Integrating Nutrition Content into High School Courses: Sample Lesson Plans for Teachers

Obesity and overweight are common in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that obesity affects 1 in 5 adolescents in the United States and may lead to an increased risk for a variety of other health issues including high blood pressure and diabetes. With the high prevalence of overweight and obesity, it is important that youth are educated on the impacts of obesity and how it can be prevented through nutrition education. This project seeks to provide teachers with lesson plans to educate high school students on nutritional topics. The lesson plans were created by integrating nutrition content into various core subjects including math, science, and English. Integrating nutrition content into other subjects allows the classroom teacher to address nutrition while requiring few additional resources or time. All lesson plans were evaluated by a registered dietician and a licensed Virginia teacher for the corresponding subject. The lesson plans are intended to be a starting point for a larger scale program that would address other factors including food environment and community involvement. In the future, the lessons should be carried out in a classroom setting, student nutritional knowledge should be evaluated before and after instruction, and the lesson plans should be modified accordingly.