Use of nutritional cards in nutritional education

As healthy diet is an important issue in the modern society, it is important that people are literate in this subject. Children acquire appropriate eating habits in their family; nevertheless school plays an important role in nutritional education. Children in primary school first encounter the topic of food and healthy diets in home economics classes in the sixth class of primary school. Teachers use a variety of didactic tools and teaching aids. One of them is nutritional cards which help pupils learn about food. Nutritional cards are a visuals means and represent a good didactic material in teaching home economics because they help us (teachers) create active and dynamic classes. In my dissertation I researched how effective and usable are nutritional cards as a visual didactic means. Primarily I was interested which information on the cards attract pupils’ attention, which they notice and interpret. I used the quiz as a method of my research. Besides the quiz I also used eye tracker, which enabled me to monitor eye movement and helped me determine which information made the pupils choose an answer. The method of my research based on the descriptive method. I applied the quantity research approach, the method of sampling was not accidental. The sample included pupils of the 6th class of primary school. 100 pupils took the quiz and 11 pupils were tested by eye tracker. The main findings of the research showed that pupils read the information of macro nutrition correctly but face problems explaining the choice of healthy foods. I have also found out that pupils most frequently decide for healthy diets because of their previous knowledge or that they guess the correct answer. The pupils are not familiar with the dietary traffic lights and therefore do not perceive it as an important factor in their choice of the correct answer. They most often choose healthy food because of the information about the food fat, energy and protein. I used the eye tracker to confirm the data I got from the quiz. The results have shown the pupils’ recognition of information on nutritional cards. I am positive that teachers should introduce and explain the use of dietary cards as a teaching tool and that the teacher should guide pupils in using the cards. By presenting the information we can substantially improve their usefulness as well as the pupils’ nutritional awareness and knowledge