The purpose of this study was to establish and apply a teaching-learning approach based on Merrill's first principles of instruction and to evaluate its instructional design in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal. Students' application of ...
The purpose of this study was to establish and apply a teaching-learning approach based on Merrill's first principles of instruction and to evaluate its instructional design in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal. Students' application of the nutrition education was also evaluated. To do this, the author considered the significance of the first principles of instruction (from a problem-centered approach through activation, demonstration, application, and to integration), generalized the pebble-in-the-pond model and levels of instructional strategy presented by Merrill, and prepared a theoretical framework for instructional design of nutrition education on the topic of salt reduction. The subjects were 239 students who were the first and the second graders from eight classes in two middle schools located in Daegu, divided into two groups: 118 in the education group and 121 in the non-education group. The author prepared a teaching-learning process, used or developed materials and media, and conducted three sessions of nutrition education. Effects of the education based on the first principles of instruction on nutrition knowledge, eating attitude, eating behaviors, and perception were evaluated by comparing and analyzing the responses of the two student groups before and after the education. There were no significant differences between the two groups before the education, but after the education, the education group showed significant improvement in the scores of nutrition knowledge (p<0.001) and showed positive changes in eating attitude (p<0.001). The education group showed more desirable changes in attitude for the item, "Currently I eat less salty food, and I will in the future," when compared to the non-education group (p<0.01). After the education, the education group showed significant reduction in eating behaviors such as "When the food is not salty, I put more salt or soy sauce" (p<0.05), "I dip plenty of soy sauce or vinegared red pepper paste when eating fries, pan-fried food, and raw fish" (p<0.05), and "I tend to choose cookies rather than fruit or milk as snacks" (p<0.01), when compared to the non-education group. As for the item, "I tend to eat processed food such as ramen, boiled fish paste, ham, and canned food," the difference between the two groups increased significantly after the education (p<0.001) than before the education (p<0.05), and perception of sodium as related to a salt-reduced diet improved in the education group more than in the non-education group after the education (p<0.001). Some students responded that the educational media focused sufficiently on key contents to contribute to understanding necessary knowledge; 62.7% responded positively interest in the group learning activities; 29.1% were interested in the presentation activities. Regarding the educational method used for changing eating habits based on the Merrill's first principles of instruction, 75.5% of the subjects reacted positively, and 73.7% said that they would follow a salt-reduced diet after the education. Conclusively, the nutrition education based on the Merrill's first principles of instruction had effects in terms of improving knowledge, attitude, and behavior, and the students were generally positive about the education. Therefore, systematic nutrition education with a sound instructional design based on educational theories has been shown to be effective in terms of positively changing attitudes and behaviors of students who have had this education.