Eating Breakfast in Relation to Classroom Behavior Essay

Abstract Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day because it is how your body cope with the eight hours of fast during your sleep it also boost our energy to do your task the entire day and a good meal in the morning can also help to regulate your blood sugar levels through lunch time, which plays a vital role in your mood. This study will provide the explanation on the importance of eating breakfast for the sophomore psychology students. We provided survey for the students to gather data on who are eating breakfast in the morning and those who do not eat breakfast before school. Our survey included questions that will identify the academic performance and participation of students before lunch break. In gathering data, the method that we used in this research is cluster sampling in which the entire population is divided into groups. All observations in the selected clusters are included in the sample. There are 31 Sophomore Psychology Students of 2A, 32 Sophomore Psychology Students of 2B and 36 sophomore psychology Students of 2C. Those who ate breakfast have more energy, do better in school, and eat healthier throughout the day than those who do not eat breakfast before going to school tend to feel anxious, has low attention span and poor classroom participation. We can say that eating breakfast has an implication student’s classroom behavior withouteating breakfast, people can get irritable, restless, and tired. Keywords: breakfast, behaviour, classroom, students, participation Introduction In this study we aim to determine the implication of a full meal breakfast to a student’s emotional and behavioral problems. Let us define the importance of breakfast. A healthy breakfast refuels our body and helps us function at our peak. Research shows that eating a healthy breakfast improves attention, concentration, academic achievement and physical energy. In Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, physiological need is the most basic and vital for survival. This includes the need for food, water, air and sleep. Maslow believes that these needs are the most basic instinctive need in order for one to perform his/her daily activities. In line with this theory is the theory of John B. Watson, a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shapes our behaviors and in relation to VARK’s learning theory or Fleming’s model learners are identified by whether they have a preference for visual learning (pictures, movies, diagrams), auditory learning (music, discussion, lectures), reading and writing (making lists, reading textbooks, taking notes), or kinesthetic learning (movement, experiments, hands-on activities). After gathering all the information’s that the researchers need they will then come up with a survey which will be given to the sophomore psychology students for tabulation. The result will be the basis on the significance of having a full meal breakfast on a student’s behavior and emotions. Materials and Method The Eating Breakfast to Classroom Survey Questionnaires was used in this research. The testing packages that contain the survey were also distributed. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. Part A consisted of questions 1-3 regarding whether individuals eat breakfast or not and if they do, and how often they eat and what does it consist of you will see the number 5 question. The part B contained 6 questions asking the student to rate their behavior in classroom using the scale of (1-5) as 1 is the highest and 5 is the lowest. Some questions had to do with attention and alertness in class, mood in class, participation, and concentration, test-taking in class. Method was used in this research is cluster sampling in which the entire population is divided into groups. All observations in the selected clusters are included in the sample. There are 31 Sophomore Psychology Students of 2A, 32 Sophomore Psychology Students of 2B and 36 Sophomore Psychology Students of 2C. Upon arrival at the testing classroom the researcher asked for the professor if they can conduct a survey. Once the professor let the researcher conduct a survey the participants were then give a survey test. Then researcher will simply told students to read each set of instructions for each section of the survey, then researcher instructed them to begin unless the had further questions. Once the students are finish, the survey packages were collected from the participants. The participants were also thanked and the professor for taking a time for the study. Results and Discussion The results showed that there was a significant difference of eating breakfast in relation to the classroom behavior of students who ate breakfast than those students who do not have eaten their morning meal. Table 1: Gender of the Respondents Gender Male Percentage Female Percentage Psych 2A Psych 2B Psych 2C 6 8 8 27. 27% 36. 36% 36. 36% 24 25 28 31. 17%32. 47% 36. 36% Total: 22 77. The sophomore psychology male student has a total of 22 and for the female is 77 in which there a more female sophomore psychology students than male students in sophomore psychology. Table 2: Living Condition of Sophomore Psychology Students Living Condition Dorm Parent’s House Psych 2A Psych 2B Psych 2C 5 3 8 27 28 28 Total: 16 83 In terms in their living condition most of all sophomore psychology students live with their parent’s house with a total of 83 and the other students live in a dorm with total of 16. Table 3: Total and Average of Eat Breakfast and Do Not Eat Breakfast Respondents Yes Percentage No Percentage Psych 2A Psych 2B Psych 2C 23 25 28 30. 26% 32. 89% 36. 