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Description
According to the UN World Food Program, over 270 million people worldwide are suffering from extreme hunger and yet approximately one-third of the food that is produced on an annual basis is wasted. This lesson introduces students to the environmental, social and economic issues associated with food waste by highlighting the amount of food items that are discarded every day in schools. As the class collects lunch time data from peers they will gain insight into the level of waste at a local level by completing the following tasks:
- Identifying the difference between food loss and food waste.
- Calculating the amount of food consumed by individual students in comparison to food thrown away.
- Presenting results using tables and graphs.
- Considering strategies for reducing food waste at school and home.
- Creating public awareness about this issue by publicizing their study results on social media.
According to the UN World Food Program, over 270 million people worldwide are suffering from extreme hunger and yet approximately one-third of the food that is produced on an annual basis is wasted. This lesson introduces students to the environmental, social and economic issues associated with food waste by highlighting the amount of food items that are discarded every day in schools throughout developed countries like Canada. As the class collects lunch time data from peers they will gain insight into the level of waste at a local level by completing the following tasks:
Discuss the difference between food loss and food waste.
Calculate the amount of food consumed by individual students in comparison to food thrown away.
Present results using tables and graphs.
Consider strategies for reducing food waste at school and home.
Create public awareness about this issue by publicizing their study results on social media. Accordin
General Assessment
What skills does this resource explicitly teach?
- Collecting and presenting data.
- Data analysis.
- Survey techniques.
Strengths
- Well organized with support materials readily available.
- Introduces students to global goals for sustainable development.
- Enables learners to practice numeracy skills in examining an authentic environmental issue.
Weaknesses
- Limited student information about methods for estimating and calculating percentages.
- Does not include any assessment strategies.
Recommendation of how and where to use it
This lesson reinforces numeracy concepts including multiplication, division, estimation and working with percents. Students also represent and interpret data using graphs and tables and must accurately communicate mathematical information. Content related to hunger and malnutrition supports Social Studies discussions related to poverty, food insecurity and global inequality. The environmental consequences of food waste are an integral component of the activity and build connections to human contributions to climate change, pollution and habitat degradation.
Students brainstorm ideas about how to reduce food waste and these thoughts could become the basis of an action project that encourages sustainable consumption at school and home. The class could help implement cafeteria changes such as diverting fruit and vegetable scraps to compost and use successes to educate parents and community members about the environmental and financial benefits of food waste reduction.
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- Development of computational fluency and multiplicative thinking requires analysis of patterns and relations in multiplication and division
- Fractions and decimals are types of numbers that can represent quantities
- Regular changes in patterns can be identified and represented using tools and tables
- Grade 5
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- Math
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- Computational fluency and flexibility with numbers extend to operations with larger (multi-digit) numbers
- Data represented in graphs can be used to show many-to-one correspondence
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- Computational fluency and flexibility with numbers extend to operations with whole numbers and decimals
- Data from the results of an experiment can be used to predict the theoretical probability of an event and to compare and interpret
- Mixed numbers and decimal numbers represent quantities that can be decomposed into parts and wholes
- Grade 7
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- Math
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- Computational fluency and flexibility with numbers extend to operations with integers and decimals
- Data from circle graphs can be used to illustrate proportion and to compare and interpret.
- Grade 8
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- Math
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- Analyzing data by determining averages is one way to make sense of large data sets and enables us to compare and interpret
- Number represents, describes, and compares the quantities of ratios, rates, and percents
Themes Addressed
Citizenship (1)
- Sustainable Consumption
Food & Agriculture (1)
- Food Security
Waste Management (2)
- Composting
- Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Sustainability Education Principles
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Consideration of Alternative Perspectives | Good | Interviews with peers and staff are used to substantiate the quantitative data about amounts of food consumed or thrown away. The qualitative information provides student investigators with reasons for why food is discarded which supports a complete analysis of the issue. |
Consideration of Alternative Perspectives:
| ||
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions | Good | Student food waste is explored from the context of environnemental responsibility and the students are reminded of the social ramifications of food insecurity in developing countries. Support materials include information about the relationship between discarded food and lost food budget dollars. |
| Multiple Dimensions of Problems & Solutions: Effectively addresses the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the issue(s) being explored.
