An exploratory survey on teaching practices integrating nutrition and mathematics in Australian primary schools

Overweight and obesity prevalence in children has increased worldwide. One factor contributing to this rise is the increase in portion sizes, with individuals potentially having difficulties with portion size estimation. Portion size estimation could be improved with portion size education involving the mathematical concepts of volume and capacity. The current study aimed to explore mathematical teaching practices related to volume and capacity measurement in Australian primary schools, with a focus on use of nutrition related examples and technology. A convenience sample of 101 teachers completed an online exploratory survey reporting information on their teaching background, experience, use of resources, digital games and curricular integration. Results indicated that the teachers surveyed favoured use of Smartboards and cubes to teach volume and capacity, and the majority reported using nutrition-related examples including household measures, recipes and grocery shopping. They also expressed having positive beliefs and interest in using digital games for teaching these concepts. Although mathematics is most commonly integrated with science and technology, the teachers surveyed indicated that a digital game integrating nutrition and mathematics could be very useful. There is potential to investigate ways to integrate portion size estimation activities within mathematics teaching practices which can be facilitated using digital games.