84% 8 7 8 34. 78% 30. 43% 34. 78% Total: 76 23 Average: 0. 76 0. 23 Base on the table above most sophomore psychology students eat breakfast with a total of 76 and a total average of 0. 76 and those that do not eat has a total of 23 with a total average of 0. 23. Table 4: Parents Providing Healthy Breakfast in Family Respondents Yes Percentage No Percentage Psych 2A Psych 2B Psych 2C 26 26 33 30. 59%. 30. 59% 38. 82% 5 6 3 35. 71% 42. 86% 21. 43% Total: 85 14 Base on the table above most parents provide and healthy breakfast in the family with a result of 85 yes and other parents did not provide or being not with parent’s house that live in dorm with a result of 14. Table 5: Average Behavior of Respondents in the Classroom with Breakfast 1 2 3 4 5 1. How alert do you feel in your class before lunch? 8 29 39 22 1 2. How often do you participate in your classes before lunch? 7 31 43 17 1 3. How is your attention span in class before lunch? 4 33 41 20 1 4. How hard do you find it to concentrate in morning class? 13 72 12 2 0 5. How is your mood in morning class? 7 22 57 12 1 6. During tests, how nervous do you experience in morning class? 22 39 27 10 1 Total Average: 0. 81 2. 28 2. 21 0. 83 0. 05 The total average of scale 1-5 to the table 5 which has a breakfast of 1. 30 as the above is the higher and no breakfast of 1. 30 below which is lower. That in scale 1-3 is significant that sophomore students eat breakfast have more alertness, participation, attention span, concentration, mood, and test-taking with a result of 1 which is 0. 81, 2 is 2. 28 then 3 is 2. 21 than those who do not eat breakfast in scale of 4 which is 0. 83 and 5 is 0. 05. Eating breakfast is the important to our lifestyle as a student. The findings that most of all sophomore students live with parent’s house and the other on a dorm. Eating breakfast has a relation to the behavior of students in a class. A study conducted by Harvard researchers found that students who ate breakfast were significantly more attentive in the classroom, earned higher grades in math, and had significantly fewer behavioral and emotional problems. In a study examined the breakfast eating habits of 1,259 college students over an eleven year period to determine if eating breakfast had an impact upon their grade on a General Biology exam. The study determined that there was a significant difference in the performance on the exam with a higher percent of the participants, who had eaten breakfast passing the exam. The study found that only 65. 6 percent of the students participating in the study had eaten breakfast. This finding supports the results of several other studies that people of college age show an increase in the percent skipping breakfast over individual of a younger age. (Kleinman. 1998) This study contributes to the body knowledge of health and school psychology. Every bit of the data that gain will helps further our understanding of the influence of breakfast. The more information collected through research, the more specific and representative the results. In future, there will probably be much more detailed knowledge of this topic. Researchers will hopefully go further to test whether eating breakfast can have even more of a relation to behavior on people live besides just in school performance. (Phillips. 2005) Conclusion. Although this study is not yet establish it may suggest a trend in colleges in general. In an unreferenced studies have provided sample evidence that school student’s behavior and performance levels are affected by eating breakfast. Still other research has investigated the level of concentration in class is affecting performance of college students. The implication of this study is that eating breakfast is important to students that are learning in everyday to achieve a high score in academic purposes and have a healthy living. Acknowledgement The success of this study required the help of various individuals. The researchers would like to give our gratitude to the following people for their help and support. Without them, the researchers might not meet their objectives in doing this study. To our parents, for giving the support and encouragement to pursue our study. For giving us love and patience. To our classmates Angelica Rentero and Grace Anne Salvio, for giving us access to thepsychologysophomore students of Centro Escolar University Makati. To our dearest professor Mrs. Angelina Villanueva, for helping us to have a good and better title for our work and for guiding us always. To our friends students, for giving their little time to help us for our survey. And lastly, to all the people who helped and contributed great ideas and advices, especially classmates and close friends for without them, this study would not be possible. Recommendation Eating breakfast can affect the behavior and performance of students in morning class. The critique, suggestions, and recommendations offered in the preceding content, therefore, are intended to improve the capabilities of the study to carry out the important mandate of the Eating Breakfast in Relation to Classroom Behavior of Sophomore Psychology Students. This journal research highlights the panel’s key conclusions and recommendations resulting from its review organized by parts. Literature Cited: Kleinman, R. (1998 March). New Harvard research shows school breakfast program may improve children’s behavior and performance. KidSource Online. Available at: http://www. kidsource. com/kidsource/content4/breakfast. html Phillips, Gregory W. , Does Eating Breakfast Affect the Performance of College Students on Biology Exams? , Bioscene: Journal of College Biology Teaching, v30 n4 p15-19 Dec 2005. 5 pp.