I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think. Rumi
Idea Transcript
Science Lesson Plan 4
Meet the Calorie Quick summary: Students will gain an understanding of what a calorie is and how a calorie works. Students will learn how many calories they consume in a typical day of eating. Students will also learn how eating extra calories without increasing physical activity leads to weight gain. How long will it take: 35 minutes What do I need: Student worksheet (Pages 8-9 in Worksheet Booklet in zip file)
How does it work: All foods have calories and different foods have different amounts of calories. A calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Calories are provided by fat, carbohydrate and protein. The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. If you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you can calculate how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains. Your body uses calories as energy. Energy is what fuels our body in the same way that gasoline fuels a car. Human beings need energy to survive—to breathe, move, pump blood—and they acquire this energy from food. How many calories do our cells need to function well? The number is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the "percent daily values" are based on a 2,000 calorie diet—2,000 calories is a rough average of what a person needs to eat in a day, but your body might need more or less than 2,000 calories. Weight, gender, age and activity level affect your caloric needs.
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Science Content Standard A: Abilities Necessary to do Scientific Inquiry
Physical activity consumes a high number of calories. Physical activity includes everything from making your bed to jogging. Walking, lifting, bending and moving around burns calories and the number of calories you burn in any given activity depends upon your body weight, effort or intensity, and the amount of time you spend participating in the activity Activity: Provide the students a list of calories of common foods students would eat. Calorie count information can be obtained at the USDA website: nal.usda.gov/fnic/
foodcomp/search Students will work with a partner and select foods they would typically eat in a day and calculate the total number of calories. Students will then discuss with their partner the following questions: Discussion questions:
1.
What did you find most surprising about the number of calories in the foods selected?
2. Based on the information you have learned about calories, list 3 good nutrition habits you can adopt.
3. How can you use this information to help make nutritious food choices? 4. Why is participating in 60 minutes a day of physical activity important? 5. Describe how you ensure that you accumulate 60 minutes of physical activity each day?
6. Discuss if increasing daily physical activity can make up for poor food habits.
7. What is your reaction to learning the amount of physical activity time required to burn calories?
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Worksheet for Science Lesson Plan 3
Meet the Calorie Student Name:
Class:
Date:
Food
Number of Calories
1.
TOTAL
What did you find most surprising about the number of calories in the foods selected?
2. Based on the information you have learned about calories, list 3 good nutrition habits you can adopt.
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3. How can you use this information to help make nutritious food choices?
4.
Why is participating in 60 minutes a day of physical activity important?
5. Describe how you ensure that you accumulate 60 minutes of physical activity each day.
6. Discuss if increasing daily physical activity can make up for poor food habits.
7. What is your reaction to learning the amount of physical activity time required to burn calories?