Living Sustainably Eating a Plant-Based Diet

To Promote Physical & Environmental Health

Robin McDaniel

Curriculum Philosophy

Curriculum is a combination of text and teaching guidelines educators use to convey information to students. It is not just about book learning, but involves the total learning experience. Students have different learning styles and curriculum should present all different teaching methods including audial, visual and kinesthetic whenever possible to address their individual needs.

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When it comes to writing curriculum I think the most important thing is to come up with a set of objectives and goals that you would like to achieve. Goals need to be specific, measurable and attainable, and developmentally appropriate for all students. Once you have a set of objectives, you can align curriculum to fit in with the desired goals. Both formal and informal assessment is a good way to know what areas your students already know and what you need to teach in order to help them achieve success. Assessment should occur before, during and after curriculum development and implementation to ensure successful execution.

Writing CurriculumWhat Curriculum is to me

Progressivism & Liberal Teaching Ideology

• Progressivism? by Alfie Kohn (Core Principles According to Alfie Kohn)

• Organize learning around problems, projects, and student questions

• Thinking is messy

• Do not want learning criterion to get in the way of student interest

• If students are “off task,” the problem may be with the task, not with the kids.

• Lots of student interaction and discussion.

• Teacher acts as a guide.

• Children learn decision-making through experience, not by following directives.

• Focus less on kids behavior and more no their needs

• Rewarding students may backfire and cause them to lose interest in subject or problem and become more interested in the reward.

• Even though all learning can be assessed, it is difficult to measure some learning effectively (example: thinking, mindset, process).

• Reducing learning to only assessment will decrease value of learned information.

• Standardized tests assess the least important aspects of learning and only serve to give the appearance that learning has occurred.

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Vision

• To promote a healthy environment through inspiring the undertaking of plant-based nutrition and sustainable living.

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Literature Review: Environmental Sustainability: Backcast Study

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• This paper looks at the how energy used to produce and transport food can be reduced to a sustainable level. The study is performed in Sweden and uses a backcasting approach to give some insight into what the future would look like in 2050 with an energy reduction for food production and consumption 60% lower than what it was in 2000. Areas under discussion that might contribute to decreased energy depletion include transporting, storing, cooking and eating food. The goal of the paper is to present changes that are necessary to create a sustainable food model. The authors suggest that a strong demand for sustainable energy “means that the global energy map will have to be rewritten in the forthcoming half century. Fossil fuels need to be phased out and energy use more evenly distributed globally” (Wallgren, Hojer & Miljostrategisk, 2013, p. 5803). They break down sustainability into three dimensions including ecological, social and economic.

• The authors calculated energy usage I seven groups including “(1) agriculture and fisheries, (2) food processing industry, (3) packaging, (4) trade, (5) transport, (6) other branches and (7) electricity in households” (Wallgren, Hojer & Miljostrategisk, 2013, p. 5803). They looked at each of these areas individually to get an idea of how they might use energy more efficiently to decrease levels of consumption and reach the goal of 60% less consumption.

• In the area of agriculture and fisheries recommendations include developing increased energy efficient technology, convertingto organic farming, and eating less meat and dairy products. In addition, less energy would be wasted on freezing food if more fresh food such as fruits and vegetables were consumed (ie., plant-based diet). The authors also noted that transporting meat uses a high percentage of energy.

• When they backcast to 2050 and are looking at an image of a sustainable environment they note that the production of beef and dairy products had given way to more cereals and legumes. The meat and dairy industry, according to this backcasting study, are largely obsolete.

• Although this study is somewhat limited in scope, it does seem to offer a realistic view of what a sustainable future might hold. Because we currently use almost half of our corn to feed animals that we consume, and corn makes up approximately 50% of the crops grown in the United States, using meat as a core food choice is not a long-term sustainable option.

• Wallgren, C., Höjer, M., Miljöstrategisk analys (2013). KTH, Samhällsplanering och miljö, & Skolan för arkitektur och samhällsbyggnad (ABE). (2009). Eating energy—Identifying possibilities for reduced energy use in the future food supply system. Energy Policy, 37(12), 5803-5813. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2009.08.046

“When they backcast to 2050 and are looking at an image of a sustainable environment they note that the production of beef and dairy products had given way to more cereals and legumes. The meat and dairy industry, according to this backcastingstudy, are largely obsolete.”

