Session 2 observations (after mini break) and learning pts

P.S Can Audrey or Kate pass the envelopes to me so that I can analyse the results? What is the correct name of the "guess-the-picture-on-my-head" game?

P.S Hi all, pls add in more learning points that you have gained during the 2nd session.

Update: Compilation of Lit review, documentation and methodology for chapter 2 is on the way....


Session 2

Activities after the break (Tmh will note what happened b4 the mini break)

We split the group of students into four mini groups led by each facilitator. Each student took turns to have a picture placed above his or her head whereby he or she had no idea what the picture was about. The other students in the same group would then provide him or her with clues what the picture was without giving the answer away.

For instance, a facilitator placed a picture “burger” in front of a student without allowing the student to see the picture. The others who can see the picture will provide clues such as “You can find it in McDonald’s”, “it is junk food” and “there’s meat and vegetables” etc. Pictures depicting brushing of teeth, hamburger, Super Mario, water bottle, computer, milk and salad were used in the game.

Besides encouraging the students to talk about the pictures and have fun; this ‘guess-the-picture-on-my head’ game was also for us to find out their understanding about junk and unhealthy food. The students seemed to enjoy it. One discovery was that salad was not sold in the canteen. However, a learning point was that we could have printed more pictures related to nutrition and health so that we can find out more about their attitudes towards junk and unhealthy food.

The students had a mini break while the facilitators put stickers on the ground to demarcate four boxes. After the students returned, they were told to choose to stand in one box to answer each question asked.

In the first round, four television channels, including cartoon channels, sports channel, Disney channel, Channel U and 8 were placed in each box. The students were then asked to stand in a particular box that stood for their favorite television channels.

In the second round, the students were asked about their favorite type of food in the school canteen; the majority stood in the ‘snacks’ category, while others stood in either ‘Chinese’ or ‘Malay’ food category. Nobody choose Indian food as it was not sold in the school canteen. They were then asked to stand in the box that represented their favorite fast food; choices included MacDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Long John Silver and Burger King.

Throughout this game, the students got very excited and shoved and pushed to get their places in the particular boxes they wanted. Some students were unhappy about the shoving; a few were grumbling about the lack of space to the facilitators. The objective of the game was once again to find out about their perceptions of food.

Following that, the facilitators engaged the students in the ‘envelope game’. Each student had to put a hand into a particular envelope and asked their peers to write answers on his or her envelope according to questions posted by the facilitators. The student who got the most number of names and answers will win.

There were four rounds altogether. Each question was asked in each round. Questions asked included “What did your friend eat last night?”, “What food your friend dislikes most?”, “What is your friend’s favorite food?” and “What is your friend’s favorite outdoor game?” Via this game, our project group hoped to find out more about their eating habits and preferences by analyzing the envelopes that were collected at the end of the day.

However, there were problems when it came to analyzing the findings as we realized that some of the answers might be repeated by the same person, hence skewing the results. Additionally, by asking them about their favorite outdoor game, the results would not tell us if their lifestyles were sedentary or if they had sufficient exercises. Only one girl wrote “Maple” which was the name of an internet game as her favorite outdoor game.

Shortcomings aside, we were able to draw up some general findings among the students. Firstly, vegetables were lacking and no salad was sold in the school canteen. Secondly.......I need the envelopes for further information.

Towards the end of the second session, the students were asked to pen down their thoughts on the colorful pieces of paper which were pasted on a big board. The big board was put up on the wall in the school library, next to the first board put up after the first session. They were told to write about their thoughts and feelings about the games, and the types of games they would to play in the future sessions.

Learning points:

Some of the girls did not like too rowdy games whereby they had to shove and fight for their places in the small boxes. We may need to fine-tune our games a little bit to accommodate the needs of everyone and modify them according to the feedback the students wrote on the pieces of paper.

Secondly, we ought to incorporate more pictures and questions that queried about their daily lifestyles and diets so as to get a clearer picture of the kind of health issue they may be facing. We may need to engage in small talk with them to find out more about them as we can only derive general findings from the games but these findings were not as specific and detailed as we would like to have.

For the next session, more must be done to find out more about their weekly diets, exercising regime and time spent on playing computer games so that we can pin-point more specifically what is the main health issue the students are facing.

Chen MeiHui