Activity 9 – What is nutrition?

In this lesson, students use all they’ve learned and experienced throughout the I’m On a Diet and Proud of It unit to choose and complete an assessment option that will immerse them in food chemistry and nutrition careers.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• Be able to use the internet to conduct research on nutrition-related careers
• Work together in groups to complete a research project
• Understand that there a variety of careers in the field of nutrition
• Demonstrate learning by publishing their findings on a wiki or a blog

Teacher planning

Time required

3–5 days or 40 minute periods

Materials needed

• Chart paper
• Markers

Student handouts

Technology resources

• 1 computer with Internet access per group of students

See each assessment option for a list of additional materials and technology resources needed.

Pre-activities

• Students should have completed the lessons in this unit or have equivalent experience, skills, and knowledge.
• Review all essential questions and have students generate a class “final” answer for each question using the brain writing process from the lesson What Is a Balanced Diet?
• Refer back to and complete all prediction and purpose charts from all previous activities. In other words, wrap-up loose ends.
• You may assign or let students review and choose assessment options before the activity. If following lesson as is, make sure to have all materials ready for student use.
• Label chart paper with the following career choices, one choice on each sheet of paper: dietitian, advertiser, food scientist, and chef.
• Create models of proficient work for students to refer to: dietitian, advertiser, food scientist, and chef
• You may want to schedule adult volunteers to help manage students during their work on the performance tasks.

Activities

1. Tell students that many people make food chemistry and nutrition their careers and are very successful at it. Learning about these topics doesn’t just help us stay healthy but can lead to a job. Have students brainstorm a list of food chemistry and nutrition careers.
2. Tell students you will be exploring four careers in-depth. Display charts with career titles and ask students to predict what each career entails. Have students write their predictions for each career on sticky notes and affix them to the appropriate chart.
3. Review and discuss predictions with students.
4. Tell students that you will be splitting up the work of exploring the four careers. Then, ask students to write down their top three choices of careers they would like to be in charge of exploring.
5. Go about the business of sorting students into equal groups based on student choices. Then, tell students they will have a set amount of time (you decide depending upon your situation but usually no more than thirty minutes) to discover the main responsibilities of a professional in each career using the internet.
6. Give each group a computer with Internet access and the appropriate chart paper and let them go to work to answer the question, “What does a __________ do?”
7. Optional: Once students have gathered information, they may post in on a wiki or a blog. This facilitates the sharing of each group’s finding as all students are able to view and comment upon the work of their classmates.
8. Once students have finished, have them share with each other in a format of your choice.
9. Ask students if they have changed their minds about which career they would like to explore after hearing the information from their experiences.
10. Have students again write down their top three choices. Again, go about the business of sorting students into four equal groups. I recommend tiering the groups based on ability/performance.
11. Have students read content area nonfiction relating to food and nutrition, while you gather each group and help them get started on the task. I recommend beginning with your lowest performing group. Distribute the appropriate assessment option worksheet and rubric to each student.

    With each group, review the task, procedures, and models of proficient work. When each group has begun, facilitate as necessary.

    • Assessment Option 1 — Dietitian: Students analyze and evaluate an imaginary client’s fast food meal in order to apply skills and knowledge learned to develop an action plan to improve the client’s fast food choices.
    • Assessment Option 2 — Food Scientist: Students analyze and evaluate the nutrition label and recipe of a favorite snack food in order to apply skills and knowledge learned to develop a new and improved recipe.
    • Assessment Option 3 — Advertising: Students analyze information on the advantages, disadvantages, and sources of vitamins and minerals to create an informative brochure to persuade consumers into eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals.
    • Assessment Option 4 — Chef: Students develop a menu for a fictitious restaurant that offers healthy balanced meals and snacks and include nutritional information for the consumer.
12. When all work has been completed and presented, to close the unit, have students answer the question “What is nutrition?” in an extended response format.

Assessment

Evaluate student assessment worksheets and group participation.

Presentation options

Students can further demonstrate their mastery of the information learned in this unit in a presentation. Following are some options.

• Jigsaw
• Students can lead a program called Careers in Food and Nutrition at Parent Science Night.
• Students present in front of their peers or others in the school
• Students can write and publish an informational book or pamphlet for distribution at a local event (health fair, festival, etc).
• Student work can be published on a class or school website, blog, or wiki.

Modifications

• Students can complete assessment activities in pairs or groups.
• Students may complete assessment options as a center activity.
• You may choose to only do one assessment option with the entire class, or just two or three. Choose what is most appropriate for your students based on knowledge and ability.
• Rather than publishing plans, proposals, brochures, and menus through traditional methods (paper/pencil), students could use appropriate computer applications and Web 2.0 tools for publishing.

Critical vocabulary

• nutritionist
• dietitian
• scientist
• advertising
• chef
• menu
• recipe
• brochure
• action plan
• persuade
• biotechnology
• menu