Michelle Flashman Family and Consumer Sciences Instructor 
Roger Ludlow Middle School - Fairfield Public Schools
 
NUTRIENTS UNIT OBJECTIVE 
 The purpose of this assignment is to motivate 8th grade students to learn the Food Guide Pyramid and from this to relate it to their own lives through the researching of a selected nutrient to determine the health considerations and food sources of it. The students also learn the principles of creating a successful advertising visual with a message this would be taught in subsequent lessons possibly using Publisher software. Assessment includes students evaluating their classmates’ advertisement on the basis of accuracy and creativity. 
This unit could be connected to the lesson plan, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT by requiring the students to research a nutrient they are deficient in or have an excess of.
 
LESSON #1 - RESEARCHING A NUTRIENT ON THE INTERNET
 
Objective – The students will:
· Summarize basic functions and food sources of a nutrient. 
· Become aware of the nutritional value of various foods.
· Research a nutrient selected by the instructor on the Internet using a search engine or web link.
· Take notes in a bulleted format.
· Collect citation information for all sites used.
 
Classroom Arrangement
Computer Lab and Library Media Center Instructor to assist
 
Materials
· Reserve Computer Lab ahead and ensure that students have Internet passes and access to the student drive to save their work.
· Worksheet  for information gathering with works cited guide on back.
· Projector for instruction of using search engine or web links.
 
Initiation
(A diagram of two soccer teams is on the board. Use x’s and o’s to represent the lineups of each team.) Ask students: What are the positions of different players? What might happen if a position were left vacant? Add the names of nutrients to one of the teams. These are the ‘players’ in the wellness game. Nutrients act as a team in your body. Today we will research a nutrient on the web. You will record the information on your worksheet in a bulleted fashion to avoid copying. You will also record the websites you received your information from. Our Library Media Center Teacher is here to assist you in how do an internet search and properly cite these addresses. Tomorrow she will help us to create a flyer on Publisher to ‘advertise’ our nutrient to our classmates.
 
Lesson Development
Instruct the students to log on and go to Yahoo.com/health/nutrition. In that category they type their nutrient name and begin to search for the information on the benefits of the nutrient, what a deficiency (or excess) of the nutrient will cause, what foods the nutrient can be found in, and how much of the nutrient is necessary in a healthy diet. 
If they get stuck, they can utilize the nutrient links broken down by nutrients assigned by the instructor including Protein, Fats, Carbohydrates, Water, Minerals including Calcium, Iodine, Iron, and Vitamins including Niacin, Thiamin, Riboflavin as well as Multi-nutrient sites. Students who locate and record the necessary information quickly may look for clip art pictures of the foods the nutrient is found in and save it to the student drive. This will be used is their advertise. The instructors rotate the room helping with technical problems and guiding students to reliable web sites. 
 
Assessment
The students accessed and recorded information on their nutrient. The instructor collects and checks students’ worksheets for content and bulleted phrases.
 
Closure
Today we got a brief picture of the resources on the web we can use to learn more about nutrients and how they affect our wellness, their basic functions and food sources. Which sites did you find most helpful? (Compare the students’ evaluation commenting on the credibility of the site, ease of use and visual appeal.) Tomorrow you will create an advertisement about your nutrient on Publisher. We will meet back in the Computer Lab.
 
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