Taste Life: Report on the School Project

​[[{“value”:”

CC-BY, provided by author

 

Project goal

The “Taste Life” project, completed by 7th grade students, aims to encourage schoolchildren to take a conscious approach to their health, nutrition and lifestyle. The students investigated various aspects of nutrition and physical activity, as well as the issue of global hunger, modern food production technologies and how humans can improve the situation.

 

An overview of the lesson topics and completed projects

1. The fundamentals of a healthy lifestyle

• Me, my body, healthy nutrition. Students studied the impact of nutrition on the body and analysed their daily diet.
• Chemistry of the human body. They considered the main chemical elements contained in the human body and their role in life.
• Elements on your plate. Students analysed the composition of products and the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates (BZH).
• Calories and calorie content. Daily nutritional standards. They made calculations of daily energy needs for different levels of activity.

2. Research activities

• The project “Hunger as a weapon” is a study of historical events related to the use of hunger as a means of influence.
• A study of food consumption in the family. A survey and statistical analysis of families’ daily diets were conducted.
• Work, energy expenditure and human activity. Analysis of activity and calorie needs for different professions.

3. Modern technologies for monitoring nutrition and physical activity

• How do mobile apps that calculate physical activity and calories work? Students tested such applications and drew conclusions about their effectiveness.
• The project was titled “Creating an environment and software interface for calculating BVH in Scratch/Python”. Prototypes of programmes that calculate the calorie content of dishes were developed.

4. Nutrition at school and around the world

• My school plate. The quality and composition of the school menu were analysed.
• The Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. Students investigated the issue of global hunger and international strategies to overcome it.
• Countries where there are hungry people. A review of statistics was conducted and the situation in different regions of the world was compared.

5. The latest methods of food production

• Alternative foods as a way to overcome hunger. We studied the potential of insect-based food and plant-based meat, among other things.
• The project “Growing microgreens”. Students grew microgreens in a school environment.
• Vertical farms, data-driven food production and 3D printing of food. We introduced new technologies to the food sector.

6. Product quality and professions in the food sector

• Food quality and food adulteration. We studied common methods of food adulteration.
• Professions in the ‘person-to-person’ system. An introduction to the roles of doctors, trainers, dietitians and nutritionists.
• The project “Elementary Lunch”. Calculating the cost and composition of a nutritious lunch.

 

Conclusions

The project helped students to expand their knowledge of healthy eating, energy balance, the effect of food on the body and global hunger issues. Completing the project helped them to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as programming and research abilities.

The “Taste Life” project demonstrated that nutrition is not only a physiological necessity, but also an integral part of our lifestyle, science and global processes.

 

 

 

About the author

Yuliya Tomilina is a STEM teacher.

The post Taste Life: Report on the School Project appeared first on Scientix blog.

“}]]