| ||
| Respects Complexity | Good | Students will gain a deeper awareness of the relationship between poverty and food loss, particularly in developing countries where there are limited storage capabilities. Food waste is more prevalent in developed countries where abundance and affluence can impact personal choices. |
| Respects Complexity: The complexity of the problems/issues being discussed is respected. | ||
| Acting on Learning | Satisfactory | Learners are encouraged to share their data and thoughts about reducing school lunch waste on social media. There are no specific action projects included in the resource, but it is identified that data can be used to support initiatives that involve students in creative problem solving to address the issue. |
| Acting on Learning: Learning moves from understanding issues to working towards positive change — in personal lifestyle, in school, in the community, or for the planet
| ||
| Values Education | Good | Students have many opportunities to analyze and reflect on personal feelings about food consumption and the environment. |
| Values Education: Students are explicitly provided with opportunities to identify, clarify and express their own beliefs/values. | ||
| Empathy & Respect for Humans | Good | This resource features information about how hunger and malnutrition affects millions of people globally. By investigating amounts of discarded food students will consider how reducing food waste can support efforts to reduce food insecurity. |
| Empathy & Respect for Humans: Empathy and respect are fostered for diverse groups of humans (including different genders, ethnic groups, sexual preferences, etc.). | ||
| Personal Affinity with Earth | Satisfactory | Some attention is paid to the connection between food waste issues and climate change. |
| Personal Affinity with Earth: Encourages a personal affinity with -the natural world.
| ||
| Locally-Focused Learning | Good | Collecting information within their school makes the experience meaningful as students are able to consider the issue from a local perspective. |
| Locally-Focused Learning: Includes learning experiences that take advantage of issues/elements within the local community.
| ||
| Past, Present & Future | Satisfactory | Student ideas for responsible food consumption support looking towards the future and increases the likelihood of long lasting changes in the way they think about sustainability. |
| Past, Present & Future: Promotes an understanding of the past, a sense of the present, and a positive vision for the future. | ||
Pedagogical Approaches
| Principle | Rating | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Open-Ended Instruction | Good | The hands-on approach actively engages students in the subject matter and supports evidence based learning. |
| Open-Ended Instruction
: Lessons are structured so that multiple/complex answers are possible; students are not steered toward one 'right' answer. | ||
| Integrated Learning | Good | The mathematics focus is enhanced by a heightened awareness of the social relationship between poverty and food insecurity. The lesson also identifies how garbage disposal methods contribute to climate change and the role of sustainable consumption and production in environmental stewardship. |
| Integrated Learning: Learning brings together content and skills from more than one subject area
| ||
| Inquiry Learning | Satisfactory | Teacher-provided materials are used to direct the lesson but students are able to develop ideas about waste reduction strategies independently. |
| Inquiry Learning: Learning is directed by questions, problems, or challenges that students work to address.
| ||
| Differentiated Instruction | Poor/Not considered | |
| Differentiated Instruction: Activities address a range of student learning styles, abilities and readiness.
| ||
| Experiential Learning | Satisfactory | Brainstorming food waste improvements that could be implemented at school and home creates a solution-based approach to the investigative lesson and strengthens connections to the topic. |
| Experiential Learning: Authentic learning experiences are provided
| ||
| Cooperative Learning | Satisfactory | The peer survey requires that students are non-judgmental and respect each others attitudes towards their lunch meal in terms of what is eaten or thrown away. |
| Cooperative Learning: Group and cooperative learning strategies are a priority.
| ||
| Assessment & Evaluation | Poor/Not considered | Although no specific assessment strategies are included, the percentage calculations and graphs can be used for informal assessment of numeracy skills. |
| Assessment & Evaluation: Tools are provided that help students and teachers to capture formative and summative information about students' learning and performance. These tools may include reflection questions, checklists, rubrics, etc. | ||
| Peer Teaching | Satisfactory | Students are able to inform peers about the survey results and suggest food waste reduction techniques through social media. |
| Peer Teaching: Provides opportunities for students to actively present their knowledge and skills to peers and/or act as teachers and mentors.
| ||
| Case Studies | Good | Collecting food waste data within their own community ensures that students are exploring this topic in a relevant context. |
| Case Studies: Relevant case studies are included. Case studies are thorough descriptions of real events from real situations that students use to explore concepts in an authentic context. | ||
| Locus of Control | Poor/Not considered | |
| Locus of Control: Meaningful opportunities are provided for students to choose elements of program content, the medium in which they wish to work, and/or to go deeper into a chosen issue. | ||
