Research

This research brief describes the background study that led to the conception of the GREEN (Garden Resources, Education, and Environment Nexus) Tool and highlights how it can be used to strengthen school gardens. The purpose of the study was to examine which components make up
 a well-integrated garden in New York City schools and to determine how those components work together.

Given today's pressing need for great nutrition education, alongside accessible and affordable healthy food, we set out to ask the question: how is our government responding? This question led to over two years of research into the landscape of federal, state and local investment in nutrition education.

The Tisch Food Center conducted a longitudinal program evaluation with Edible Schoolyard NYC. The study measured changes in students’ understandings, beliefs, and eating behaviors over multiple years.

The Choice, Control & Change trial was developed to determine if a standards-based curriculum could be effective at changing students’ “energy balance related behaviors” (i.e. food and physical activity behaviors) to ultimately decrease obesity risk.

Researchers at the Tisch Food Center distributed an online survey to all principals in standalone middle schools to determine any challenges or successes occurring in the first year implementing a policy that any school (or group of schools) that has a certain proportion of high-needs students can use federal reimbursements to serve all students a free lunch.

The objective of this study was to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of an educational computer game, Creature 101, based on the Choice, Control, & Change curriculum.

This was the first known study to investigate if nutrition education that involved cooking and eating the same recipes as were served in the cafeteria was more effective at changing school lunch consumption of vegetables and whole grains than nutrition education without these direct food experiences.