You Are What You Eat
Experiential education camp helps kids stay healthy
By Carrie Taylor
Photos: Caitlin Browning
HelmZar, an indoor-outdoor, challenge-course facility located in Tulsa, Okla., combines steel and wood elements to bring opportunities to individuals from second grade through adult.The course bridges the gap between learning and life skills through experiential education—a process by which students develop knowledge, skills, and values from direct experiences outside a traditional academic setting.. The learning opportunities focus on team building, communication, trust, leadership, and prevention of diabetes.
The School Year
The facility serves sixth- through ninth-grade public school students during the traditional school year. The sixth-graders develop a better understanding of teambuilding, bullying, and diversity, while the eighth-graders engage in outdoor adventure activities, such as kayaking, learning about nature, the ecosystem, and ecology. Meanwhile, the ninth-grade students study the book The Ultimate Gift by Jim Stovall, regarding leadership and life lessons of work, love, gratitude, dreams, family, problems, learning, and friendship. Each program is taught using experiential education, outdoor games, and initiatives, and finishes with either a day or two at the course or a day of kayaking on the water.
The Summer
The summer at the course takes on another life, with Wellness Adventures camps teaching wellness and diabetes prevention, in collaboration with the local Indian Health Care Resource Center. The camps deal with the increasing epidemic of diabetes and examines how to change behavior and think through diabetes prevention. The partnership is crucial, as it creates many more opportunities for grants linked to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health-related grants. The camps host youth in second grade to ninth grade—most of whom do not have diabetes yet, but have multiple family members who do. The National Diabetes Statistics Report for 2017 indicated cases of diabetes have risen to an estimated 30.3 million. The good news is, according to the CDC (2019), new incidents declined from 1.7-million new cases per year in 2008 to 1.3-million new cases in 2017. The local, urban, Indian clinic has approximately 1,100 patients with diabetes, which is about 10 percent of the entire clinic population.
The camps teach about diabetes, proper nutrition, the value of exercise, self-worth, leadership, and life skills. The biggest key is prevention and encouraging youth to be active participants in their future. The games and initiatives are experiential to teach diabetes prevention, so the participants can understand the disease and understand what steps are required to prevent it.
Students engage in daily breakout sessions using fun YouTube videos and lessons. Students share knowledge retained from previous years. Each day, many of the games are designed to reinforce the videos or lessons through experiential activities to increase the learning. The students have described their fears of believing they might need an amputation like their parents or grandparents, to believing they can change the fate of their future by understanding key steps to change lifestyle.
Reinforcing Concepts
Snacks and lunch also provide an opportunity to teach “stop,” “go,” and “whoa” foods. “Stop” foods are those high in processed sugar or saturated fats, such as donuts, that should be eaten spairingly. “Go” foods are fruits and vegetables, those lowest in fat, sugar, and calories, and great to eat anytime and often. “Whoa” foods are highest in fat, added sugar, and calories, and should only be eaten once in a while in small portions. A breakout session covers where different foods fit into each category and the effect they have on the body. An example of a simple game to reinforce this learning is “Toll Road Boogie.”
Toll Road Boogie
• Lay down six or seven rows and columns of hula-hoops (similar to a tic-tac-toe layout but much bigger).
• In each hoop, place a “stop,” “whoa,” or “go” food card upside down.
• Put only one “go” food card in each row for students to discover.
• The group begins at the baseline.
• When “go” is shouted, the entire group runs to the first row to find which hoop has the “go” card.
• Once that card is discovered, the whole group must pass through the hoop without touching it.
• Once they pass through, students go to the next row and find the “go” card to start the second row, and so on.
• The hula-hoops continue until everyone has passed over the finish line.
• For the next attempt, the cards must be randomly mixed again.
• If students start to go through a “stop” or “whoa” food, the instructor makes a siren sound just like in a toll booth and students must start over.
Lamintated cards are used to store and put in categories, so it is easy to identify and mix up for multiple uses quickly. This game helps students learn to communicate, work together, and learn about healthy foods. A younger group can touch the hoops to make it easier without taking away from the communication and teamwork needed.