Mission Statement

Increase the education of all students about the importance of living a sustainable lifestyle by incorporating science and ethics based concepts of anti-speciesism and plant-based eating using a facilitative health based education program.

The goal is to provide an easy to follow curricular model that contains a body of knowledge on alternative methods to current nutritional guidelines on how to maintain optimum nutrition while living in harmony with nature, animals, and humans that make up the totality of our earthbound environment.

Through a system of learning opportunities, skill based problem-solving methods, assessment, and accountability measures, we will work to ensure every student attains their individual level of optimum academic success.

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Problem

• Animal consumption is unsustainable

• Causes environmental damage

• Increases risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes

• Is not economically or environmentally feasible for long-term sustainability

• Water conservation issues

• World hunger is not addressed

• Has negative worldwide economic impact which directly affects our educational institutions and society as a whole

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Curriculum Need

Why teach about a plant-based diet (PBD)?

• Current curriculum gives a myopic view of healthy eating

• Obesity is at an all time high in the United States and around the world.

• Accounts for diversity-an alternative design to our current food pyramid following a plant-based diet

• Education on how maintain a sustainable eating plan that will lead to a healthier environment

• Ethics based lessons that will help students become more sensitive to their fellow earthlings

• Create environmentally sensitive learners who can become knowledgeable contributors to environmental change

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Educational and Health Issues• Students lack adequate information on nutrition and nutritional alternatives

• The incidence of childhood obesity has increased by more than two times in the past 30 years (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014).

• Harvard study indicated that daily meat eaters have 3x the colon cancer risk of those who rarely eat meat (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 2014).

• Hypothesis: Meat contains cancer causing compounds such as heterocyclic amines (HCA) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) which are formed when cooked(Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, 2014).

• “Lower incidence of vegetable consumption has been linked to decreased cognitive function (Pinilla, 2010).

• “Schools play a particularly critical role by establishing a safe and supportive environment with policies and practices that support healthy behaviors. Schools also provide opportunities for students to learn about and practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014, para. 14).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014). Adolescent and School Health. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm.(Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (2014). Meat consumption and cancer risk. Retrieved from http://www.pcrm.org/health/cancer-resources/diet-cancer/facts/meat-consumption-and-cancer-riskGomez-Pinilla, F. (2010). Brain foods: The effects of nutrients on brain function. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2805706/

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Literature Review

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• With the obesity epidemic on the rise in the K-12 school system, educators, administrators, and organizations are looking for ways to integrate a more healthy food plan into their educational institutions. There is some debate as to whether making policy changes can have any effect on how the food choices children make.

• The authors used a case studies to examine how nutritional policies set by an afterschool program could work to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. They disseminated the results of forty-four studies that were performed in after school programs in the greater Sacramento, California area, and included low-income and ethnically diverse elementary-school students. The studies encompassed 8000 students over a varying time-frame.

• The Students Today Achieving Results for Tomorrow (START) program had made changes to the school snack menu to include 83% more fruit in the daily servings delivered to study participants. Start adopted a program of including five servings per day of both fruits and vegetables in a new 2001 policy called Children’s 5 a Day Power Play! Curriculum, and changed their snack vendor to ensure the new menu was implemented.

• The new menu included significantly more fruit. “The new menu provided more than half of the recommended two servings of fruit, whereas the previous menu had provided less than one third, on average” (Cassady, Vogt, Oto-Kent, Mosley & Lincoln, 2006, p. 11). These fruits were delivered in both solid and juice form, and there was no significant increase in vegetable intake.

• Results: Milk consumption declined from .29 servings to 0, and grams of saturated fat declined by 42%. There was a notable increase in nutrient percentages. The consumption of milk and cheese products was shown to contribute significantly to saturated fat intake. Study results indicate that organizational policy changes can be effective in helping schools meet nutritional guidelines. The results may indicate that administrators can use policy to help create a framework for a healthier eating plan within their individual schools or districts.

