Nutrition and physical well-being in the school curriculum: An intervention in a teachers’ education programme

Abstract

This article describes education students’ engagement in simulation games during an excursion. The focus is on how the United Nations’ eight millennium development goals could be addressed in teacher education programmes. The authors specifically look at activities that aim to sensitize teachers about HIV and AIDS and food security. They view learning from a neo-Vygotskian perspective known as activity theory, which rates simulation games as the primary strategy for learner involvement. The students become homo ludens(playing human, Huizinga1955), and this facilitates embodied meaningmaking. From this position it is suggested that the particular curriculum holds some promise for exploring HIV and AIDS education, poverty and food security.