Embedded Files
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
Guiding question: How are we feeding the growing population?
Time Estimate: 1 hour
Purpose: In this lesson, students will understand the challenges of our current food system and its ability to provide for a growing population. They will raise questions about the future of food production by reading and interpreting information from graphs.
Overview: Students will create their arguments based on various graphs to support their claims. The entire class will explore the contents of the graphs together, allowing groups to generate claims and evidence. The argumentation activity will follow the CER model, which students have practiced throughout the units.
Design Principles:
Learning experience contextualized in the issue
Practice-oriented
Background Knowledge: All necessary background knowledge will come from this lesson.
Common Misconceptions: NA
Safety: NA
Unit Connections:
Instructional Sequence
Instructional Sequence
Materials: Teacher slides 1.2 How are we feeding the growing population
Land for agriculture (Slides 1-6)
For the first part, students will collectively create a shared understanding of the term 'agriculture.'
On slide 2, there is an opportunity to engage with bar graphs. Ask students to describe the data in the graphs verbally.
On the students' worksheet, there are questions to help them read the graph. Please review the questions together.
The land available for agriculture has not changed significantly since 1961. In fact, from 2001 to 2021, the actual percentage has decreased.
Moving to slide 3, students will be prompted to consider why farmland is diminishing. The instructor will direct students to closely examine the photo on the slide, encouraging them to share their thoughts with the entire class. Following this discussion, the instructor will reveal the reason behind the decrease: housing developments encroaching on farmland. 'What does the increase in housing mean?' This probing question can lead to the next slide.
📕 Worksheet
Student material: 1.2 Crop production and population
🗣️ Discourse opportunity:
Class discussion
✅ DP - Public Data
Public real-world data reflects actual situations and phenomena occurring in the world. By utilizing such data, students can work with authentic information and explore real-life scenarios, making their learning experience more relevant and practical.
📒 Instructional Support
Probing Questions
What does the increase in housing mean?
Population growth (Slide 7)
Ask the students to describe the graphs.
On the students' worksheet, there are questions to help them read the graph. Please review the questions together.
After determining the growth trajectory, ask the students: What will the population size be in 2050?
🗣️ Discourse opportunity:
Class discussion
Can global crop production meet future population demands? (Slides 8-13)
Student material: 1.2 Crop production and population
Encourage students to use the CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) model to build group argumentation on the whiteboard. They can use the table that the teacher shared. After creating their arguments, they will share them using a 'sharing argumentation protocol.' Once all the boards are prepared, we will share them with our classmates following a protocol.
🗣️ Discourse opportunity:
Group discussion
✅ DP - Science practices: Argumentation
📒 Instructional Support
Sharing Arguments Protocol
After all boards are made, we share them with our classmates using a protocol.
At least one person will stay at the board to present it to the other groups
At least two members will travel to other boards to visit and critique.
During this time students will write down possible ways to improve their arguments.
✍️ Assessment Opportunity
Can global crop production meet future population demands?
What to look for?
Students use two types of graphs to support their claims. The focus of this activity is not on how they predict; rather, the emphasis lies in developing competencies to use data and graphs to construct a rationale for their scientific argumentation.
When they share ideas and critique publicly, these are the questions that students can use.
📒 Instructional Support
Types of helpful questions
Clarifying questions:
Could you tell me more about how you used your data to answer the question?
Could you tell me more about how you collected your data?
How sure are you of your claim?
Probing Questions:
How did your group choose what to put in the evidence part of the board?
Why did your group decide to analyze and interpret data that way?
What other information do you have that didn’t make it on your board?
Collaborative Questions:
Is there anything that you are unsure about?
What can I do to help you with your argument?
Let students revise their arguments with feedback from their classmates and insights from the group. Students will collaborate with their group members to make improvements and write the final argument.
Where students write their final arguments is open to the instructor's choice. It could be on the whiteboard to share with the whole class, or it could be in individuals' notebooks. It is an open space for instructors to decide.
Growth in crop yields (Slide 14)
Thanks to advancements in technology, crop yields are increasing rapidly. Certain types of crop yields are outpacing the rate of population growth. However, the whole story is more complex, as numerous factors contribute to food insecurity. It's essential to acknowledge that while technology plays a significant role in the rapid growth of crop yields, food insecurity remains a global issue.
Allow students to contemplate the complexity of the issue.
🗣️ Discourse opportunity:
Class discussion
Ultra-processed foods (Slides 15-19)
One way to feed more people is to use food processing techniques that preserve food.