• Cassady, D., Vogt, R., Oto-Kent, D., Mosley, R., & Lincoln, R. (2006). The power of policy: A case study of healthy eating among children. American Journal of Public Health, 96(9), 1570-1571. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2005.072124

“The consumption of milk and cheese products was shown to contribute significantly to saturated fat intake. Study results indicate that organizational policy changes can be effective in helping schools meet nutritional guidelines.”

Sources for Curriculum Design

• Society-meat eating impacts the environment and therefore has a direct impact on the economics of society

• Increasing ethics associated with eliminating speciesism can benefit society socially

• Science-nutritional science behind plant based eating -scientific procedure in growing plants; and following scientific concepts for healthy eating

• Learner Centered-teaching using hands-on methods-based on tenents of constructivist learning and experiential learning

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Aims, Goals, Objectives

• Aims-Encourage students to become more nutritionally and environmentally informed and ethically thoughtful

• Goals-Facilitate awareness of nutritional, environmental and social concerns of current agricultural and food intake methods

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Objectives • Students will learn about sustainability• Students will demonstrate ability to grow

their own food• Students will define terms including ethics,

veganism, plant-based diet, speciesism, and sustainability

• Students will develop a revised nutritional pyramid

• Students will relate their own philosophy • Help students become independent thinkers• Increase awareness of dietary choice

Subject: Plant-based eating and environmental sustainability

Learning Experiences

• Video

• Hands-on activities (cooking, gardening)

• Discussion

• Presentation

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• Virtual field trips

• Technology based research

• Interview assignment

• Problem-solving

Learning experiences will include informative information about areas of environmental sustainability, plant-based growth, eating methods and social responsibility:

Modules of the instruction will include:

Curriculum Overview

• Learn about the health effects of a plant-based diet

• Discuss the environmental effects of meat production and consumption

• Discuss the ethics of speciesism and meat consumption

• Learn how to eat a plant-based diet (including meal plans and plant-growing tips).

• Learn how to reduce personal environmental impact (recycling and composting)

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Literature Review: Readiness to Eat a PB DietIn this journal article based on researchers’ qualitative research, Lea, Crawford and Worsley attempt to determine consumer readiness to eat a plant-based diet. A plant-based diet is made up of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Meat is not generally included in a plant-based diet. The study included questions on the participants’ current eating habits, readiness to change and perceived barriers to adopting plant-based eating habits. There were no significant differences in participant demographics.

The methodology included using randomly selected adult participants and who answered a series of survey questions. The studywas performed in Victoria, Australia where current dietary guidelines include recommendations of eating mostly vegetables, beans, cereals, fruits and nuts, and a moderate amount of meat and eggs. The meat and dairy recommendations in Australia align to a great degree with those in the United States food pyramid or food plate.

There were a total of six-hundred and one randomly selected participants, and on-hundred and six vegetarians or semi-vegetarians. According to the study, when participants were asked about their readiness for eating a plant-based diet, 58% said they were in pre-contemplation mode, 14% were in contemplation/pre-contemplation mode, and 28% were in action maintenance.The participants who were in action/maintenance mode reported consuming more fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, cooked cereal and whole-meal bread than those in earlier stages. In addition, the action/maintenance stage participants reportedhigher levels of feelings of well-being, health and optimal weight in contrast to pre-contemplation participants who reported a lower incidence of health and well-being, and did not see the benefit of a plant-based diet.

Researchers concluded that there is a significant difference between the pre-contemplation, pre-contemplation/contemplation, and action/maintenance modes. When questioned about the possible harmful health consequences associated with a meat based diet, the percentages of study participants who agreed meat was harmful varied based on whether they did or did not consume

meat. “For example, 6% of female non-vegetarians agreed that `Meat causes heart disease', compared with 24% of semi-vegetarians and 46% of vegetarians” (Lea & Worsley, 2002, p. 40). The authors of the study concluded that if individuals in earlier modes are provided with proper nutritional guidance that removed perceived barriers to change these participants may be able to move forward into the action/maintenance stage of plant-based diet eating.

Lea, E. J., Crawford, D., & Worsley, A. (2006). Consumers' readiness to eat a plant-based diet. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 60(3), 342-351. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602320 15

Study found that a lack of knowledge was the biggest barrier to not eating PB foods

Scope

• Project Title: Living Sustainably with a Plant-Based Diet

• Project Justification: The production of meat products contributes to obesity, disease and cognitive decline.

