Creating Sustainable Grocery Stores

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title (as applicable): Agriculture Food & Natural Resources

  Course Title: Exploration of Agriscience

  Course Number: 8100210

  Career Cluster: Agriculture Food & Natural Resources

  CIP Number: 01019920EX

  Course Type: EXPL - Middle School Programs

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Creating Sustainable Grocery Stores.” See CPALMS resource ID#: 215715.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson practices the career building skills of decision making, collaboration, oral communication, and sharing ideas. Students will use their knowledge of natural resources to address ways a grocery store chain can become more sustainable.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify methods or practices of the conservation of natural resources.
  • Conduct research to gather information on specific methods or practices of the conservation of natural resources that satisfy sustainability recommendations.
  • Demonstrate a method or practice of conservation through an oral presentation and display of pictures (depicting the method or practice in action) in the form of a pitch to a board of directors.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Renewable and nonrenewable resources and potential ways to conserve these resources.
  • Brainstorm solutions for an existing problem.
  • Effectively work with a peer to produce a product.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How can a grocery store chain conserve natural resources?
  • What changes in a grocery store could make the greatest impact in conserving natural resources?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. To introduce the lesson, review what students already know about natural resources including vocabulary terms from the case study: natural resource, reduction, source, sustainability, greenhouse gases, conservation, consumption, renewable resource, non-renewable resource, efficiency, recycling, reuse, source (products)
  2. Provide students with a copy of the case study, “Creating Sustainable Grocery Stores,” (see CPALMS Resource ID # 215715). As students read the case study, instruct them to underline/highlight key ideas.
  3. Engage students in a discussion using the list of sustainability recommendations from the end of the case study to guide the following questions:
     • What changes could be made within the grocery store that would assist the grocery store with meeting these goals?
     • How big of an impact would these changes make on the store’s overall sustainability?
     • What changes are the most affordable?
  4. Divide the class into partners. Each pair will be randomly assigned one of the sustainability recommendations from the case study (increase energy efficiency, switch to renewable energy sources, reduce packaging, encourage recycling and reuse, reduce food and water waste, source products locally, or emphasize plant-based foods).
     • Inform students they will be assuming the roles of the Chief Financial Officer and the Environmental Consultant from the case study. Their role will be to conduct research to gather more in depth information on specific methods or practices of the conservation of natural resources that align with their assigned sustainability recommendations. They will then demonstrate the chosen method(s) or practice(s) of conservation through an oral presentation and display of pictures depicting the method(s) or practice(s) in action in the form of a pitch to a board of directors.
     • Explain to students they will conduct research to determine/provide:
       • Possible store changes that support the recommendation they were assigned
       • The scale of impact the change could have
       • The affordability of the change
       • Pictures that demonstrate the change in action
     • Students will gather information they find through their research on a formatted presentation slide. (see attachment: “CreatingSustainableGroceryStoresPresentationSlide”)
     • Once students complete their research presentation slide, they should use any remaining time to practice how they will use their slide to present their pitch to the “board of directors” (their classmates).
  5. Students will act as the Chief Financial Officer and Environmental Consultant from the Case Study and make a pitch to the board of directors (the class) to share their findings on their assigned sustainability recommendation. They will utilize the presentation slide they created based on their research to display their ideas. Photographs added to the slide should demonstrate their chosen method(s) or practice(s) of conservation. Teams will have 1-2 minutes to present their pitch.
  6. After presentations are completed, the teacher will provide students with a sticky note to communicate which sustainability recommendation(s) they feel would be most beneficial for the grocery chain to start with. The teacher can collect these as an exit ticket or can discuss them further as a class, time permitting.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • This lesson will take more than one class period to complete.
  • In the event of uneven class numbers, students may work in a group of three.