, located in Wake County, North Carolina, had an average of 52% subsidized enrollment, suggesting that more than half of the sample participating during the project included children socially, economically, and/or educationally disadvantaged. When parents signed the informed consent form, they received project flyers including evidence-based information about the importance of gardening, healthy eating behaviors, and physical activity for preventing early onset of obesity. Fifteen center directors and 55 teachers/caregivers were also engaged as segments of the project target audience. Directors completed an online application containing information regarding the importance of children's healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing obesity. Teachers received similar information through consent forms and face-to-face information, along with educational guidance on gardening activities with children. Additionally, teachers at intervention sites (n=5) received a hard copy of the Gardening Activity Guide. During the life of the project, a total of 100 NC State University undergraduate and graduate students received trainings on the importance of healthy eating behaviors for preventing early onset obesity, as well as exposure to scientific procedures for collecting data on children's liking of fruit and vegetables, physical activity monitoring, and technical knowledge regarding food safety. Note: In March 2020, recruitment of new children was halted, and the 23 volunteers trained in Winter 2020 did not participate in the project as data gathering was suspended due to COVID-19. Efforts were made to reach education and extension communities by making presentations and sharing materials developed by the project with the National Community College Early Childhood Education faculty network (ACCESS) during the pandemic years. Cooperative extension wide audiences were reached via the NC State University Horticulture Sciences Department, Master Gardeners Program, and Master Food Volunteer team, as well as Cooperative Extension agents, eXtension program, and EFNEP educators. Continuous dissemination of information to reach multiple audiences was carried out via online print materials, multimedia resources, conference presentations, and outreach to national professional networks: CDC-Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity (DNPAO) partners and grantees, Nemours Children's Health, State Network, Community College Teacher's Association ACCESS, eXtension, SNAP-Ed. The dedicated webpage for the project was launched July 2022 https://naturalearning.org/coleafs and updated in 2023 showing the integrated project components, articles published, and products developed. A total of 3,026 visits to the COLEAFS page have been registered to date (August 2023). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A wide audience of public health and environmental science professionals, instructors, researchers, and childcare providers is being reached via presentations, courses, social media, and website activities. Non-traditional audiences interested in children's health and well-being are growing among them landscape architects and contractors, horticulture students, designers, and green industry agents. PRESENTATIONS Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). June 20-23, Mexico City, Mexico. Gardening in Childcare Centers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Effects on Physical Activity. Nilda G. Cosco (presenter), Nancy M. Wells, Derek Hales, Muntazar Monsur, & Robin C. Moore (presenter). Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA). June 20-23, Mexico City, Mexico. Interactive Virtual Tours (IVTs) for Advancing Nature Connections and Physical Activity at Childcare Outdoors. Presenters: Muntazar Monsur, Nilda Cosco, Robin Moore, Stacey Johnson. International Conference on Environmental Psychology (ICEP). June 20-23, Aarhus, Denmark, Paper #: 429. Childcare Gardening: A RCT examining effects of a garden intervention on children's physical activity. Part of Symposium: "Nature-based experiences in and around the school environment". Nancy M. Wells (presenter), Nilda G. Cosco, Derek Hale, Muntazar Monsur, & Robin C. Moore. International Society for Behavioral Nutrition + Physical Activity (ISBNPA) Uppsala, Sweden 14-17 June 2023, Uppsala, Sweden, Paper Number 683. Gardening in Childcare Centers: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Effects on Physical Activity among Children. Nancy M. Wells (presenter), Nilda G. Cosco, Derek Hale, Muntazar Monsur & Robin C. Moore. Association of Public Heath Nutritionist Conference-CDC. Washington, DC. December 8, 2022. Outcomes from the Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments (COLEAFS) Integrated Study. Presenter: Nilda Cosco. COURSES Courses created within COLEAFS to support the Education and Extension Components: Gardening with Young Children. Online, self-paced, 5-week course. National and international audience of public health professionals, early childhood educators and providers, community college instructors. Lead instructor: Robin Moore. Co-Instructor, Nilda Cosco. 50 participants in 2023. Courses using educational resources created within COLEAFS: Early Childhood Outdoor Learning Environments Certificate Program. Online self-paced, 12-week course. National and international audience of public health professionals, early childhood educators and providers, community college instructors. Lead instructor: Nilda Cosco. Co-Instructor, Robin Moore. Approx 150 participants/year. Designing Early Childhood Outdoor Environments Certificate Program. Online self-paced, 12-week course. National and international audience of practitioners, college instructors, and students in horticulture sciences, landscape and building design, including licensed landscape architects and architects. Lead instructor: Robin Moore. Co-Instructor, Nilda Cosco. Approx 40 participants/year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments as Active Food Systems ("COLEAFS") was aimed at influencing policies by creating evidence supporting the critical importance of gardening in early childhood. The COVID-19 pandemic showed the urgency for creating local food sources and training teachers & parents about gardening. Childcare outdoor learning environments became the place to maintain stable groups in ample space, increase physical activity, reduce transmission rates, engage children in hands-on gardening, and supply fresh produce. Research findings applied to education and extension programs show the potential to influence childcare policy and regulations to shape national quality improvement and accreditation systems, using gardening as a viable strategy to combat hunger and support active lifestyles. COLEAFS' integrated strategy has the potential to reach approximately 76% US population in regions with a growing season >200 days/year, where 77% US regulated childcare centers are located. Resources are being adapted for climatic zones as varied as Texas and Hawaii. The installation of fruit and vegetable (FV) childcare gardens along with management assistance should be a national priority. Globally, COLEAFS responds to UNICEF's 2021 publication, "The Necessity of Urban Green Space for Children's Optimal Development," which prioritizes childcare centers/schools for local action, including gardening. OVERVIEW COLEAFS was designed as a three-component project, with a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) as the research component. The RCT examined the effect of a gardening intervention on fruit and vegetable (FV) identification, liking, and consumption outcomes, and associated physical activity of 3-5 year old children enrolled in childcare, in Wake County, NC. Fifteen childcare centers in low-income areas were randomly assigned to intervention (Year 1 intervention), waitlist control (Year 2 intervention), and control group (no intervention). The garden intervention comprised six raised beds planted with warm-season fruits/vegetables. A Gardening Activity Guide describing 12 age-appropriate gardening steps was distributed among participating teachers as a resource guide to lead hands-on gardening activities during the growing season. A gardening assistant visited intervention centers every week to monitor the gardens and collect activity information. FV identification and FV liking were measured using a tablet-enabled protocol. FV consumption was measured by weighing FV before and after a snack session. Physical activity was measured using Actigraph GT3x+ worn by children for three consecutive days while at the childcare center. Sample: A total of 321 children aged 3-5 years received parental consent and assented to participate in data collection. Because enrollment in centers serving vulnerable populations is unstable and to compensate for attrition and scheduling conflicts (some children didn't attend every day), additional children were recruited in Year 2. The overall number of children included in analyses was 285 for FV consumption, identification, and liking outcomes and 289 for the physical activity outcomes. By employing RCT methodology, this study offers compelling research design and methods, addresses a critical gap in the empirical literature, and is a step toward evidence-based regulations to promote early childhood healthy habits. See IJERPH Protocol paper. RESULTS Fruit and Vegetable (FV) identification, consumption, and liking. During Spring and Fall 2018 and 2019 measurements were conducted for FV identification, liking and consumption during a tasting session. Children who received the garden intervention are expected to identify FV more accurately and eat 25 grams more fruit and 14 grams more vegetables during snack time (about 38 grams more FV combined, statistically significant results). See Frontiers Journal article. While the finding that snack-time consumption increased by 25g of fruit and 14g of vegetables may seem modest, 25g is ΒΌ cup of fruit which equates to one serving for 3-5 yo according to the CACFP guidelines (FNS, USDA, 2022). Similarly, 14g of vegetables is slightly less than 1/8 cup, which is equivalent to a half serving of vegetables. If scaled across four daily snacks and meals (am and pm snacks, lunch, and supper), the total increase may reach 4 servings of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables bringing children to recommended daily consumption of 3 cups of FV daily (USDA, 2021) Physical Activity This study examined the effects of a childcare gardening intervention on children's physical activity (PA). Across the two-year study, PA was measured for 3 