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The nutrition and learning have a strong connection. Proper nutrition 🥘 ensures students 👦 have the nutrients needed to learn at their best all day long.
‘From immunity, decreasing the risk of diseases, to improving sleep 🛌 and caring for our nervous systems, healthy eating 🍽 keeps the body performing at its best’.
Many of the education 📖 programs are focusing on academic development, and do not look at other factors which are necessary for learning. There are important factors like socioeconomic, socioemotional, health, nutrition etc. which are necessary for an effective learning to happen.
In this article we are focusing on child's nurtrition and it's connection to learning. A child's nutrition and health are directly connected to child's learning.
The three things have to be focused by a preschool environment.
H- Health
N- Nutrition
E- Education
The child's learning is also connected to the child's brain 🧠 engagement. If a child has to learn effectively the brain has to receive balanced and sufficient energy. For brain to receive a sufficient energy, the proper nutrition (Food intake) is necessary.
‘The human brain requires all essential nutrients, including protein, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water, to form and maintain its structure. Therefore, adequate nutrition is essential for brain development and function’.
Therefore the child's learning is directly connected to the child's nutrition.
A child's learning happens in a sequence of few aspects, i.e.
- Focus (Concentration)
- Analysis (*1. Assimilation and *2. Accomodation)
- Storage/Retention.
For all the above steps to happen effectively, the sufficient and timely food is necessary.
Thus as preschool facilitator/teacher, it is important that we are aware of these aspects connected to holistic child development and learning.
Note:
*1. Assimilation: This refers to a part of the adaptation process initially proposed by Jean Piaget. Through assimilation, we take in new information or experiences and incorporate them into our existing ideas.
*2. Accommodation: Initially proposed by Jean Piaget, the term accommodation refers to the part of the adaptation process. The process of accommodation involves altering one's existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.
Source: ‘Edu research and insights’
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