• A curriculum that includes information about plant-based diet and sustainability will increase environmental awareness, a sustainability mindset, increased ethics, creative and critical thinking, and sensitivity to diversity.

Weekly Requirements and Updates:

• Students: Project Deliverables

• Administration: Progress Reports

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Scope and Sequence Curriculum Organizer

High School: Nutrition Curriculum

Key Questions Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Term 4

Curriculum Organizer: Description Curriculum Organizer: Description Curriculum Organizer:

Description

Curriculum Organizer:

Description

Curriculum Organizer:

Description

Unit

Unit Title: Subject focus Unit Title Introduction to

Sustainability

Unit Title: What is a plant-

based diet (PBD)

Unit Title Ethics and

Speciesism

Unit Title

Integrating knowledge

into lifestyle

Central

Ideas

Core student understandings Environmental health Nutrition Ethics Informative practice

Key

questions/c

oncepts

What questions/concepts will

focus student learning

What is sustainability

How can I live sustainably

Why should I care?

What is a plant-based diet

(PBD)

Why should I eat a PBD?

What is speciesism

Are humans more important

How do you eat PBD

Making food choices

Cooking and eating out

Teacher

focus

What are the aims of the unit

for learning?

Environmental awareness Knowledge attainment Ethics Implementation

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Learning Standards and Objectives

Health

• Strand HE.912.C: Health Literacy Concepts

• Idea 1 HE.912.C.1: Core Concepts - Comprehend concepts related to health promotion and disease prevention to enhance health.

• Idea 2 HE.912.C.2: Internal and External Influence - Analyze the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors. Strand HE.912.P: Health Literacy Promotion

• Idea 7 HE.912.P.7: Self Management -Demonstrate the ability to practice advocacy, health-enhancing behaviors, and avoidance or reduction of health risks for oneself. read more

• Idea 8 HE.912.P.8: Advocacy - Demonstrate the ability to advocate for individual, peer, school, family, and community health.

• Strand HE.912.B: Health Literacy Responsible Behavior

• Idea 3 HE.912.B.3: Accessing Information -Demonstrate the ability to access valid health information, products, and services to enhance health.

• Idea 4 HE.912.B.4: Interpersonal Communication - Demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal-communication skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

• Idea 5 HE.912.B.5: Decision Making -Demonstrate the ability to use decision-making skills to enhance health.

• Idea 6 HE.912.B.6: Goal Setting - Demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.

12th Grade Health Class

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Learning Standards and Objectives Continued

Strand SS.912.G: Geography

• Standard 5 SS.912.G.5: Understand how human actions can impact the environment.

• Strand SS.912.S: Sociology

• Standard 5 SS.912.S.5: Social Institutions/Identify the effects of social institutions on individual and group behavior.

• Date Adopted or Last Revised: 02/14

• Standard 6 SS.912.S.6: Social Change/Examine the changing nature of society.

• Standard 7 SS.912.S.7: Social Problems/Analyze a range of social problems in today’s world.

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Sequence: Example Module

• Differentiate between healthy and unhealthy food

• Recognize food labels hidden product in foods

• Know the difference between processed and unprocessed food

• Recognize advertisements as an influence on food choices

• Demonstrate listening skills to enhance health.

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• Recognize the possible consequences to environment and self for making specific food choices

• Demonstrate recognition of the physical dimension of health.

• Name some ways media and technology may influence health.

• Name ways peer and outside pressure may influence thinking and decision making.

Healthy Eating

Example Learning Unit

• Deliverable 1: Plant Based Diet and Cognitive Function

• Video: Smart Drugs Smarts Dr. Neal Barnard

• Group Discussion: How a plant-based diet affects cognitive function.

• Assignment:

• Deliverable 2: How what you eat affects your body, animals and the environment. Animal products and obesity.

• Video: Food Matters

• Group Discussion: Can we trace the obesity epidemic to current diet standards? Should we change the diet pyramid in the U.S?

• Assignment:

• Deliverable 3: What is speciesism?

• Video: Speciesism

• Group Discussion: Is it ethical to eat animals? Why or why not?