days at 4 data collection periods using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. A significant intervention effect was found for Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) (p < 0.0001) and Sedentary minutes (p = 0.0004), with children at intervention centers acquiring approximately 6 min more MVPA and 14 min less sedentary time each day. Intervention effects were considerably stronger for boys than for girls. Given that boys are typically more physically active than girls early in life, the stronger intervention effect for boys is consistent with the Matthew Effect (pre-existing advantages amplification). Secondly, age moderated the effects of the intervention: the youngest children were the most strongly affected. This finding is consistent with prior evidence suggesting that "THE EARLIER THE BETTER" is most effective for interventions targeting health behaviors. See IJERPH paper on PA. This study makes an important contribution as the first to identify differential effects of a gardening intervention on physical activity by sex and age. This impact merits attention if issues of PA equity and disparity across population subgroups are to be understood. Early exposure to gardening may yield a return on investment throughout the lifecourse - impacting healthy eating and active living, particularly important for under-resourced communities. Application of research findings to education and extension programs Resources, modules, and a course were created based on results. The Gardening Activity Guide was created to support intervention sites and courses. The Guide contributes to the delivery of training skills for garden implementation supporting change in knowledge, action, and conditions. Since 2019, the Guide along with other resources created by this grant, is part of a suite to aid teachers, parents, and college instructors. NC Community College instructors in early childhood, culinary arts, horticulture, landscape design and construction can access the Gardening Activity Guide and a package of resources to support online teaching. To date, 5,048 downloads of the Guide have been made (August 2023). See Products. Using the Guide, transfer of knowledge has been expanded by the creation of a new online, self-paced course: Gardening with Young Children. Children's organizations (e.g., NC Smart Start) continue to enthusiastically adopt evidence-based resources to guide outdoor learning environment improvement, including gardening. Integrating Gardening Resources into EFNEP Curriculum was created as a companion publication to the new EFNEP Curriculum. A total of 41 downloads have been recorded (August 2023). Replication of the POD gardening component by professional networks in NC, SC, and Texas is underway. The NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) is relaunching a program including COLEAFS resources (2023-2025). The Grow Outdoors South Carolina GO SC statewide initiative, based on POD, was launched in 2023. Both initiatives are co-led by Program Directors of COLEAFS. The State of Texas continues to grow the Outdoor Learning Environments (OLE! Texas) strategy. Finally, the COLEAFS project website was launched in July 2022. Since then, a total of 3,026 visits have been recorded.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Cosco, N. G., Wells, N. M., Zhang, D., Goodell, L. S., Monsur, M., Xu, T., & Moore, R. C. (2022). Hands-on childcare garden intervention: A randomized controlled trial to assess effects on fruit and vegetable identification, liking, and consumption among children aged 3-5? years in North Carolina. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 993637. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.993637
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Wells NM, Cosco NG, Hales D, Monsur M, Moore RC. Gardening in Childcare Centers: A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining Effects of a Garden Intervention on Physical Activity Among Children Aged 3-5 Years in North Carolina. (2023) Int J Environ Res Public Health, Natural and Built Environments and Childrens Health. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20115939
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
https://naturalearning.org/coleafs
Website section created to illustrate all activities and products completed through the project.
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Progress 06/01/21 to 05/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Education: National Community College Early Childhood Education faculty network (ACCESS). Extension: A wide audience was reached via presentations: - eXtension Open Forum: Children in a Sustainable Food System - Extension Master Gardener Summit presentation. - National Extension Association. Presentation & Tour, Family and Consumer Sciences. - American Society of Horticultural Sciences. Gardening Activity Guide presentation. - Wolfpack Wellness Series. Live presentation. Dr. Suzie Goodell http://go.ncsu.edu/wellness_research. - FNEP Gardening Activity Guide presentation. Efforts. Dissemination of information continues to be carried out via printed and online materials, website postings (naturalearning.org), webinars, conference presentations, and outreach to national professional networks including CDC grantees, Nemours State Network, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA), Children and Nature Network (CN&N), Community College Teacher's Association ACCESS, eXtension, SNAP-Ed. Changes/Problems:A one-year no cost extension (NCE) was requested and approved to complete publications, website development, and project resource dissemination. Justification: Due to COVID-19, starting July 6, 2021, NC State University implemented a hybrid working schedule allowing staff and faculty to work remotely some days a week. As a result, accommodations were necessary to meet immediate goals and adjust to the needs of Team members belonging to a variety of NC State University Departments (i.e., Statistics, Horticulture Science, Cooperative Extension, Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences) and those representing other community and Higher Education institutions. Although the Project Team is actively engaged, additional reasons prompted the need for the NCE request: - Attention was devoted in Fall 2021 to support the change of leadership in the unit (https://naturalearning.org/new-nli-leadership). - In 2021, the team continued to suffer intermittent isolation periods, quarantines, and care of sick family members. - Due to heavy teaching load, faculty availability to work on the project has been mostly over the summer months. - A team member suffered a concussion preventing her to be active for several months. The NCE will support the completion of planned tasks by May 2023. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two main opportunities were available for members of the team supporting the project. 1) New Moodle Version 4- learning management software (LMS) aimed at delivering content created by the project via online learning (e.g., Gardening Activity Guide Webinar Series). Moodle at NC State University supports standard online applications and plug-ins such as forums, gamification modules, books, multimedia uploads, and wikis. In 2022, NC State University is upgrading all Moodle courses (2022/2023) to Moodle 4. Some changes to are significant and require instructors to be trained. A new "user experience" is the centerpiece of Moodle 4 and has been years in the making, reflecting extensive input from both faculty and students. 2) Panopto is a new application replacing existing Mediasite. Panopto is now NC State's enterprise-level video management system to deliver online content such as COLEAFS professional development activities. With it, instructors can create video course materials at home, in the office, or in the classroom. Panopto provides essential features such as two-way communication, recording integration, adaptive streaming and more. Instructors can easily record their lectures from anywhere and post them online for the benefit of their students. After the conversion some of the current online modules will need to be re-recorded. It requires instructor training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Presentations: - Extension Master Gardener Summit Presentation. November 17, 2021 - National Extension Association - Presentation & Tour, Family and Consumer Sciences. December 16, 2021. - National Extension Association presentation. September 13, 2022. - ACCESS - Community College Network. SKIP Call Outdoor Play and Learning : Importance, Strategies, and Resources. August 25, 2021 What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the final goals of the project, the team will: 1) Continue to clean, report, and integrate quantitative and qualitative data into resources, online tools, and professional development activities; 2) Distribute resources, professional development activities via eXtension, Cooperative Extension, Master Gardeners network and institutions of Higher Education and Community Colleges; 3) Disseminate research results and materials created through the project via scientific journals, professional publications, online resources, and dedicate webpage.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
