Comparing Two Different Teaching Methods for Teaching the Dietary Exchange List to Students of Nutritional Science

Introduction: Considering the importance of learning dietary exchange list in academic nutrition education, teaching it gains significance, too. Thus, this study is going to compare two different teaching methods regarding dietary exchange list to students of nutritional science. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 49 students of nutritional science in two semesters during 2008-2009. (25 students in the first semester and 24 students in the second semester). In the first semester the exchange list was taught by lecturing and in the second semester this was done by weighing different foods and showing the actual serving size of foods to the students. Students’ knowledge was assessed through pre-test and post-test evaluations. Their skill of dietary planning using the dietary exchange list was determined by a case-scenario. The values were scored from 0 to twenty. Data analysis was done by SPSS software. For comparing the grades in two groups, Student T test was used. Results: The mean of knowledge scores in post-test were significantly higher in the experimental group (17.5±4.5 vs. 15.0±4.7). The scores regarding the skill of diet planning were 14.0± 5.0 after lecturing method and 17.0±5.5 after weighing and seeing the serving size method (P<0.05). Conclusion: Teaching the exchange list by weighting different foods and showing the serving sizes was more effective than the traditional teaching method of lecturing for students of nutritional science.