Synthetic Research
Where does our Food Come From
Homework
1. Spend some time researching online (30 min to 1 hour) to check the accuracy of the life story of the food item you chose. Make your life story as complete and accurate as possible.
2. How can you know for sure that the life story of your food item is complete and accurate?
Where Does Our Food Come From? Exploring the Case of Chocolate
http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/manufacture_interactive/manufacture.html
What surprised you about the process of how chocolate is made?
• I used to think that ____________________. But now I think __________________. I also wonder
______________________.
• I never knew that _______________________.
Homework:
Continue working on your food life story.
What surprised you about the process of how chocolate is made?
• I used to think that ____________________. But now I think __________________. I also wonder
______________________.
• I never knew that _______________________.
Homework:
Continue working on your food life story.
Where Does Our Food Come From? Exploring Our Meals
1. Where do you buy the food?
2. How does the food get to that place from question #1? Who was involved?
3. And how does the food get to that place from question #2? Who was involved?
4. And how does the food get to that place from question #3? Who was involved?
5. Keep on repeating this pattern until you end up at the place(s) where the ingredients of your food item are “born.”
Homework:
• Finish a complete life story for your food items.
2. How does the food get to that place from question #1? Who was involved?
3. And how does the food get to that place from question #2? Who was involved?
4. And how does the food get to that place from question #3? Who was involved?
5. Keep on repeating this pattern until you end up at the place(s) where the ingredients of your food item are “born.”
Homework:
• Finish a complete life story for your food items.
What is the Food Supply Chain?
http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/manufacture_interactive/manufacture.html
Dominos Causality
http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/ucp/curriculum/ecosystems/s1_res_dominosheet.pdf
Two Way Causality
http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/ucp/curriculum/ecosystems/s5_res_twoway.pdf
Homework / Reflection
1. Explain how the food supply chain works using the concepts of domino causality and two-way causality.
2. What do you think might happen when one of the “dominoes” (or steps in the supply chain) is taken out? What are the consequences for consumers and producers?
Dominos Causality
http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/ucp/curriculum/ecosystems/s1_res_dominosheet.pdf
Two Way Causality
http://www.old-pz.gse.harvard.edu/ucp/curriculum/ecosystems/s5_res_twoway.pdf
Homework / Reflection
1. Explain how the food supply chain works using the concepts of domino causality and two-way causality.
2. What do you think might happen when one of the “dominoes” (or steps in the supply chain) is taken out? What are the consequences for consumers and producers?
Taking Stock & How Do Food Supply Chains Depend on the Environment? Exploring the Case of Chocolate
http://archive.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/manufacture_interactive/manufacture.html
Homework / Extension / Longer-Term Assignment
Refine the life stories that you wrote about the food items by considering the ecological aspects. In other words, research the answers to the following questions regarding the food items:
• Which plants and animals do the ingredients come from?
• What do those plants and animals need to live, grow and reproduce?
• Where do they typically live?
• What kind of climate do they live in?
• What other plants and animals live nearby?
• Why is it important to know the answers to these questions? (Hint: Consider what might happen if the environment in which the plants and/or animals change in some way.)
Also, consider what might happen to the price, quantity and quality of their particular food item when…
• There is too much rain
• There is too little rain
• Groundwater gets polluted
• Soil gets contaminated
• Certain pollinators die off
• The climate is warmer
• The climate is cooler
• Sea levels rise
- What might happen to the cacao trees if it never rained?
- What might happen if people cut down other trees in the rainforest to plant more cacao trees?
- Why are midges important? What would happen if midges disappeared?
- How does fermentation work? Where do the bacteria come from? What would happen if there were no bacteria?
Homework / Extension / Longer-Term Assignment
Refine the life stories that you wrote about the food items by considering the ecological aspects. In other words, research the answers to the following questions regarding the food items:
• Which plants and animals do the ingredients come from?
• What do those plants and animals need to live, grow and reproduce?
• Where do they typically live?
• What kind of climate do they live in?
• What other plants and animals live nearby?
• Why is it important to know the answers to these questions? (Hint: Consider what might happen if the environment in which the plants and/or animals change in some way.)
Also, consider what might happen to the price, quantity and quality of their particular food item when…
• There is too much rain
• There is too little rain
• Groundwater gets polluted
• Soil gets contaminated
• Certain pollinators die off
• The climate is warmer
• The climate is cooler
• Sea levels rise
How Do Our Meals Impact the Environment? The Case of Hamburgers from Fast Food Chains
http://www.themeatrix.com
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/meet_our_suppliers/lopez_foods.html
http://www.themeatrix.com/interactive
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/meet_our_suppliers/lopez_foods.html
http://www.themeatrix.com/interactive
How it's Made Episode
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/How_It_s_Made/70211495?trkid=2361637
Homework: Bill Nye - Farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7QJrG45_4
Homework: Bill Nye - Farming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM7QJrG45_4
Reading: Materials Humans Use
Flexbook Chapter 8 p. 42-45
Homework: Watch Polymers: "Man-Made Miracles" 1954 BF Goodrich
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsNGVSVDMk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNsNGVSVDMk
Make a Polymer Bouncy Ball
Download the document below.
polymer_ball.doc | |
File Size: | 45 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Cell Phone Minerals
Download the document below
cell_phone_activity_0.pdf | |
File Size: | 387 kb |
File Type: |
Homework: Heating Plastics Virtual Lab
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/chemistry/plastics/game/index.html
Take a screen shot of the plastic duck that you create.
http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/chemistry/plastics/game/index.html
Take a screen shot of the plastic duck that you create.
Natural Resources Go Animate
Create a Go Animate Video Describing the path of somthing that you use.
Example Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50QRd5oyng
Example Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50QRd5oyng