• Assignment:

Deliverable 4: Sustainability

Video: One Cow, One Man, One Planet

Read Animal Liberation: Peter Singer (1975)

Group Discussion: Is our current food system sustainable?

Assignment:

Deliverable 5: Establishing your own garden

Video: Establishing a Food Forest

Group Discussion: Growing your own plants and living organically and sustainably.

Assignment: Grow your own edible plant

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Rationale

• macro- and micro-nutrients needs for optimum health

• U.S. and international dietary guidelines.

• Students will learn to discern food labeling

• The vegan food pyramid

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Upon successful completion of this curriculum, students will be more sensitive to diversity and have a comprehensive knowledge of the impact of plant-based diet on health and the environment.

• Learning how to choose PB foods (ex. Menu planning tables, online resources).

• Discuss sustainable food practices, and how to apply these practices to meal and menu planning.

Topics

Sequence-Based on Gagne’s Events of InstructionEvent of Instruction Theory Explanation Example of How to Incorporate Event

Gain Attention Reception How will you get and keep the students’ attention? Pose an open ended question about an interesting topic.

Use an intriguing box or other item to that makes them want to look

Inform Learners of the Objectives Expectancy How will you inform your students of the lesson objectives? Give a verbal description of objectives

Provide a video or audio version of objectives

Provide objectives in written or image format

Stimulate Recall of Prior

Knowledge/Learning

Retrieval How will you remind students of the applicable knowledge that they

learned in the past, or their previous related experiences?

Discuss previous experiences

Provide visual, audial, and scent cues

Present the Stimulus (content or

learning activity)

Selective Perception How will you teach the information or what type of learning activity

or environment will you create to foster learning?

An environment of open inquiry

A safe environment (non-threatening; no wrong answer)

Provide information in multiple formats (i.e., video, audio, kinesthetic)

Give examples

Provide Guidance to the Learners Semantic Encoding How will you provide guidance (scaffolding, support) to the learner Use varied learning strategies

Give hints or cues

Provide prompts

Use metaphor and analogy to help them construct knowledge

Use visual and audio cues to help them construct upon previously encoded

knowledge

Elicit Performance from the

Learners

Responding

(Retrieval)

What type of homework, practice, or learning activities will you

provide to help the students learn?

Hands on (kinesthetic)

Fun learning activities

Technology based activities

Interactive group work

Provide Feedback to the Learners Reinforcement What will you do to let the learners know how they’re doing? How

will you correct, affirm, or encourage them?

Provide both positive and negative reinforcement

Give corrective feedback

Provide remedial assistance when necessary

Provide analytical and confirmatory feedback

Assess the Performance of the

Learners

Retrieval How will you know that the students have learned the material or

can do the desired tasks?

Assess pre-requisite knowledge prior to instructional events

Give post tests

use discussion and observation

Use summative and formative evaluation

Use a rubric

Enhance the Retention & Transfer of

the New Skills, Knowledge, and/or

Attitudes

Generalization What will you do to enhance the retention & transfer of the new

skills, knowledge, and/or attitudes?

Practice mnemonic techniques

Help them make connections to prior knowledge base

Have the paraphrase what they learn

Have them put their ideas on paper or in some graphic format

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What is the Value of My Curriculum?

• The ability to make lifelong healthy eating decisions

• Helping keep the environment healthy

• Saving energy can benefit both the school and surrounding community.

• Environmentally educated students will be able to knowledgeably contribute to a political discussion about sustainability

3 elements :

Want learners to be able to grow an edible plant and cook a vegan meal

Want learners to know the impact their food choices have on their bodies and the environment.

Want them to be valuable members of a sustainable society.

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Evidence for goal attainment: Evaluation

• Direct Observation

• Demonstrate knowledge through presentation

• Work with groups and perform discussion

• Demonstrate the ability to grow a plant

• Perform web research, create a blog and share their experiences

• Students will prepare a plant-based meal

• Students will build and share a portfolio of completed work

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Design

• Curriculum is a about inspiring societal reform bringing about justice

• Curriculum is about increasing individual humanity and helping them develop maximum potential

• Design curriculum to both identify and communicate important intellectual advances and academic knowledge

• Eisner, E. W., & Vallance, E. (1974). Conflicting conceptions of curriculum . Berkekey,CA: McCutchan.

