栄養教育をまだ受けていない小学4年生が考える体にいい食事とは

―絵とアンケート調査を通して―

抄録

The idea of healthy meals which elementary school children in the fourth grade, who have not studied this subject in the school curriculum, had was investigated through their drawings. This study was performed on the basis of the hypothesis that the drawings of supper that keeps them healthy must show us the level of their knowledge about healthy meals. Without regard to the school curriculum, they had much information concerning healthy dishes and food through mass communications, etc.
The representative menu, which they drew, consisted of rice, miso-soup, grilled fish and salad. Although they knew that the Japanese-style dish was better than the Western-style dish for their health, they did not know much about the Japanese vegetable dish. In addition, many pupils did not well understand not only the composition of the meal, i.e., staple food, main dish and side dishes, but the rule of their table setting. Some pupils drew more than one staple food and main dish in one meal and another pupil did not draw any staple foods, main dish and/or side dish at all. Dietary habits of the pupils in their home might influence their ideas of a healthy meal.
A questionnaire study about their daily dietary life suggested that the more the pupils enjoyed their dietary life with a lot of communication with their family, the more they understood healthy meals.
In order to perform a diet education effectively, it was suggested to be very important to make them interest in daily dietary life by cooperating with the pupil's family. It was also shown that the picture drawn about this subject would be a useful tool to understand the level of knowledge of pupils about the dietary life.