Meal Planning for a Variety of Dietary Needs

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title:

  Food Science Applications

  Course Title:

  Food Science Applications 2

  Course Number:

  8129200

  Career Cluster:

  Agriculture Food & Natural Resources

  CIP Number:

  0102030100

  Course Type:

  CAR-PREP - High School Career Preparatory Program

  CTE Standard(s) or benchmarks

  CTE-AFNR.9123031.8129210.10.5 Compare and contrast the nutritional needs of different human diets.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is Part 1 of a 2 part lesson series and is designed to be used with the case study, “Balancing Act” See CPALMS resource ID # 218894.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson will ask students to use industry terminology when deciding on the proper nutritional and dietary plan for individuals based on their needs. Students will gain knowledge about the different diets that are currently promoted as well as the recommended daily allowance for people of different age groups. Through this lesson students will incorporate the durable skill of collaboration in that the students will need to work together to create a presentation that represents their combined efforts and knowledge. The students will also practice interpersonal skills by communicating with one another.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Define the essential parts of a nutritional plan.
  • Differentiate between various dietary meal options.
  • Use collaborative techniques in teams
  • Conduct research & synthesize information

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students will need to be familiar with the following:

  • Working collaboratively
  • The components of a nutritional plan
  • Researching on the internet using reliable resources

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • How do the nutritional needs of people differ?
  • Why is it be important to factor in age, lifestyle and general health when creating a meal plan?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. To introduce the lesson, the teacher can give the following small group discussion question: If you could rank your current diet from 1-10, 1 being extremely unhealthy and 10 being extremely healthy, what would you rate it? Explain your rank to the group.

  2. Students will then be given time to discuss. The teacher can then get a tally of how the students ranked themselves and give an average number to the class. This will allow students to discuss their perceived overall healthiness.

  3. Before passing out the case study, the teacher can display the following guiding questions:

  • How do the nutritional needs of people differ?
  • Why might it be important to factor in age, lifestyle and general health when creating a meal plan?

  4. The students will then read and discuss the case study, "Balancing Act," (see CPALMS Resource ID# 218894) in small groups. The teacher can also provide the following discussion questions for the students to reflect on and analyze while reading the case study and during their collaborative talks:

  • How do the nutritional needs of Emily, James, and Helene differ based on their age, health conditions, and lifestyle choices?
  • What potential challenges might Marla might face when creating nutrition plans for clients with such different needs?
  • How might Marla ensure that each client’s diet reflects current nutrition principles while still catering to their personal preferences?
  • If you were Marla, how would you balance short-term results with long-term goals for each of her clients?

  5. Before beginning the group activity, review examples of reliable/credible and nonreliable/noncredible internet sources are for example .org, .gov, and .edu are all credible. Be sure to remind students that sites that are actively promoting or selling a nutritional plant or item are not reliable sources, neither are blog posts. After this review, in their pairs or teams, students will research different dietary options that are currently promoted. Students will use the handout provided entitled, “Dietary Options” to help them complete their research. The students can select up to 4 different diets to research more deeply. Students should ultimately select at least 2 diets to research. They will then create a digital presentation to share with the class or other teams.

  • Student groups can also upload their presentations to a class website or shared document to allow all students to share their work if time doesn’t permit.

  6. After presenting, sharing, or viewing other groups presentations, the teacher can refer to the original question of diet ranking and probe students for further thoughts on the idea. Students can quickly discuss with their group or shoulder partner.

  7. Students will then complete a written activity based on the following question probe: As a nutritionist, what role does understanding the different dietary needs of individuals play in your ability to better serve your clients? This can be done as an exit ticket or an essay assignment to be turned in at a later date.

  8. To bring the lesson to a close, the teacher can pose the following questions which can be discussed as a class, divided up amongst the different groups or the students can select one or two and discuss with a partner:

  • How do you think you might apply creative problem-solving to your future career? Can you think of any career roles in your chosen field where this would be particularly important?
  • How important do you think it will be to balance technical knowledge (like nutrition science) and still maintain a sense of personal understanding for your clients’ needs?
  • Reflecting on Marla’s experiences, what lessons can you learn about overcoming personal challenges and using them to help others? How might this perspective guide your approach to working with others in your future career?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Be sure to discuss and review what internet sources are considered reliable eg. .org, .gov. edu. Remind students that blogs, nutritional supplements etc. sites are not reliable
  • This lesson can be completed over two class periods if necessary.
  • The lesson closure can be used as an assessment or home learning reflection assignment rather than a class/group discussion.