• Cheung, D. ( 2000) Measuring teachers’ meta-orientations to curriculum: Application of hierarchal confirmatory analysis. Journal of Experimental Education, 68(2), 149-165.

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Design Continued

• Subject Centered

• Correlation Design (Two Disciplines)

• Curriculum will be designed in a way that will provide essential knowledge for students to attain mastery of subject matter on plant based eating/sustainability (Health and Science).

• Will integrate these themes to show the interrelatedness of the two subjects.

• Problem Centered

• Social Problems and Reconstructionist Design

• Question of ethics associated with speciesism

• Environmental sustainability of meat eating

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Articulation and Conceptual Design Framework

• Horizontal and Vertically Integrated Design

• Allows for more intricate study of complex concepts

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Environment Ethics Health

Sustainability Speciesism Diet

By increasing complexity within the vertical structure and by logic with the horizontal structure

Balance & Integration

• Expands upon previously learned knowledge about health concepts

• Integrated into science concepts

• Builds upon physical education and other health class topics

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Integrated Course Design Model Example

• “INITIAL DESIGN PHASE: Build Strong Primary Components

• Step 1. Identify important situational factors

• Step 2. Identify important learning goals (Backward Design)

• Step 3. Formulate appropriate feedback and assessment procedures

• Step 4. Select effective teaching/learning activities

• Step 5. Make sure the primary components are integrated

• INTERMEDIATE DESIGN PHASE: Assemble the Components into a Coherent Whole

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• Step 6. Create a thematic structure for the course

• Step 7. Select or create an instructional strategy

• Step 8. Integrate the course structure and the instructional strategy to

• create an overall scheme of learning activities

• FINAL DESIGN PHASE: Finish Important Remaining Tasks

• Step 9. Develop the grading system

• Step 10. De-Bug possible problems

• Step 11. Write the course syllabus

• Step 12. Plan an evaluation of the course and of your teaching” (Fink, D. 2003, p. 1)

SourceFink, D.( 2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning.

http://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf

Transfer

• Knowledge and skills learned from introduction to plant-based eating can be transferred into career areas such as culinary arts, health, politics, medicine, etc.

• Increased sensitivity to ethics issues are transferrable to political activism that can promote positive societal change

• Transferrable to personal health practices that can lead to decrease in obesity and disease

• Increased cognition will assist in enhanced learning and retention

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Curriculum Foundation

• Psychological Foundations

• Based on a humanistic philosophy.

• How can learners develop as socially constructive citizens

• How can learners develop their full ethical potential as part of a larger ecosystem

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Literature Review: Friends & Family Influence on PB Diet

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• With chronic diseases such diabetes, heart disease and obesity on the rise, many studies have been performed attempting to find a direct causal link between diet and the current trend of prolonged illness. This journal article examines how adopting a plant-based diet might work to counteract the current disease trend. The authors of this study state, “Although plant-based diets may have significant health benefits, few in the United States (US) follow such a diet” (Wyker & Davison, 2010, p.168). They cite a 2006 Zogby poll that determined that only 1.4% of Americans report they follow a plant-based food diet, even though there is substantial evidence that following this type of diet promotes overall health.

• This study looks at how using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) might be used to encourage people to adopt a plant-based diet. This model uses stages such as precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance as a gauge for an individual’s readiness for change. The TTM suggests that sociocognitive factors may play a role in the readiness to change to plant-based eating.

• This study looked at 204 adults including 42.2% male and 57.8% female who were sampled from psychology students in a public northeast university. Surveys were administered via the Web, and participants were in a supervised lab setting.

• Results indicated that the participant’s attitude played an important role in whether they adopt a plant-based diet. Societal and cultural influence also played a role (Wyker & Davison, 2010, p. 172). Reduced anima. “Normative beliefs regarding how much friends, family, and other colleagues believed the participant should follow a plant-based diet were also strong predictors of intentions to do so” l suffering was more of an advantage of a plant-based diet to females than males, and these referents would be more likely to encourage females to adopt a plant-based diet. Although studies on dietary advantages have confirmed plant-based diets are beneficial to overall human health, more research needs to be done on how to best promote this diet choice.

