In this Morning Edition segment, A Better Breakfast Can Boost a Child's Brainpower (8/31/06 - 4:53), Allison Aubrey reviews current thinking on an old topic, one all of us, at one time or another, have been instructed on, usually by our mothers: namely, the benefits of eating a good breakfast. One study reviewed in the piece compared students who ate sweetened oatmeal with those who had Cap'n Crunch; then both groups had theor short-term memories tested. No surprise: The oatmeal eaters did 20 percent better than the Crunch-ers.On the same page, check out the article, "Breakfast of Scholars: What Eggs-perts Suggest," by Roseanne Pereira and Marc Silver. This earlier short piece, Breakfast Survey (5/31/2000 - 2:15) look at what people in Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Boston had for breakfast.
Classroom thoughts
- Might as well start with the obvious: what the class had for breakfast. Here's a good chance to build class-based knowledge set, and then have class do some qualitatively analysis and case studies.
- What is it with Cap'n Crunch? Why does everyone make fun of this stuff? There's even a Wikipedia entry.
