| Surveys reveal adolescent's failure to consume enough fruits and vegetables resulting in dietary inadequacy. Many personal and environmental factors affect personal food preferences. Human nutrition depends on agriculture-based businesses. Implemented in a middle school, Alaskan Adolescent Nutrition Project used five lessons, based on growing plants in vertical drip irrigation hydroponics units, and questionnaires; covering plants, nutrition, health, and agriculture. A mixed method, single sample, cross sectional survey of the participants revealed significant findings related to food preferences and gardening plans. A formative evaluation exposed the complications of implementing an indoor garden and complex lesson plans in a crowded science curriculum. Participants preferred a variety of fruits and vegetables and enjoyed the indoor garden. While the results show significant changes in attitude toward these foods, plans to change eating behaviors failed significance. An expanded taste test will provide opportunities to explore additional food-related topics. Follow-up research could measure the sustainability of garden-based instruction. |
