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Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits

BACKGROUND: School visits to farms are a positive educational experience but pose risks due to the spread of zoonotic infections. A lesson plan to raise awareness about microbes on the farm and preventative behaviours was developed in response to the Griffin Investigation into the E. coli outbreak a...

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Autores principales: Hawking, Meredith K. D., Lecky, Donna M., Verlander, Neville Q., McNulty, Cliodna A. M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24146765
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075641
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author Hawking, Meredith K. D.
Lecky, Donna M.
Verlander, Neville Q.
McNulty, Cliodna A. M.
author_facet Hawking, Meredith K. D.
Lecky, Donna M.
Verlander, Neville Q.
McNulty, Cliodna A. M.
author_sort Hawking, Meredith K. D.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: School visits to farms are a positive educational experience but pose risks due to the spread of zoonotic infections. A lesson plan to raise awareness about microbes on the farm and preventative behaviours was developed in response to the Griffin Investigation into the E. coli outbreak associated with Godstone Farm in 2009. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the delivery of the lesson plan in increasing knowledge about the spread of infection on the farm, amongst school students. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-five 9–11 year old students from seven junior schools in England participated. Two hundred and ten students filled in identical questionnaires covering microbes, hand hygiene, and farm hygiene before and after the lesson. Statistical analysis assessed knowledge change using difference in percentage correct answers. RESULTS: Significant knowledge improvement was observed for all sections. In the ‘Farm Hygiene’ section, girls and boys demonstrated 18% (p<0.001) and 11% (p<0.001) improvement, respectively (girls vs. boys p<0.004). As girls had lower baseline knowledge the greater percentage improvement resulted in similar post intervention knowledge scores between genders (girls 80%, boys 83%). CONCLUSIONS: The lesson plan was successful at increasing awareness of microbes on the farm and infection prevention measures and should be used by teachers in preparation for a farm visit.
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spelling pubmed-37977222013-10-21 Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits Hawking, Meredith K. D. Lecky, Donna M. Verlander, Neville Q. McNulty, Cliodna A. M. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: School visits to farms are a positive educational experience but pose risks due to the spread of zoonotic infections. A lesson plan to raise awareness about microbes on the farm and preventative behaviours was developed in response to the Griffin Investigation into the E. coli outbreak associated with Godstone Farm in 2009. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the delivery of the lesson plan in increasing knowledge about the spread of infection on the farm, amongst school students. METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-five 9–11 year old students from seven junior schools in England participated. Two hundred and ten students filled in identical questionnaires covering microbes, hand hygiene, and farm hygiene before and after the lesson. Statistical analysis assessed knowledge change using difference in percentage correct answers. RESULTS: Significant knowledge improvement was observed for all sections. In the ‘Farm Hygiene’ section, girls and boys demonstrated 18% (p<0.001) and 11% (p<0.001) improvement, respectively (girls vs. boys p<0.004). As girls had lower baseline knowledge the greater percentage improvement resulted in similar post intervention knowledge scores between genders (girls 80%, boys 83%). CONCLUSIONS: The lesson plan was successful at increasing awareness of microbes on the farm and infection prevention measures and should be used by teachers in preparation for a farm visit. Public Library of Science 2013-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3797722/ /pubmed/24146765 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075641 Text en © 2013 Hawking et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hawking, Meredith K. D.
Lecky, Donna M.
Verlander, Neville Q.
McNulty, Cliodna A. M.
Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title_full Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title_fullStr Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title_full_unstemmed Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title_short Fun on the Farm: Evaluation of a Lesson to Teach Students about the Spread of Infection on School Farm Visits
title_sort fun on the farm: evaluation of a lesson to teach students about the spread of infection on school farm visits
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24146765
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075641
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