In this slide, students can see different levels of processing for one food product. In the past decades, with the advancement of food processing technologies, ultra-processed foods have become popular worldwide and a symbol of progress in developing countries (i.e., Coca-Cola in Africa).
Food processing has benefits and drawbacks, and ask students what those are. Under instructional support, there are probing questions that can lead to rich discussion.
Students will discuss the differences in the accessibility of fresh and ultra-processed food and explore further food choices for the growing population.
🗣️ Discourse opportunity:
Class discussion
📒 Instructional Support
Probing questions
Benefits:
What are some reasons people might choose ultra-processed foods?
Can you consider any advantages of ultra-processed foods, like convenience or accessibility?
How do these foods fit into our fast-paced lifestyles?
Drawbacks:
What concerns might arise from regularly consuming ultra-processed foods?
How do these foods compare to natural or minimally processed options in terms of nutrition?
Can you think of any potential long-term effects on health from eating many ultra-processed foods?
Information for Planning & Teaching
Information for Planning & Teaching
Background Knowledge
Food insecurity
Increasing crop yields will only sometimes ensure adequate coverage for population growth. The problems are complex and interconnected in reality. One such entangled reality is food price inflation. Despite the rapid increase in yields for certain commodities, prices also rise, resulting in persistent disparities and incomplete alleviation of food insecurity. The linked report addresses the central themes of food insecurity and population growth. You can find more information in the report: https://www.fao.org/3/i6583e/i6583e.pdf
Ultra-processed foods and the NOVA classification
The NOVA classification (a food classification system developed by the NOVA Research Center in Brazil) is endorsed by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and is the most widely researched and validated food processing classification.
NOVA categorizes food based on the extent and purpose of industrial processing. It classifies food into four levels, which are:
Unprocessed or minimally processed foods: This level includes natural, whole foods that have undergone minimal or no processing. Examples include fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, eggs, and milk.
Processed culinary ingredients: This level comprises substances obtained from unprocessed foods, such as oils, fats, sugars, salt, and other substances used in culinary preparations. These ingredients are typically added to enhance the flavor, texture, or appearance of dishes.
Processed foods: This level includes foods that have undergone processing to improve their taste, extend their shelf life, or make them more convenient to consume. This category includes canned fruits and vegetables, cured meats, cheeses, and bread. Although they may contain additives, processed foods usually retain some of their original nutritional value.
Ultra-processed foods: This level encompasses highly processed food products made with industrial formulations. They often contain minimal amounts of whole foods and instead rely heavily on additives, artificial ingredients, and synthetic substances. Examples include packaged snacks, sugary drinks, ready-to-eat meals, and fast food. Ultra-processed foods are not technically “foods” but “edible industrial substances.” They are designed to be cheap, convenient, durable, extremely tasty and attractively packaged. They are heavily marketed and created to displace all other foods and dishes.
The NOVA food classification system helps to raise awareness about the degree of processing involved in different food products and promotes a focus on whole and minimally processed foods for a healthier diet.
Some examples of ultra-processed foods commonly consumed by teenagers include:
Packaged snacks: This category includes items like potato chips, pretzels, flavored crackers, and packaged cookies or pastries.
Sugary drinks: Soft drinks, energy drinks, sweetened juices, flavored water, and sports drinks are all examples of sugary beverages that fall into the ultra-processed category.
Fast food: Burgers, fries, pizza, fried chicken, and other fast food items are typically highly processed and often high in unhealthy fats, sodium, and added sugars.
Frozen convenience meals: Frozen pizzas, microwaveable meals, instant noodles, and pre-packaged frozen snacks fall into this category.
Sweetened breakfast cereals: Many breakfast cereals targeted at teenagers are highly processed and loaded with added sugars.
Processed meats: Hot dogs, sausages, deli meats, and other processed meat products often contain additives and high levels of sodium.
More about Ultra-processed foods
According to a recent study (click here) ultra-processed foods are the main source (nearly 58%) of calories eaten in the US, contributing almost 90% of the energy we get from added sugars. Diets with higher proportions of ultra-processed foods (in terms of energy intake or weight of consumed food) are prospectively associated with various increased health risks (for example, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease). (link to article here).
Ultra-processed foods not only affect human health but also the health of the environment. Driven by their intense production and overconsumption, a negative environmental impact exists across the food chain, encompassing production, processing, packaging, storage, distribution, and consumption.
Lesson Timing
Student Ideas & Experiences
The town students live in might be experiencing expanding housing related to a real-world setting.
Additionally, students must have eaten various kinds of ultra-processed foods. If they are unfamiliar, the instructor can bring some examples to the discussion to help students think about the commonalities between these foods.
Science Practices
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