Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity
Working with communities to improve nutrition and physical activity and advance health equity.
Landmark Center/401 Park
401 Park Drive
4th floor West
Boston, MA 02215
Resources
Browse resources related to our key priority areas — healthy eating, physical activity, drinking water, sugary drinks, and unhealthy food and beverage marketing — grouped by setting: schools, early care and out-of-school time, and communities.
Featured Resources
Eat Well & Keep Moving: An Interdisciplinary Elementary Curriculum Nutrition and Physical Activity (Third Edition)
Designed for fourth & fifth grade students, this school-based program equips children with the knowledge, skills, and supportive environment they need to lead healthier lives.
Out-of-School Nutrition & Physical Activity (OSNAP) Initiative Implementation Guide
This guide is designed to help organizations that serve children implement OSNAP, a program designed to improve physical activity and nutrition practices and policies.
Browse resources by setting
Curricula & Trainings
- Cheung LWY, Dart H, Kalin S, Otis B, Gortmaker SL. Eat Well & Keep Moving: An Interdisciplinary Elementary Curriculum Nutrition and Physical Activity (Third Edition). Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 2016.
- Carter J, Wiecha JL, Peterson KE, Nobrega S, Gortmaker SL. Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity (Second Edition). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics; 2007.
- Eat Well & Keep Moving Training Workshop for Food Service Staff
Six training modules for food service staff provide an overview of the Eat Well & Keep Moving program, focusing on the role of food services in making the link between classroom and cafeteria. An additional lunch break demonstrates some cafeteria dishes. - Eat Well & Keep Moving Training Workshop for Teachers
Six training sessions provide teachers with an overview of the Eat Well & Keep Moving program as well as a review of the curriculum’s classroom lessons. The training workshop is designed to last a total of six hours.
Fact Sheets
Tools & Guides
- HPRC Water Access Scan Tool for Schools
This tool can be helpful for assessing the availability of water fountains, water coolers, hydration stations, and other sources of free water. - Keep it Flowing: A Practical Guide to School Drinking Water Planning, Maintenance, & Repair
This guide addresses the practical side of drinking water in schools by outlining the steps needed to provide adequate numbers of properly maintained drinking fountains and tap water dispensers in school buildings. It is designed for the people who make our nation’s schools run day-in and day-out, including those within state and tribal agencies and organizations, districts, school boards and local education authorities and schools.
Research Briefs & Reports
- CHOICES Research Brief: Boston, MA: Movement Breaks in the Classroom (Note: A version of this brief was published in May 2022. This brief was updated in August 2022 to reflect revised projections for Boston’s population.)
- CHOICES Research Brief: Massachusetts: Movement Breaks in the Classroom
- CHOICES Research Brief: Massachusetts: Water Dispensers in Schools
- See more research briefs & reports related to schools on the CHOICES website.
- Early Adopters: State Approaches to Testing School Drinking Water for Lead in the United States (full research report)
- Healthy Eating Research Brief: Early Adopters: State Approaches to Testing School Drinking Water for Lead in the United States
- Download Early Adopters reports for 25 states
Books & Book Chapters
- Cheung LWY, Dart H, Kalin S, Otis B, Gortmaker SL. Eat Well & Keep Moving: An Interdisciplinary Elementary Curriculum Nutrition and Physical Activity (Third Edition). Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 2016.
- Lee RM, Gortmaker SL. “School interventions to support health behavior change.” In Riekert KA, Ockene JK, Pbert L, The Handbook of Health Behavior Change, 4th Edition. New York, New York: Springer; 2013.
- Carter J, Wiecha JL, Peterson KE, Nobrega S, Gortmaker SL. Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity (Second Edition). Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics; 2007.
- Cheung LWY, Dart H, Kalin SR, Gortmaker SL. Eat Well & Keep Moving: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Upper Elementary School Nutrition and Physical Activity (Second Edition). Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 2007.
- Cheung LWY, Gortmaker SL, Dart H. Eat Well & Keep Moving: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Upper Elementary School Nutrition and Physical Activity. Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, 2001.
Curricula & Trainings
- Full, 600-page Food & Fun After School curriculum
This curriculum includes all units, planning tools, recipes, and parent materials. - Food & Fun After School curriculum: Individual units
Fact Sheets
Tools & Guides
- OSNAP Daily Practice Assessment Tool
This form can help out-of-school/afterschool program staff see where their program is currently at regarding the Out-of-School Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative (OSNAP) standards. This form will help identify areas an organization can take action on to improve the health of kids. - OSNAP Policy Self-Assessment Tool
This self-assessment tool can help you keep track of your program’s policies for nutrition, physical activity, and screen time. You can use this tool for two purposes. First, the tool can help you identify what policies you already have that meet your goals as well as what policies you may want to write. Second, the tool can you help you see where your policies are, and may help point out where a more formal policy might be needed. - OSNAP Tip Sheets
These tip sheets, informed by out-of-school/afterschool program experiences, can help afterschool and other out-of-school-time programs make sustainable changes to program practices. They are practical guides designed to simplify healthy changes and describe promising practices for out-of-school/afterschool staff. - OSNAP Fast Maps
These tools are designed to help out-of-school/afterschool program staff overcome systematic challenges that go beyond the site level. For example, addressing issues of limited space for physical activity in out-of-school/afterschool programs might involve meeting with school principals or partnering with nearby community spaces. - OSNAP Implementation Guide
This guide is designed to help organizations that serve children implement OSNAP, a program designed to improve physical activity and nutrition practices and policies. - OSNAP Policy Writing Guide
This guide provides suggestions for language that can be directly inserted into parent or family handbooks, staff handbooks, general program handbooks, letters to families, staff training materials, or even schedules and menus. This can be used to write a policy for eliminating sugary drinks from being served and providing access to water.
Research Briefs & Reports
- CHOICES Research Brief: Boston, MA: Reducing Screen Time in Early Child Care Settings
- CHOICES Research Brief: Boston, MA: More Movement Program in Early Child Care Settings
See more research briefs & reports related to early care on the CHOICES website. - CHOICES Research Brief: Boston, MA: Creating Healthier Afterschool Environments (OSNAP)
- See more research briefs & reports related to out-of-school time on the CHOICES website.
Research Briefs & Reports
- This brief and report, funded by the Physical Activity Research Center, used data from the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey, look at how people ages 16 and older got to and from work over time between 2000 and 2016 in counties with populations of at least 100,000 people:
- These research briefs highlight findings from an assessment of state and local programs and policies for home water quality testing, home well water treatment device installation, filter pitcher distribution, and lead service line replacement:
- Executive Summary & all six case study briefs (combined)
- Individual files:
- Safe Home Drinking Water: A Series of Six Case Study Briefs – Executive Summary
- New Jersey Private Well Testing Act
- New Hampshire & Vermont Private Well Testing Via Primary Care Clinics
- The NH Water Well-Ness Initiative to Protect Pregnant WIC Participants from Contaminants in Private Well Water
- Porterville, CA: Point-of-Use Filtration & Bottled Water Delivery Pilot Program to Protect Pregnant People and Infants from Nitrates in Private Well Water
- Cincinnati Enhanced Lead Program to Replace Lead Service Lines
- Denver Water Filter Program
Fact Sheets
- These CHOICES Project fact sheets align with our key priority areas — healthy eating, physical activity, drinking water, sugary drinks, and unhealthy food and beverage marketing — and can be useful across settings: schools, early care and out-of-school time, and communities:
Tools & Guides
- CHOICES Strategy Profiles
These profiles describe the estimated benefits, activities, resources, and leadership needed to implement a variety of strategies to improve child health, which can be useful for planning and prioritization purposes.
- Play Across Boston Study Tools:
Books & Book Chapters
- Cradock AL, Lewis KH, Moore JB. The Handbook of Health Behavior Change (Sixth Edition). New York, New York: The Springer Publishing Company, 2024.
- Lee RM, Eisman AB & Gortmaker SL. Health dissemination and implementation within schools. In Brownson RC, Colditz G, Proctor E (Eds). Dissemination and Implementation Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice, 3rd Edition. New York: Oxford University Press; 2023:468-487.
- Cradock, AL. Chapter 13: Physical Activity Opportunities Outside of School. In Bornstein DE, Eyler AA, Maddock JE, Moore JB, eds. (2019). Physical activity and public health practice. Springer Publishing Company; 2019:209-222.
- Gortmaker SL. Modeling the Impact of Public Policies. In Brownell KD and Walsh BT, Eating Disorders and Obesity: A Comprehensive Handbook (Third Edition). New York, New York: The Guilford Press, 2017.
- Allen JD, Linnan LC, Emmons KE. “Fidelity and Adaptation of Evidence-based Intervention in Public Health.” In Dissemination and Implementation on Research in Health: Translating Science to Practice. New York, New York: Oxford University Press; 2012.