IMPACT. This project aims to influence practices, policies, and teacher training to improve healthy eating and active living of children 3-5 years old in child care. Using results from the research component, the project is creating professional development resources for teachers, extension agents, EFNEP educators, and end users such as parents and community volunteers. The project emphasizes the influential role of gardening in early childhood for healthy eating, physical activity, and outdoor learning. Globally, this project responds to UNICEF's 2021 publication, "The Necessity of Urban Green Space for Children's Optimal Development," which prioritizes childcare centers and schools for local action, including gardening. Within the context of childcare center GARDENING, this study focuses on learning about fruits and vegetables and the development of healthy dietary behaviors. Garden interventions implemented early in life may have a particularly potent impact on the development of health-related behaviors such as fruit and vegetable intake. EARLY EXPOSURE TO GARDENING MAY YIELD A RETURN ON INVESTMENT THROUGHOUT THE LIFE COURSE--impacting healthy diet and associated health outcomes. This is especially important within under-resourced communities where children's health is challenged by a host of risk factors. The RESEARCH COMPONENT examines the effect of a garden intervention on fruit and vegetable (FV) identification, FV liking, and FV consumptionamong children aged 3-5 years, enrolled in childcare centers in Wake County, North Carolina. The study is a randomized controlled trial. Eligible childcare centers--that served a majority of children from low-income families--were randomly selected and then randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) intervention (n=5 centers); 2) waitlist-control that served as a control in year 1 and received the intervention in year 2 (n=5 centers); or (3) no-intervention control (n=5 centers). A total of 543 children were identified from 15 eligible childcare centers and 250 children were consented by their parents to participate in data collection. INTERVENTION. The physical garden bed installation, with material costs of approximately $600 per childcare center, included six standardized, factory-made raised beds, mulched and planted with a standardized mix of six warm-season annual vegetables and five fruits (including adjacent perennial fruiting shrub and vine). Additional accoutrements included child-size gardening gloves, hand tools, watering cans, hose and wand, and storage box. A GARDENING ACTIVITY GUIDE describing 12 age-appropriate, sequential gardening activities was distributed for teachers to lead standard gardening activities during the growing season (April-September). Each week, teachers were interviewed, the number of garden activities delivered was recorded, and gardening stories were collected. DATA GATHERING. Data were gathered at baseline (Spring 2018) and at three follow-up waves (Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019).FV identification and FV liking were measured using a tablet-enabled protocol based upon a digital version of a picture-based 5-emoticon scale survey. FV consumption was measured by weighing each child's fruit and vegetable snack tray before and after a tasting session. Data analyses employed hierarchical mixed effects models, taking into account the nested structure of the longitudinal data - with data nested within children, and children within centers. RESULTS. Results indicate that children who received the gardening intervention, showed a greater increase in accurate identification of both fruits and vegetables. Similarly, children in the gardening intervention group showed a greater increase than children receiving no intervention in consumption of both fruit and vegetables during the snack sessions.Consistent with prior research, the effects on fruit consumption were greater than those for vegetable consumption. There was no significant effect of the gardening intervention on children's FV liking. A relatively modest, cost-effective intervention early in life may yield valuable individual and societal returns in life-long health, reduced illness, and greater quality of life. Moreover, in tandem with potential health benefits, childcare-based gardening interventions engage children in active, enjoyable learning processes, resulting in long-term multiple, positive outcomes (i.e. physical activity, healthy eating, outdoor learning) that also help to set young children on a positive life trajectory. This study offers evidence to influence childcare policy and regulations that may shape national quality improvement and accreditation systems as innovative health promotion strategies. Changes in knowledge > Changes in Action. As in previous years, Center Directors and Technical Assistance providers (TAs) are leading changes in actions (desire to continue the work, request for design assistance, inclusion in follow up projects, search for funding, interested in learning about assessment tools to monitor progress). Early childhood gardening is not only a learning strategy for childcare in vulnerable communities, but it also offers a SYSTEM CHANGE STRATEGY TO SUPPORT LOCAL FOOD PRODUCTION AND ACTIVE LIVING. Trained providers, along with the children served, have discovered that six planters may produce sufficient food for tasting, cooking, and even sending produce home. Changes in condition. Because of the need to make the most of outdoor environments due to the pandemic and encouraged by the recent influx of governmental funds supporting environmental changes (e.g., AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN), the increase of requests for resources and design assistance to create gardens and outdoor learning environments in childcare has been steady. As in previous years, COMMUNITY COLLEGES are eager to include this information and resources in courses such as child development, play & learning, health & wellbeing. CHILDCARE CENTERS, CCR&R agencies, HEAD START programs, and PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHILDREN (e.g., Smart Start) are enthusiastically adopting evidence-based resources to guide improvement of outdoor learning environments including gardening. The demand for resources is demonstrate by the number of downloads of the Garden Activity Guide (3,328 downloads to date, approximately 100 downloads/month since its release). The need to develop additional materials to support equity and sustainability is clear (e.g., installation guides, step-by-step community participation manuals, childcare gardening information for diverse regions with VARIED CLIMATE and CULTURES). The need and urgency for the creation of local food sources and training of teachers and parents on gardening due to the pandemic has been tangible. Without doubt, outdoor learning environments at childcare have become the environment of choice (weather permitting) to conduct activities, keeping stable groups in ample spaces supplying fresh produce and supporting children's activity.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Wells N., Cosco N., Hales D., Monsur M., Moore R. Childcare Garden Intervention: A randomized controlled trial to assess effects on PHYSICAL ACTIVITY among children aged 3-5 years
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Bloom D., Cosco N., Sledge B., Moore R. et al. Color Me Healthy Outdoors . One-page supplements to be used with Color Me Healthy Program when a center has a garden.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Moore, R., Sledge, B, Cosco N. Gardening Activity Guide as a resource to encourage and support fruit and vegetable gardening by early childhood teacher.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Van Fleet, E., Bloom, D., Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Bradley, L., & Moore, R. (2022). A Guide for EFNEP Educators: Integrating Gardening Resources into EFNEP Curriculum. In. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State University.https://naturalearning.org/efnep
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Monsur, M., Babb, M., & Moore, R. Hands-on Gardening Activities for Healthy Behavioral Outcomes: A Guide for Teachers to Engage Preschool Children in Gardening Opportunities in Childcare Centers
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Under construction: https://naturalearning.org/coleafs
Website section created to illustrate all activities and products completed through the project. Developed storyboard and subsections (research, education, education).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Cosco N, Wells, N, Zhang , Goodell, LS, Monsur M, Xu T, Moore RM.. Childcare Gardening Intervention: A randomized controlled trial to assess the effects on FRUIT AND VEGETABLE IDENTIFICATION, LIKING, AND CONSUMPTION among children aged 3-5 years. Frontiers in Psychology, Nature-based Learning and Development: Maximizing the Returns on Investment - Volume II. Under review.
Submission June 23, 2022.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Cosco NG, Wells NM, Monsur M, Goodell LS, Zhang D, Xu T, Hales D, Moore RC. Research Design, Protocol, and Participant Characteristics of COLEAFS: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Childcare Garden Intervention. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 10;18(24):13066. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182413066. PMID: 34948677; PMCID: PMC8701829. Journal Article. December 2021
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Progress 06/01/20 to 05/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Research: Planned target audience 2020/2021: Five center directors and 10 teachers/caregivers who had participated during the two previous years, were reached again during the current reporting period to assess the long-term effects of the intervention. As in past years, directors completed an online application containing information regarding the importance of children's healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing obesity. Teachers received information through consent forms and face-to-face short sessions, along with educational guidance on gardening activities with children before the pandemic stay at home measures were in place. Research activities were halted in June 2021. Education: National Community College Early Childhood Education faculty network (ACCESS). Extension: A wide audience was reached via the Horticulture Sciences and Master Gardener and the Food Volunteer Coordinator team members: Cooperative Extension agents, Master Gardeners, Master Food Volunteers, eXtension program, EFNEP educators. Dissemination of information is being carried out via printed and online materials, website postings (naturalearning.org), webinars, conference presentations, and outreach to national professional networks (CDC grantees, Nemours State Network, Community College Teacher's Association ACCESS, eXtension, SNAP-Ed). Changes/Problems:Research delays are due to the difficulty to reach research sites that were temporarily closed and the regulations that, still today, do not allow strangers in childcare premises. NC State University worked remotely since March 17, 2020 to July 5, 2021. Starting July 6, 2021, a new schedule was implemented including a remote workday/week. The reaccommodating of faculty tasks and the move from fully remote working/teaching to partial remote activities has caused disruption in planned activities and processes. In addition, the team is still suffering from intermittent isolation periods, quarantines, and care of sick family members. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two main opportunities were available for members of the team supporting the project. 1) Moodle - learning management software (LMS) aimed at delivering content created by the project via online learning (e.g., Gardening Activity Guide Webinar Series). Moodle at NC State University supports standard online applications and plug-ins such as forums, gamification modules, books, multimedia uploads, and wikis. 