Junior High Home Economics Curriculum: Its Effect on Students' Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of nutrition instruction, using the curriculum Nutrition In a Changing World, A Curriculum for Home Economics, Grades 7‐9, on improving the nutrition knowledge, selected food/nutrition attitudes, and dietary behavior of junior high home economics students. There were three groups of students, one experimental and two control groups, at each grade level (seven through nine). The experimental group was pretested, taught the nutrition curriculum and posttested. One control group was only posttested to measure the effect of the pretest on posttest performance. A second control group was pretested and posttested. Neither control group received nutrition instruction until after the study was completed. Three instruments were used to collect data: a nutrition knowledge test, a food/nutrition attitude instrument, and a food frequency form. The results indicate that, at all grade levels, the experimental group had significantly improved knowledge scores. Little change in attitude scale scores was noted in grades seven and eight, while ninth grade experimental students scored significantly higher on the posttest for all attitude scales. Little improvement was seen in the posttest food frequency scores. 1982 American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences