Mexican students working on international plan vs. childhood obesity

Tec Guadalajara students from the Integrated Wellbeing and Nutrition degree course (LNB) are collaborating on an international research project about childhood obesity, thanks to the Global Classroom initiative.

The sixth-semester students are working in collaboration with graduate students from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Drake University, Iowa, in the United States.

They will evaluate the nutritional status of 32 children between the ages of 10 and 11 from the Reforma de 1857 public primary school, located in Zapopan, Jalisco.

Based on the assessment, they will design an intervention project that will include a physical activity and nutrition program to improve the children’s health.

The challenge will be conducted during the first half of 2022 and will be divided into two parts:

• Assessing nutritional status and determining factors from February 14 to March 18
• Designing and applying the nutrition program from March 28 to May
  
   

Experiential and international learning

This exercise is possible thanks to the Tec’s Global Classroom program, an initiative based on the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) methodology.

Global Classroom links projects and courses from the different participating universities through the use of technological tools to:

• Connect students through an international experience,
• Foster collaboration, and
• Facilitate learning in multicultural virtual environments.

Yareni Gutiérrez, the Western Region Director of the Tec’s Nutrition Department, explained that the project goal is for students to continue having a multicultural experience despite not leaving their campus.

She said that working with graduate students from Scotland and the United States is also an internationalization experience.

“Thanks to the information collected, we’ll be able to identify the root cause of the prevalence of childhood obesity and create interventions that allow us to reduce this percentage,” Fernanda Igual.

Fernanda Igual, a participating student, points out the importance of her work with children to tackle childhood obesity in Jalisco.

“A lot of children have weight problems in our country. The opportunity of going to a school to conduct dietary assessments on children is going to help us a lot in our degree course.

“Thanks to the information collected, we’ll be able to identify the root cause of the prevalence of childhood obesity and create interventions that allow us to reduce this percentage,” she said.

Alejandra Soriano, another student participating in the project, talked about the lessons learned from taking part in Global Classroom.

“It’s very interesting to learn about the different contexts of Mexico, Scotland, and the United States in terms of childhood obesity.

“In the United States, children receive a healthy breakfast at school. We see the contrast in Mexico, where the school in which we’re working only sells candy,” she explained.

Yareni Gutiérrez added that this project provides the students with lessons that they would not learn in a traditional classroom.

“They develop skills such as diversity... At the Tec, we want students to interact multiculturally... and respect other professions and cultures.

“It’s all based on human rights. That’s why we expose them to this analysis within multicultural environments,” she said.

Collaboration and community work

Yareni Gutiérrez said that Global Classroom allows them to collaborate to create a proposal for a nutrition program to tackle childhood obesity in Jalisco.

This will give them the opportunity to compare the obesogenic environment at schools in Mexico, Scotland, and the United States.

“Globally, we’re working to contribute to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, in particular with 3.4, which is to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases in adults,” said Gutiérrez.

Some of the skills that students will develop by participating in this project include:

• Nutritional diagnosis: Carried out according to the Nutritional Care Process (NCP) for health care.
• Population diagnosis: Related to diet and nutrition, by identifying health problems in the environment.
• Research methodology: By investigating variables associated with public health issues.
• Diversity: Enriching personal and professional duties by collaborating with people from different degree courses and cultures.

• Systemic thinking: Analyzing problems with an integrated vision through interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches.

“I’m very excited, I really like that we’re doing our bit... To help a school that’s very close (to the campus) and carry out an intervention,” added Alejandra.

“Practicing in person helps us to improve our communication with school patients. I’m very excited that the moms and the kids have agreed to be part of the project.

“I’m really enjoying this area of research on obesity and metabolic diseases. It’s something I could do as a career,” said Fernanda.

This is how the Tec is giving its students the chance to have an international experience with significant learning and opportunities for professional development and research.

Gutiérrez also said, “this type of challenge is evidence that they’re capable of solving real problems in local and international contexts.

“Thus, we encourage diversity, inclusion, and appreciation for other cultures and their own, while working with graduate students from other countries,” she concluded.

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