2) REPORTER - a Platform Application as a Service (PaaS) whose objective is to create a reliable registration system for online professional development activities. The focus of the application is to track, manage, report, ensure compliance, and measure NC State University external outreach activities. Training is required. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Processes, strategies, and results have been disseminated through conferences, national network presentations, and invited webinars as follows: Well-Ahead - Louisiana Department of Health Office of Public Health. Presentation. June 23, 2021 Creating healthy outdoor play and learning environments for young children Nilda Cosco, PhD Research Associate Professor, NLI Director of Programs Robin Moore, MCP, Hon ASLA Professor of Landscape Architecture, NLI Director Nemours Healthy Kids Healthy Future - Network Call. October 23, 2020 Creating healthy outdoor learning environments Nilda Cosco, PhD Research Associate Professor, NLI Director of Programs Robin Moore, MCP, Hon ASLA Professor of Landscape Architecture, NLI Director Misty Pearson, Med, Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Prevention. South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control SCDHEC eXtension Open Forum. May 19 2021 Introduction to the Gardening Activity Guide Nilda Cosco, PhD Associate Research Professor, Director of Programs Bria Sledge, MA, Early Childhood Program Associate ISGA-Japan Japan Branch of the International School Grounds Alliance. July 1, 2021 Natural Learning: Gardens, Schoolyards, and Early Childhood System Change Nilda Cosco, PhD Associate Research Professor, Director of Programs CDC Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity Networking Call. July 15, 2021 Outdoor Learning Environments for Child Care Settings: Physical Activity, Healthy Nutrition, and Equity Nilda Cosco, PhD Associate Research Professor, Director of Programs Robin Moore, MCP, HonASLA, Professor of Landscape Architecture, Director 2021 American Society for Horticultural Science ASHS Conference Recorded presentation July 15, 2021 Gardening Activity Guide: A resource for early childhood educators to promote vegetable and fruit gardening Robin Moore, MCP, HonASLA, Director Nilda Cosco, PhD, Director of Programs Bria Sledge, MA, Early Childhood Program Associate Lucy Bradley, Ph.D., Professor, Consumer and Community Horticulture ACCESS - EArly childhood Associate Degree Teacher Association SKIP Call. August 25, 2021 Outdoor Play and Learning : Importance, Strategies, and Resources Nilda Cosco, PhD Associate Research Professor, Director of Programs Bria Sledge, MA Early Childhood Program Associate Ronda Hawkins, MA. Ed. Early Childhood Professor TLC Assistant Director, Sandhills Community College What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish the goals of the project, the team will 1) continue to clean, report, and integrate quantitative and qualitative data into resources, online tools, and professional development activities; 2) distribute resources, professional development activities via eXtension, Cooperative Extension, Master Gardeners network and institutions of Higher Education and Community Colleges; 3) disseminate research results via scientific journals and professional publications.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact. This project aims to influence practices, policies, and teacher training to improve healthy eating, active living, and outdoor learning of children 4 & 5 years old by creating evidence about the influential role of gardening in early childhood (EC). Globally, this project responds to UNICEF's 2021 publication, "The Necessity of Urban Green Space for Children's Optimal Development," which prioritizes childcare centers and schools for local action, including gardening. Pre- pandemic, over 11 million US children younger than five attended some type of childcare arrangement where they spent most of their waking hours learning, receiving healthy food, and exercising. The study sample is composed of 289 children. Installation of fruit and vegetable (FV) gardens has already benefitted children attending intervention sites pre- pandemic (approx. 1,000 as of 6/2020). Current children impacted by the intervention is difficult to estimate as centers are faced with unstable enrollment, teacher recruitment issues, and unemployed families. This promising, integrated strategy has the potential to reach approximately 76% US population living in regions with a growing season >200 days/year, where 77% US regulated childcare centers are located. Resources are being adapted different climatic zones such as Texas and Hawaii. Changes in knowledge > Changes in Action. Trained Center Directors and Technical Assistance providers (TAs) are spearheading changes in actions (desire to continue the work, request for design assistance, inclusion in follow up projects, search for funding, interested in learning about assessment tools to monitor progress). EC gardening is not only a learning strategy for childcare in vulnerable communities, but a system change strategy to support local food production and active living. Trained providers, along with the children served, discover that six planters may produce sufficient FV for tasting, cooking, and sending home. Changes in condition. Because of the need to make the most of outdoor environments due to the pandemic and encouraged by the recent influx of governmental funds supporting environmental changes (e.g., AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN), there is an increase of requests for resources and design assistance to create gardens and outdoor learning environments in childcare. COMMUNITY COLLEGES are eager to include this information and resources in courses such as child development, play & learning, health & wellbeing. CHILDCARE CENTERS, CCR&R agencies, HEAD START, and PARTNERSHIPS FOR CHILDREN (e.g., Smart Start) are enthusiastically adopting evidence-based resources to guide improvement of outdoor learning environments including gardening. The demand for resources is demonstrate by the 2,000 downloads of the Garden Activity Guide to date. It also stresses the need to develop additional materials to support equity and sustainability (e.g., installation guides, step-by-step community participation manuals, childcare gardening information for diverse regions with VARIED CLIMATE and CULTURES). During COVID-19 the need and urgency for the creation of local food sources and training of teachers and parents on gardening was palpable. Indeed, outdoor learning environments at childcare have become the environment of choice (weather permitting) to conduct activities, keeping cohorts (bubbles) stable in ample spaces supplying fresh produce. Reopening participating centers are using the outdoors as a healthy environment for all. a) Contribute scientific evidence on hands-on FV gardening in childcare. Data cleaning and consolidation of files is complete. Preliminary results are being reviewed and interpreted as the research team is available. Second submission of the method paper is finalized. The study was successfully registered under ClinicalTrials.gov. Identifier: NCT04864574. 1) Preliminary results show that children attending intervention sites (FV gardens installed, teacher training) increased their capacity to identify fruit and vegetables FV (P=.001); they report having tasted more selected FV (P=0.009) as shown in portable devices, and they consumed more FV in the snack session (P <0.001). 2) Physical activity: 2018-2019 preliminary results show statistically significant reduction of sedentary activity (P=0.04) with the intervention group getting about one hour less of sedentary time a week. This is important given that, in most cases, children attending childcare spend one hour or less outside a day. Data from subsequent data gathering year is under analysis. b) Assess the impact of a Gardening Component on 300, 4-5 year old, enrolled in 15 childcare centers in Wake Co, NC. Due to the extended COVID 19 interruption of activities, the activities with children were permanently suspended in June 2020 as children who were enrolled in the first data gathering wave were graduating, no longer enrolled, or their centers temporary/permanently closed. Contact was kept with those that remained open and TA offered as it became available (e.g., cleaning installed FV gardens for the growing season, provision of seeds, and/or distribution of resources). Currently, all 15 participating centers, directors and teachers are included in distribution list of resources and training opportunities. c) Using a waitlist/control group, randomized controlled trial (RCT), assess the impact of FV gardening intervention on children's PA, FV liking, FV knowledge, and FV consumption. RESEARCH: No further data has been gathered. EDUCATION a) Highlight the impact of preschool FV gardening on PA and FV consumption as a long-term health promotion strategy by adding an evidence-based gardening component to the POD Higher Education Modules. Gardening Activity Guide is included in the POD Higher Education Modules. naturalearning.org b) Engage pre-professional instructors by disseminating modules through community college courses in early childhood, culinary arts, horticulture, landscape design and construction. Strong connections were established with ACCESS the National Early Childhood Associate Degree Teacher Educators organization via attendance to regional meetings, inclusion annotated bibliography in ACCESS Newsletters, and presentation at a national SKIP call presentation (August 25, 2021). c) Transfer knowledge to these fields by including evidence-based gardening component in post-professional certificate programs. Activities. Processes, strategies, and results have been disseminated through conferences, national network presentations, and invited webinars. See dissemination efforts. d) Promote replication of gardening component by professional networks in NC, SC, Texas, and other venues. Delayed due to COVID-19. e) Identify early adopters and provide technical assistance for implementation. Delayed due to COVID-19. EXTENSION a) Disseminate information, tools, and resources to support parents, community leaders, TA providers, extension agents, community college instructors, and public health professionals. Activities. Dissemination of information, tools and resources has been conducted through partnership with Cooperative Extension, eXtension, and EFNEP. Outcomes: Presentations made in collaboration with Horticulture and Extension partners. See dissemination efforts. b) Develop online resources for delivery via eXtension and other distance/higher education systems, other. Activities. Coordination meetings were conducted with NCSU EFNEP Coordinator; Local Foods Ext Specialist; Urban Horticulture Ext Faculty; and Regional Nutrition Extension Association, EFNEP and SNAP-Ed. Outcomes. Creation of new resource: "Integrating Gardening Resources into EFNEP Curriculum." c) Train extension agents, TA providers, and EC educators [...]. Ongoing, delayed due to COVID-19. d) Offer Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) cooking in Years 4 & 5. Planned for Year 5.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Cosco, N., Wells, N., Goodell, G & Xu, B. Childcare Garden Intervention: A randomized controlled trial to assess effects on fruit and vegetable liking, identification, and consumption among children aged 3-5 years. In preparation.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Bradley, L., Moore, R. The Gardening Activity Guide Online resource. https://naturalearning.org/gardening-series
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Van Fleet, E., Bloom, D., Cosco, N, Sledge B., Bradley, L. INTEGRATING GARDENING RESOURCES INTO EFNEP CURRICULUM: A Guide for EFNEP Educators
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Moore, R. Gardening Activity Guide for Semi-Arid Hardiness Zones.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Cosco, N., Monsur, M., Wells, N., Moore, R., Goodell, L., Zhang, G & Xu, B. Assessing Childcare Gardening as an Active Food System: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Resubmission
|
Progress 06/01/19 to 05/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:During this reporting period, the full sample increased to 288 children enrolled in 15 childcare centers located in Wake County, North Carolina. The 15 participating centers have an average 52% subsidized enrollment which suggests that more than half of the sample reached during the current reporting period included children socially, economically, and/or educationally disadvantaged. As in previous years, parents signed informed consent forms and received project flyers including evidence-based information about the importance of healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing early onset of obesity. In the Spring of 2020, recruitment of new children to the project was halted due to COVID-19. Fifteen center directors and 55 teachers/caregivers were also reached by the project during the current reporting period. As in the past year, directors completed an online application containing information regarding the importance of children's healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing obesity. Teachers received similar information through consent forms and face-to-face information along with educational guidance on gardening activities with children. Additionally, teachers at intervention sites (n=5) received a hard copy of the Gardening Activity Guide. During this reporting period, 38 volunteers (34 undergraduate and 4 graduate students) at NC State University received online and face-to-training for data collection during the current reporting period. Since the beginning of the study, a total of 100 NC State University undergraduate and graduate students have received trainings on the importance of healthy eating behaviors for preventing early onset obesity, as well as exposure to scientific procedures for collecting data on children's liking of fruit and vegetables, physical activity monitoring, and technical knowledge regarding food safety. The 23 volunteers trained in Spring 2020 did not participate in the project as data gathering was suspended due to COVID-19. Changes/Problems:1. The data-gathering session scheduled for the second week of September 2019 was rescheduled due to hurricane Dorian that affected North Carolina on September 4-6, 2019. 2. During Summer 2019, some centers had issues with fire ants, and yellow jackets at or near the garden, causing the children to not go outdoors. Squash bug infestation was also an issue at all centers with gardens. Preventive measures were transmitted to individual centers. Challenges at center level: a. During Fall 2019, all upper management at one center resigned (Director and Assistant Director). Temporary director was put in place. b. The outdoor environment at another center was closed off due to fence repair, and the research team was unable to gather on environmental measures. c. A third center closed multiple days due to power outage caused by the Dorian hurricane. 3. Only two children participated in data collection at one center due to lack of signed consent forms by parents, absences, and others graduating to Kindergarten. 4. On March 16, 2020, Wake County Public School System closed all public schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 17, 2020, NC State University recommended all non-essential employees should work remotely. On March 27, 2020, NC Governor issued a "stay-at-home" order for all non-essential workers. As a result, data gathering was suspended, and all centers, volunteer research assistants, research partners (UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU Food Science Dept., etc.), and community helpers (Food Lion) were notified. Data gathering is postponed until "stay at home" order is lifted. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As in the previous year, training was provided to Lead and Volunteer Research Assistants (RAs) prior to data collection in September 2019 and March 2020. These sessions were attended by the five lead research assistants and 38 volunteer research assistants. All RAs were required to take online and in-person training sessions prior to data collection. Online Training sessions. The online training, AFRI Preventing Obesity by Design Nutrition Research Training Program was delivered via Moodle (NC State University distance education platform). Topics: 1) Hygiene; 2) Food Handling; 3) Knife Skills; 4) Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative's Human Subjects Research course In-Person Training sessions Instructors: Nilda Cosco, PhD, Natural Learning Initiative, NCSU, Principal Investigator; Bria Sledge, MA, Early Childhood Program Associate, Natural Learning Initiative, NCSU, Lead Research Assistant; Laura Lloyd, BS, Prof. Development Program Associate, Natural Learning Initiative, NCSU, Lead Research Assistant; Latasha Williams, MS, RD, LDN, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, NC State University.; Derek Hales, PhD, UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, UNC-Chapel Hill. 1) Study Introduction. 2) Accelerometer monitoring. Topics: overview of measuring physical activity methods; proper accelerometer fitting, interacting with children, and daily routine for accelerometer usage and storage. The following in-person training sessions were held to accommodate class schedules of all research assistants for training on different data gathering protocols. 3) Fruit and Vegetable Liking. Topics: "Plucky the Pea" story and activity, use of survey instrument, and how to interact with children. 4) Fruit and Vegetable Preparation and Consumption. Topics: Food preparation: food and kitchen safety, proper food cutting and handling of different fruits and vegetables, and food weighing and packaging. Consumption portion covered the standardized script to read to the children, how to present the food trays, how to record observations, packing of food waste, and weighing and recording food waste data. How to interact with children is also covered, including how not to positively or negatively reinforce eating behaviors. 5) Personal Boundaries for Working with Minors (new section). Topics: Appropriate and Inappropriate physical boundaries with minors. Appropriate and Inappropriate behaviors, language, dress, etc. while working with minors. 6) Early Education Garden Trainer Research Assistant In house training conducted by the Natural Learning Initiative team, College of Design, NCSU. Topics: The importance of healthy eating and physical activity, gardening with children, introduction to randomized controlled trial methods and ethical issues, gathering research data in the field, processing data systematically. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Conferences presentations to public health, early childhood education, and landscape design audiences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue with the approved plan of activities as soon as "stay at home" orders are lifted.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact. Every day over 11 million US children younger than five attend some type of child care arrangement where they spend the majority of their waking hours, learn, eat, and exercise. This project aims to influence policies to improve healthy eating and active living of children 4 and 5 years old by creating evidence supporting the critical importance of gardening in early childhood. Although the study sample is composed of 288 children, the installation of fruit and vegetable (FV) gardens is already benefitting all children attending intervention sites estimated at more than 1,000 children to date. This promising, integrated strategy has the potential to reach approximately 76% US population living in regions with a growing season >200 days/year, where 77% US regulated childcare centers are located. During COVID-19 the need and urgency for the creation of local food sources and training of teachers and parents about gardening is clear. The installation of gardens for control sites (Y3) and maintenance assistance of past years fruit/vegetable gardens at participating centers are priorities. Phone contact was established with all 15 centers and a horticulture science contractor was secured to provide services to 12 (out of the 15 participating centers). Three centers were not ready for the task or were closed due to the pandemic. Note. Results from Y2 data gathering (2019-2020) will be reported at a later time. NC State University has been working remotely since March 17due to COVID-19, delaying cooperative work of the research team. Preliminary results (2018-2019) confirm the impact of gardening on children's behavior: 1) increased children's knowledge of selected fruits (cantaloupe and blackberry) and vegetables (red pepper, yellow squash, tomato, and zucchini); and 2) statistically significant steps per day increase (1.9%, P=.02) and 20 outdoor minutes/week increase (non-significant, P=.10). The latter is