To provide students with information on the interaction between insulin and blood sugars, a game called Tom and Jerry, or Insulin and Sugar, is played. The lesson for the day is related to when and why there is not enough insulin in the body, and the damage that more sugar in the bloodstream causes.
Tom And Jerry
• The entire group is in a large circle, holding hands.
• Place six red hoops (Jerry) randomly between people in the circle (the hoop should rest on their wrist; this represents Jerry, or sugar).
• Place two blue hoops (Tom) between people in the circle, not close to Jerry (sugar); this represents Tom, or insulin.
• The object is for Tom to chase Jerry around the circle, trying to arrive at the same time between two people.
• If they arrive at the same time without dropping hands, then the red hoop (Jerry aka sugar) is taken out to symbolize how insulin brings sugar to the cells.
• The game continues until Tom has caught all the sugars or until students are tired.
• Students cannot drop hands, and the hoop must travel over them to continue around the circle.
• The students must work for the hoop that is closest to them and try not to allow Tom to catch Jerry.
This game demonstrates how difficult it is to remove sugar in order to protect the body’s systems when there is too little insulin to do the job correctly. This game also helps participants learn to work together and communicate.
The program also provides students with information on how cells can become insulin-resistant. When cells are insulin-resistant, it is similar to a bat hitting a ball (insulin and sugar) away from the cell. To experientially reinforce this, a game called “Whacky Receptor” is played.
Whacky Receptor
• Create a large circle, either out of rope or webbing, on the floor.
• Place two hula-hoops in the center of the circle about three feet apart.
• Place bean bags in the hoops (representing sugar).
• Place two hula-hoops on either side of the circle about six feet away from the circle (representing the body’s cells).
• One person with a pool noodle in each hand starts in the middle of the circle (the Whacky Receptor).
• All other students surround the circle.
• On the word “go,” students on the outside try to run in and grab one bean bag at a time and take it to the body cell for energy.
• If they are tagged by the Whacky Receptor, they must drop their bean bag and go outside the circle and try again.
• The game continues until all the bean bags in the circle are outside in the hula-hoops or until everyone is tired.
• Take a break every few minutes and change out the Whacky Receptor.
“Whacky Receptor” reinforces the damage to the body when not enough insulin is in the body to handle the excess sugar. Creating games for students to reinforce learning helps them retain the information and realize the need to take care of their bodies through food and exercise.
Creating Healthy Lifestyles
The camp has prided itself in partnering with The Native American Resource Clinic to provide healthy food for children, who often have only one meal a day. The breakfast, lunch, and two snacks provided are more food than some have in a week. Many students at first were stuffing their pockets to take food home to siblings or parents. To prevent this, healthy snack bars were provided for them to take home. Partnering with the resource clinic also provides a dietician who is available once a day for a breakout session if a facility does not have a staff member with nutrition knowledge. All participants are required to go to the clinic for a physical before camp, which helps the clinic follow up with students.
Along with learning about diabetes prevention, students engage one day at the lake kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, sailing, and learning about nature, the ecosystem, and ecology. They have opportunities to climb high elements from 17 to 55 feet to build self-esteem. The slogan, “I can do it,” is the over-arching theme of the camp. When youth believe they can do something and are equipped with the right tools, they can make changes and believe all things are possible.
Experiential learning opportunities are paramount for the health of children, both physically and mentally. Having the ability to learn effective health habits while experiencing lifetime activities is a catalyst for them to be outdoors more as adults and with their children.
References
Statistics About Diabetes. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.diabetes.org/resources/statistics/statistics-about-diabetes
After 20-year increase, New Diabetes Cases Decline | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2019/p0529-diabetes-cases-decline.html
Outdoor Participation Report 2016. (n.d.). Outdoor Participation 2016.
SBGmedia SGBmedia 2018
Children in Nature 2019 https://www.nrpa.org/uploadedFiles/nrpa.org/Advocacy/Children-in-Nature.pdf National Recreation and Park Association
Dr. Carrie Taylor is an Assistant Professor of Kinesology at Midwestern State University in Texas. Reach her at (918) 845-5643, or Carrie.taylor@msutexas.edu.