Making eating in the classroom relevant!

Do your students eat and drink during class?  Why not have what they eat and drink tie into their learning?!?

I teach in the nursing program and we talk about different body systems, procedures, and so on.   One of the objectives of the class is to incorporate diet teaching/nutrition as it relates to specific disease processes, surgical procedures, etc.  Over the last couple of years, I have encouraged students to eat and drink during class, but challenged them to bring food/drink relevant to the topic discussed that day.

For example, patients with kidney problems are often on a fluid-restricted diet. So, I bring cups for the students that day that only hold a certain amount of fluid and have the students see if they can only drink what’s allotted. It’s more challenging then they think and gives them a sense of empathy for the patients they care for.

We do this each week and the students really say it’s a cool way to learn and retain what I am trying to say.  They put themselves into their patient’s ‘shoes’ and seem to enjoy the snacks as well.  It’s a neat way to flip the classroom. 

Mandee Magno