a considerable amount of time for children that, in some cases, spend one hour or less outside every day. The Gardening Activity Guide, created by this study to support teachers is now a peer reviewed publication included in the Extension Publications Catalog. URL https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/natural-learning-initiative-gardening-activity-guide.The Guide is also widely disseminated via the Natural Learning Initiative website, reaching thousands of child care providers. The Guide has been shared with the NC Community College System and nationally via their network partner organization named ACCESS. RESEARCH a) Contribute scientific evidence on hands-on FV gardening in childcare. The data gathering session (9/19) was executed and preliminary results are being analyzed. The second data collection session (during this reporting period) was postponed due to COVID-19 and will be rescheduled once the "stay-at-home" order has been lifted. b) Assess the impact of a Gardening Component on 300, 4-5 year old, enrolled in 15 childcare centers in Wake Co, NC. Posttest data for the Year 2 RCT (September 2019) was collected from 15 centers, 288 children. Pretest Year 3 RCT (April 2020) was not collected due to COVID-19. c) Using a waitlist/control group, randomized controlled trial (RCT), assess the impact of FV gardening intervention on children's PA, FV liking, FV knowledge, and FV consumption. Activities. Fruit and Vegetable (FV) gardens were installed in 15 participating centers: 5 at intervention centers (Y1), May 2018; five at Waitlist centers, May 2019; and 5 are being installed at control sites (Y3) May 2020. Data. Y2 post intervention data was gathered in August 2019. Data gathering scheduled for April 2020 was canceled due to COVID 10. Results will be shared as stay-at-home order is lifted, data is gathered, and the university resumes normal activity. EDUCATION a) Highlight the impact of preschool FV gardening on PA and FV consumption as a long-term health promotion strategy by adding an evidence-based gardening component to the POD Higher Education Modules. The Gardening Activity Guide was created to support intervention sites. The Guide recently completed is included in the POD Higher Education Modules. Outcomes. Included in foundational courses the Guide contributes to the delivery of skills training for implementation to support change in knowledge, action, and conditions. Due to COVID-19 the Gardening Activity Guide along with other resources is part of a suite created by NLI to aid teachers, parents, and college instructors in early childhood. b) Engage pre-professional instructors by disseminating modules through community college courses in early childhood, culinary arts, horticulture, landscape design and construction. Activities. NC Community College System instructors received the Gardening Activity Guide and special package of resources to support their online teaching during COVID. Outcomes. Materials shared. c) Transfer knowledge to these fields by including evidence-based gardening component in post-professional certificate programs. Activities. 2019 Extension Master Gardener College. NC State University Fox Hall. June 7th, 2019. Outcomes: Gardening Activity Guide sections were successfully shared with Master Gardeners. d) Promote replication of gardening component by professional networks in NC, SC, Texas, and other venues. Delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions. e) Identify early adopters and provide technical assistance for implementation. Delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions. EXTENSION a) Disseminate information, tools, and resources to support parents, community leaders, TA providers, extension agents, community college instructors, and public health professionals. Activities. Dissemination of information, tools and resources is being discussed with Extension partners as materials are developed and tested. Outcomes. A presentation was given on June 7, 2019 at the Extension Master Gardener Gathering, NCSU. The Gardening Activity Guide has been peer reviewed by NC Cooperative Extension. b) Develop online resources for delivery via eXtension and other distance/higher education systems, other. Activities. To identify resources needed and define best channels for disseminating findings and resources, a coordination meeting (6/3/19) was conducted with: NCSU EFNET Coordinator; Local Foods Ext Specialist; Urban Horticulture Ext Faculty; and Regional Nutrition Extension Association, EFNEP and SNAP-Ed. Outcomes. Recognition of the lack of resources is shown along with strong support and desire to collaborate. c) Train extension agents, TA providers, and EC educators [...]. Ongoing, with delays due to COVID 19. d) Offer Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) cooking in Years 4 & 5. N/A
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Cosco, N., Moore. R. USDA National Institute of Food Administration (NIFA) Annual Program Directors Meeting. Poster presentation. Outdoor Learning Environments as Active Food Systems: Effectiveness of the Preventing Obesity by Design Gardening Component. July 29-30, 2020. Orlando, Florida.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Cosco, N., Monsur, M., Wells, N., Moore, R., & Goodell, L. COLEAFS: Design of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) for a Hands-On Fruit and Vegetable (FV) Intervention to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Preschool Children Attending Childcare Centers. To be submitted to Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Research Methods. Submission dated June 15, 2020.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Monsur, M., Babb, M., & Moore, R. Hands-on Gardening Activities for Healthy Behavioral Outcomes: A Guide for Teachers to Engage Preschool Children in Gardening Opportunities in Childcare Centers. To be submitted to Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Great Educational Materials (GEM section).
|
Progress 06/01/18 to 05/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:In 2019, Group 3 (five centers non-intervention, control) was added to the sample composed of 273 children enrolled in 15 childcare centers located in Wake County, North Carolina. The 15 participating centers have an average 52% subsidized enrollment which suggests that more than half of the sample reached during the current reporting period include children socially, economically, or educationally disadvantaged. Parents signed informed consent forms and received project flyers which included evidence-based information regarding the importance of healthy eating behaviors and physical activity in children for preventing early onset of obesity. Fifteen center directors and 42 teachers/caregivers were also reached by the project during the current reporting period. As in the past year, directors completed an online application containing information regarding the importance of children's healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing obesity. Teachers received similar information through consent forms. Teachers received face-to-face information and educational guidance for conducting hands-on gardening activities with children. Additionally, teachers at intervention sites (n=5) received a hard copy of the Gardening Guide. During this reporting period, 29 volunteers (28 undergraduates and 1 graduate student from NC State University) received online and face-to-training for data collection. Since the beginning of the study, a total of 62 NC State University undergraduate and graduate students have received trainings, which include science-based knowledge regarding the importance of healthy eating behaviors for preventing early onset obesity, scientific procedures for collecting data on children's liking of fruit and vegetables, physical activity monitoring, and technical/hands-on knowledge regarding food safety. Changes/Problems:Challenges 1) Because of lack of adequate preparation space, fruit and vegetables were store-bought, pre-cut, after detailed briefing of the vendor. Careful measuring of individual cups and preparation of trays was executed by trained RAs following proper food safety measures. 2) The data-gathering session scheduled for the second week of September 2018 was rescheduled due to hurricane Florence that hit North Carolina September 12-15, 2018. Changes A control center had to be replaced due to lack of approval by parents. Unknown to the researchers, the center had been part of another research project for the last three years, which may have felt like an over burden and provoked parents not to accept the invitation to join the study. A comparable center was added to the sample. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?As in the previous year, training was provided to Lead and Volunteer Research Assistants (RAs) prior to data collection in April 2019. These sessions were attended by the 5 lead research assistants and 29 volunteer research assistants. All RAs were required to take online and in-person training sessions prior to data collection. Online Training sessions The online training, AFRI Preventing Obesity by Design Nutrition Research Training Program was delivered via Moodle (NC State University distance education platform). Topics: 1) Hygiene 2) Food Handling 3) Knife Skills 4) Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative's Human Subjects Research course. In-Person Training sessions The following in-person training sessions were held to accommodate class schedules of all research assistants for training on different data gathering protocols: 1) Study Introduction Muntazar Monsur, PhD, Natural Learning Initiative, NCSU, Study Coordinator. 2) Accelerometer monitoring. Derek Hales, PhD, UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, UNC-Chape Hill. Topic: overview of measuring physical activity methods; proper accelerometer fitting, interacting with children, and daily routine for accelerometer usage and storage. 3) Fruit and Vegetable Liking. Latasha Williams, MS, RD,LDN, Ph.D. Candidate, Departmentof Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, NCSU. Muntazar Monsur, PhD, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, NCSU Topic: "Plucky the Pea" story and activity, use of survey instrument, and how to interact with children. 