Students should be able to make their own choices.

• Wyker, B. A., & Davison, K. K. (2010). Behavioral change theories can inform the prediction of Young adults' adoption of a plant-based diet. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 42(3), 168-177. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2009.03.124

“Normative beliefs regarding how much friends, family, and other colleagues believed the participant should follow a plant-based diet were also strong predictors of intentions to do so”

Value to Organization, Teachers, Principles?

• Creating more socially conscious and ethically minded citizens contributes to an academic environment conducive to learning

• Increasing knowledge of environmental sustainability can have positive economic consequences (i.e., reduced waste).

• Decreased incidence of obesity due to increased education can contribute to fewer sick days

• Increased cognition due to augmented nutrition consumption may contribute to higher test scores

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The Learners: What do I want them to Learn?

• Goal-What do I want them To Be?

Independent, intentional, and ethical thinkers.

• Action-What do I want them to Do?

Become a positive force for the environment.

• What do I want them to Know?

How their personal actions can contribute positive or negative environmental consequences.

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Important to know and do

Enduring Understanding

Wiggens & McTighe 36

Worth being familiar with

Worth Being Familiar WithFood choicesPB cooking

Important to Know and Do

Wiggens & McTighe

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Important to know and do

Enduring Understanding

Wiggens & McTighe 37

Worth being familiar with How to become a

positive force for the environment through food choice and environmental change

Enduring Understanding

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Important to know and do

Enduring Understanding

Wiggens & McTighe 38

Worth being familiar with Know how their

personal actions can contribute positive or negative environmental consequences.

Literature Review: Growing Interest in Veganism

• This article discusses the growing interest in veganism as a lifestyle choice, and the body of research that continues to accumulate as more humans choose a lifestyle that excludes the use of animal products in food, clothing, and other products. The author notes there may be a research gap in the vegan/vegetarian literature that is important to adoption of a “cruelty free” lifestyle. She states, “In spite of a growing body of vegetarian literature, there remains a lack of information about how people learn to become vegan” (McDonald, 2000, p.1). The author performed a qualitative study and asked questions such as are there catalytic experiences that may lead to adoption of the vegan lifestyle. She also queried whether people who adopt the lifestyle need to have an orientation to learn, or if those who choose to eat meat repress information such as cruelty that exists in the factory farming and dairy industries.

• McDonald examined Mezirow’s transformation theory as a possible explanation for how adults were able to make such a major lifestyle change. Mezirows ten steps include a disorienting dilemma, self-examination, and critical assessment of assumptions as necessary components of change. In addition, critical reflection and reflective action are necessary once an individual has completed steps such as planning a course of action and acquiring new knowledge and skills. The author determined that Mezirow’s theory alone could not explain the process of becoming vegan.

• McDonald did more information on the subject of vegetarianism, including a study that cited reasons people choose the lifestyle such as personal health, animal cruelty concerns, world hunger and environmental concern, but these findings did not explain the process of becoming vegan/vegetarian. Some of the major concerns of this study were why do some people become vegan and others vegetarian, even given the same access to information on the topic. Why do some people reject the ideology of speciesism, and how to they learn to modify their behavior to accommodate their beliefs?

• Since the researcher is vegan, she chose a phenomenological perspective with a heuristics modification for her study in order to eliminate bias. She collected interview data from twelve years of research and used purposeful sampling to disseminate the data. She then used snowball sampling to narrow down the list of vegans. She chose to interview only those who reported having been vegan for one year or more.

• The researcher found that many vegans performed years of research before transforming and that both communicative ideas (animal rights, institutionalized animal cruelty, veganism) and instrumental learning (learning how to cook, shop, read labels, eat in restaurants) are both important components for living a vegan lifestyle.

• McDonald, B. (2000). "Once you know something, you can't not know it" an empirical look at becoming vegan. Society and Animals, 8(1), 1-1. doi:10.1163/156853000510961

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“Both communicative ideas (animal rights, institutionalized animal cruelty, veganism) and instrumental learning (learning how to cook, shop, read labels, eat in restaurants) are both important components for living a vegan lifestyle.”