4) Fruit and Vegetable Preparation and Consumption. Latasha Williams, MS, RD,LDN, Ph.D. Candidate, Departmentof Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences, NCSU. Topic: Food preparation: food and kitchen safety, proper food cutting and handling of different fruits and vegetables, and food weighing and packaging. Consumption portion covered the standardized script to read to the children, how to present the food trays, how to record observations, packing of food waste, and weighing and recording food waste data. The narrative script lets children know what to expect during the snack time and what to do when they have finished eating what they wanted. How to interact with children is also covered, including how not to positively or negatively reinforce eating behaviors. 5) Early Education Garden Trainer Research Assistant In house training conducted by the Natural Learning Initiative team, College of Design, NCSU. Topic: The importance of healthy eating and physical activity, gardening with children, introduction to randomized controlled trial methods and ethical issues, gathering research data in the field, processing data systematically. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Conferences presentations to public health, early childhood education, and landscape design audiences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Impact. Every day over 11 million US children younger than five attend some type of child care arrangement where they spend the majority of their waking hours, learn, eat, and exercise. This project aims to influence policies to improve healthy eating and active living of children 4 and 5 years old by creating evidence to support the critical importance of gardening in early childhood. In addition to the study sample of 273 children, the installation of fruit and vegetable (FV) gardens is already benefitting all children attending intervention sites estimated at more than 1,000 children to date. This promising, integrated gardening strategy has the potential to reach approximately 76% US population living in regions with a growing season >200 days/year, where 77% US regulated childcare centers are located. Results will guide innovative child care policies recognizing the outdoors in childcare facilities as salutogenic and supporting the installation of FV gardens, especially in vulnerable communities. Preliminary results confirm the impact of gardening on children's behavior: 1) increased children's knowledge of selected fruits (cantaloupe, blackberry) and vegetables (red pepper, yellow squash, tomato, and zucchini); and 2) statistically significant steps per day increase (1.9%, P=.02) and 20 outdoor minutes/week increase (non-significant, P=.10). The latter is a considerable amount of time for children that, in some cases, spend one hour or less outside every day. Coupled with director and teacher enthusiasm (documented by interviews and visits), we have already seen changes in attitudes showing motivation to continue gardening after the Year One intervention ended (October 2018): four/five (80%) intervention centers continued gardening over the cool season and started independently caring for the garden in Spring 2019. The project will continue to monitor this intervention "carryover effect." The Gardening Guide, created by this study to support teachers at intervention sites, was positively received and serves to coach teachers over the growing season. Distribution has been extended to early childhood providers participating in Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) projects, thus expanding reach to 40 child care centers and approx. 60 teachers working with 3,600 children across North Carolina. Additionally, the Guide is used as a resource tool for a Collaborative Teacher Network (16 centers serving ~1,100 children in Wake Co, NC). The Guide will be adopted by the NC Community College system next Fall, for use by Early Childhood Education students (Education). New role! The Garden Trainer / Research Assistant role brings together the fields of early childhood education and healthy living combined with expertise in horticulture, experiential learning, food production, and adult education (coaching teachers). The role focuses primarily on monitoring FV gardens (watering and weeding), using the Gardening Guide to coach teachers in weekly gardening activities, collecting weekly information about activities performed with children at intervention centers, and conducting a short interview at the end of the season. The garden trainer is an emerging professional area connecting indoor-outdoor healthy learning experiences in a seamless process. RESEARCH a) Contribute scientific evidence supporting hands-on FV gardening in childcare. Two data gathering sessions (9/18 and 4/19) were executed and preliminary results are being analyzed. b) Assess the impact of a Gardening Component on 300, 4-5 year olds, enrolled in 15 childcare centers in Wake Co, NC. Posttest data for Year 1 RCT (September 2018) and pretest Year 2 RCT (April 2019) were collected from 15 centers, 273 children. c) Using a waitlist/control group, randomized controlled trial (RCT), to assess the impact of FV gardening intervention on children's PA, FV liking, FV knowledge, and FV consumption. Activities. Intervention Fruit and Vegetable (FV) gardens were installed in 10 participating centers - 5 FV Year 1 (Y1) gardens, May 2018 and 5 FV gardens in Waitlist centers May 2019. Data. Y1 RCT posttest data were collected from 10 centers: 5 Intervention/5 Waitlist; 148 children September 2018. Y2 RCT Pretest data were collected from 10 centers: 5 Waitlist/5 Control centers; 160 children April-May 2019. Note: Y1 35 children continue to participate. Results Preliminary analyses show: 1) increased children's knowledge of selected fruits (cantaloupe, blackberry) and vegetables (red pepper, yellow squash, tomato, zucchini); and 2) PA statistically significant steps per day increase (1.9%, P=.02) and 20 min/week increase (non-significant, P=.10). Outcomes. Change in Condition: Creation of 10 FV gardens. Y2: 194 children and 42 teachers/caregivers in 10 intervention centers. Gardens are actively used by teachers and children and 4/5 (80%) intervention centers continued to use installed gardens during winter, after intervention ended October 2018. EDUCATION a) Highlighttheimpactofpreschool FVgardening on PAand FVconsumptionas a promotionstrategyby adding an evidence-based gardening componenttothePODHigher Education Modules.The Gardening Guide was created to support intervention sites. A pilot project at Piedmont Com College, EC Education program is scheduled for Spring 2019 (courses #157 Active Play and #153 Safety and Nutrition). At completion, the Gardening Guide will be included in the POD Higher Education Modules. Outcomes. Included in foundation courses the Guide contributes to delivery of skills training for implementation to support change in knowledge, action, and conditions. b) Engage pre-professional instructors by disseminating modules through community college course to courses in EC, culinary arts, horticulture, landscape design and construction. Activities. After the pilot is finalized in Spring 2019, NC Com College System instructors are invited to include the Gardening Guide as a teaching resource. Also invited are community college lab schools. An evaluation protocol will be created to assess resource utility. Outcomes: planning, timeline and strategy to engage community college instructors in place. c) Transfer knowledge to these fields by including evidence-based gardening component in post-professional certificate programs. Activities. Application is underway to present at the 2019 NC Community Colleges Conference, October 7-9, 2019, Raleigh. Outcomes: Gardening Guide sections were successfully used in the Early Childhood Garden Teacher Online Network, Spring 2019 (16 POD centers, Wake Co, NC). d) Promote replication of gardening component by professional networks in NC, SC, Texas, other. Years 4&5. e) Identify early adopters and provide technical assistance for implementation. Years 4&5. EXTENSION a) Disseminate information, tools, and resources to support parents, community leaders, TA providers, extension agents, community college instructors, and public health professionals. Activities. Dissemination of information, tools and resources is being discussed with Extension partners as materials are developed and tested. Outcomes. A presentation is scheduled for June 7, 2019 at the Extension Master Gardener Gathering, NCSU. Gardening Guide is currently under peer review by Extension. b) Develop online resources for delivery via eXtension and other distance/higher education systems, other. Activities. To identify resources needed and define best channels for disseminating findings and resources, a coordination meeting (6/3/19) is scheduled with NCSU EFNET Coordinator; Local Foods Ext Specialist; Urban Horticulture Ext Faculty; and Regional Nutrition Extension Assoc, EFNEP and SNAP-Ed. Outcomes. Recognition of the lack of resources along with strong support and desire to collaborate. c) Train extension agents, TA providers, and EC educators [...]. Year 3 Activity. d) Offer Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) cooking in Years 4 & 5. N/A
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Cosco N, Monsur M. Effectiveness of the Preventing Obesity by Design Gardening Component. Environmental Design Research Conference EDRA-50, May 23-26, Brooklyn. Oral presentation.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Cosco, N., Monsur, M., Wells, N., Moore, R., & Goodell, L. COLEAFS: Design of a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) for a Hands-On Fruit and Vegetable (FV) Intervention to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity in Preschool Children Attending Childcare Centers. To be submitted to Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Research Methods. In progress.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Cosco, N., Sledge, B., Monsur, M., Babb, M., & Moore, R. Hands-on Gardening Activities for Healthy Behavioral Outcomes: A Guide for Teachers to Engage Preschool Children in Gardening Opportunities in Childcare Centers. To be submitted to Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, Great Educational Materials (GEM section). In progress.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Wells, N. School Gardens & Physical Activity: Among the mechanisms linking green space to health? Green Infrastructure and Public Health Conference,Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China. May, 2019
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Cosco N, Monsur M, Moore R. Fruit and vegetable (FV) garden for preventing obesity: Hands-on gardening to increase physical activity and FV liking among preschool age children. Active Living Conference, February 17-20, 2019. Charleston, SC. Poster presentation.
|
Progress 06/01/17 to 05/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:A total of 136 children attending 10 childcare centers located in Wake County, North Carolina were recruited. Parents signed informed consent forms and received project flyers which included evidence based information regarding the importance of healthy eating behaviors and physical activity in children for preventing early onset of obesity. The ten participating centers have an average of 49% subsidized enrollment which suggests that almost half of the audience reached during the current reporting period are socially, economically, or educationally disadvantaged. Ten center directors and 22 teachers/caregivers were also reached by the project efforts during the current reporting period. Directors completed an online application containing information regarding the importance of children's healthy eating behaviors and physical activity for preventing obesity. Teachers also received similar information through consent forms. Additionally, teachers received face-to-face trainings and educational guidance for conducting hands-on gardening activities with children. Four volunteer graduate students and 12 volunteer undergraduate students of NC State University received online and face-to-training for data collection during the current reporting period. Trainings included science-based knowledge regarding the importance of healthy eating behaviors in children for preventing early onset obesity, scientific procedures for collecting data on children's liking of fruit and vegetables, physical activity monitoring, and technical/hands-on knowledge regarding food safety. Changes/Problems:Changes and Challenges Accelerometers are being used to measure physical activity instead of pedometers. After further review and refinement of methods we concluded that using accelerometers would be most appropriate to meet the goals of the study. Accelerometers allow determination of the exact time of activity that, linked to teacher journaling, will help identify the location of children at any given time. Accelerometers will be set at a 5-second epoch, thus providing accurate information about bouts of activity. Accelerometer source is the Department of Nutrition, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, including support for processing and reporting results. This is a no cost revision. Instead of store-bought, fruits and vegetable snacks were prepared at the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, NC State University Store-bought pre-cut fruits and vegetables were not readily available. Whole fruits and vegetables were purchased and snacks were prepared at a NC State University industrial kitchen facility. All food safety measures were followed during the process. Challenge: Lower number of children subjects The original research goal was to recruit approximately 20 children per classroom. However, most of the classrooms have fewer children. Also, children are sometimes moved between classrooms, which creates additional challenges for data collection. Additional classroom groups were invited to join the study. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training was provided to Lead and Volunteer Research Assistants (RAs) prior to the data collection in April 2018. These sessions were attended by the 5 lead research assistants and 16 volunteer research assistants. All RAs were required to take online and in-person training sessions prior to data collection. Online Training sessions The online training, AFRI Preventing Obesity by Design Nutrition Research Training Program was delivered via Moodle (NC State University distance education platform). Topics included: 1) Hygiene, 2) Food Handling 3) Knife Skills 4) Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative's Human Subjects Research course. In-Person Training sessions Following, three in-person training sessions were held to accommodate class schedules of all research assistants for training on different data gathering protocols: 1) Introduction to the Study Nilda Cosco, PhD, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design, Program Director 2) Accelerometer monitoring. Derek Hales, PhD, UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, UNC. Topics: overview of measuring physical activity methods; proper accelerometer fitting, interacting with children, and daily routine for accelerometer usage and storage. 2) Fruit and Vegetable Liking. Lora Suzie Goodell, PhD, NCSU, Dept. of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences. Muntazar Monsur, PhD, NCSU, Natural Learning Initiative, College of Design Topics: "Plucky the Pea" story and activity, use of survey instrument, and how to interact with the children. 3) Fruit and Vegetable Preparation and Consumption. Lora Suzie Goodell, PhD, NCSU, Dept. of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences. Topics: Food preparation: food and kitchen safety, proper food cutting and handling of the different fruits and vegetables, and food weighing and packaging. Consumption portion covered the standardized script to read to the children, how to present the food trays, how to record observations, packing of food waste, and weighing and recording food waste data. The script let the children know what to expect during the snack time and what to do when they finished eating what they wanted. How to interact with the children was covered including how not to positively or negatively reinforce eating behaviors. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The aim of this randomized, controlled trial (RCT) project is to influence childcare policies by creating evidence of the critical importance of gardening in early childhood (EC) to acquire healthy eating behaviors and active lifestyles, and thus, counteract the early onset of obesity. The RESEARCH function measures the effectiveness of the Preventing Obesity by Design (POD) active fruit and vegetable gardening component to increase physical activity and fresh produce liking, knowledge, and consumption in vulnerable preschoolers attending childcare. Three groups of 5 Wake County, NC, childcare centers (N=15) were randomly assigned from a pool meeting selection criteria. A total of 136 children are participating in Year 1. Researchers, RAs, and staff successfully completed the Responsible Conduct of Research RCR Training. NC State University IRB approved the study. The project team conducted a project full review (protocols updated, tools refined, touch-enabled iPad interface created). Quarterly meetings are held. To secure sustainability, outreach, and knowledge transfer, research findings will be included in the EDUCATION function to create higher education modules. End-user resources on the potential for increasing fruit and vegetable consumption will be disseminated through the EXTENSION function via eXtension and EFNEP. Response of childcare directors and teachers in Group 1 ("intervention") and Group 2 ("waitlist") centers (N=10) has been enthusiastically positive with center directors and teachers expressing a strong desire to learn about gardening and outdoor learning. Groups 1 &2 centers were initially visited by PI/co-PI and garden locations verified March 2018. Baseline data was gathered mid-April 2018. Standardized gardens were installed in Group 1 centers, early May 2018. Impact. Improvement of childcare outdoor environmental quality and hands-on gardening (micro-farming) will increase preschool physical activity, fruit and vegetable liking, knowledge, and consumption. This promising strategy has potential to reach a large proportion of the US population living in regions with a growing season >200 days/year (approximately 76%), where a majority of US regulated childcare centers (77%) are located. RESEARCH a) Contribute scientific evidence to the currently under-researched area of hands-on FV gardening in childcare. Preliminary results available late 2018. b) Assess the impact of a Gardening Component on 300, 4-5 year olds, enrolled in 15 childcare centers in Wake Co, NC. A Pilot Project was conducted Nov. 20, 2018 at a non-participating childcare center (Childcare Network #61, Raleigh, NC) to test protocols, estimate amount of data gathering time, and confirm touch-enabled interface effectiveness. Accelerometers were substituted for pedometers. Baseline data were collected in Group 1 & 2 centers (Apr. 02-19, 2018), including: physical activity using accelerometers, three consecutive days; fruit/vegetable liking and knowledge via modified touch-enabled interface; vegetable/fruit tasting and consumption using well-established protocols; and outdoor physical/learning environment variables using POEMS & Best Practice Indicators. Research activities were documented photographically. Data is currently being prepared to perform statistical analyses. c) Using a waitlist/control group, randomized controlled trial (RCT) research design, assess the impact of FV gardening intervention on children's physical activity, FV liking, FV knowledge, and FV consumption. Eligibility: Wake Co. Smart Start collaborated to assess all 359 centers in Wake Co for eligibility. Criteria: 1) Hold a 4 or 5-NC Star Rated License; 2) Serve a majority of children under the Wake Co Child Care Subsidy Program; 3) Contain at least 2 preschool classrooms; 4) Enrollment size within the middle third for Wake Co; 5) Operate a regulated on-site kitchen; 6) Employ cooking staff; 7) Open year-round; 8) Own/lease space for at least 5 years into the future; and 9) Do not have on-site gardening but interested in implementing. Astringent eligibility criteria considerably reduced pool of centers. Consequently, centers with lower number of children with subsidies (30%) were included in the pool. Recruitment efforts: 1) Flyer distributed by Wake Co Smart Start; 2) Follow-up calls; 3) Information packet (summary, eligibility criteria, activities). All participating teachers signed consent forms. Five intervention centers received standardized, 6-bed garden installation and a Gardening Guide (fidelity tool). RAs visit intervention centers weekly to tend gardens and collect information from teachers using the Gardening Guide. d) Translate research findings for Education and Extension Functions. End of Project Year 2. EDUCATION a) Highlight the impact of preschool FV gardening on PA and FV consumption as a long-term health promotion strategy by adding an evidence-based gardening component to the POD Higher Education Modules. Opportunities to add a gardening component to the POD Higher Education Modules includes creation of an Early Childhood Gardening component in the required Community College class (#153 Health, Safety, and Nutrition, NC Community College System), to be developed in Year 2. b) Engage pre-professional instructors by disseminating modules through community college course library systems to courses in EC, culinary arts, movement education, horticulture, landscape design and construction. Project team members will confer with other higher education faculty in national conferences to assess the potential for disseminating of modules nationally. c) Transfer knowledge to these fields by including evidence-based gardening component in post-professional certificate programs. Developed project materials will be included in the Certificate Programs conducted by the Natural Learning Initiative for the Fall 2018 Section. d) Promote replication of gardening component by professional networks in North and South Carolina, Texas (see letters of support), and other states. Replication process planned in Year 2. e) Identify early adopters and provide technical assistance for implementation. Replication activities will contain evaluation surveys to identify early adopters. EXTENSION a) Disseminate information, tools, and resources to support parents, community leaders, TA providers, extension agents, community college instructors, and public health professionals to implement evidence-based, children's FV gardening. Dissemination of information, tools and resources will follow as soon as preliminary results are available. Several opportunities have been identified including presentations at conferences and meetings of: extension (local, state), Master Gardeners, green industry, and Youth, Family and Community Sciences. Presentations will be developed as soon as the resources are created. b) Develop online resources for delivery via eXtension and other distance/higher education systems, professional and collaborators' networks, Farm-to-Childcare, and related state level and national organizations. User needs assessment conducted (EC educators, regulators, Farm-to-Childcare, and newly created Food Master Volunteers) to start resource development. Year 2 Activities will include resource/dissemination assessment: 1) Potential gardening component for existing healthy eating program (Color Me Healthy); 2) Peer reviewed extension publications on early childhood gardening (planning, installing, managing); 3) Continuing education offering for Food Master Volunteers and Master Gardeners. c) Train extension agents, technical assistance providers, and EC educators to deliver children's gardening/micro-farming TA and training to create an evidence-based community of practice. Year 3 Activity. d) Offer Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) cooking series for parents and teachers in Years 4 & 5. N/A
Publications
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