Learning to cook and making good food choices are extremely important life skills. Seventh graders explore food science in relation to health and nutrition, by conducting several experiments on apples. Websites, movies, and instructional...

A note-taking outline is given to learners which covers meat composition and quality, types of meat and storage, and cooking meat. By viewing pictures they learn to identify cuts of meat or poultry products. They discuss inspection and...

Science can be quite tasty. A delectable unit from NASA shows learners why it's important to consider food, nutrition, and health in space. Four lessons explore the idea in great depth, including testing cookie recipes. Along the way,...

Are serving sizes for different foods always appropriate for what you need? For this hands-on activity, learners work in groups to estimate what one serving size of various foods are, and then evaluate their hypotheses by measuring...

How do you calculate your Body Mass Index, and why is this information a valuable indicator of health? Class members discover not only what BMI is and practice calculating it using the height and weight of six fictitious individuals, but...

Looking for authentic hands-on nutritional experiments? High schoolers will perform experiments to test for the presence of vitamin C in several solutions as well as the effect of caffeine on Daphnia. They will also consider the...

How do you read a nutritional label? Help high schoolers practice reading nutritional labels on foods so they can calculate the calories in different types of foods. They will also examine the effects of fat on the body and the link to...

When astronauts get hungry in outer space, they can't just call and have a pizza delivered. In order to gain an appreciation for the challenges associated with space travel, young learners are given the task of selecting,...

Fourth graders take a closer look at the foods they eat and the nutritional value of each. This instructional activity helps them see why foods are grouped together the way they are and what types of nutrition are provided by these food...

Third graders examine living and non-living things and observe a plant growing in the classroom.  There are many additional resources to assist learning and extension work, they can read books, interact with PowerPoint...

With a couple of neat diagrams on student handouts, your life science or health class will examine the contents and serving sizes of healthy foods. They dissect a slice of pizza and scrutinize the nutritional value of its components in...

Turn your classroom into a greenhouse with a lesson on plant growth. First, investigate the different parts of seeds, identifying the seed coat, cotyledon, and embryo. Then plant the seeds and watch them grow! Measure the new plants...

Plants provide a variety of delicious foods essential for human survival. In the fourth lesson of this series on food science, young scientists investigate common fruits, vegetables, and grains in order to determine which plant part is...

Totally gross out your class with the eighth lesson plan in this series on food science. Explore the microscopic world of bacteria by taking swabs of different classroom objects and growing colonies in petri dishes. An engaging activity...

Students investigate healthy eating habits by studying the food pyramid.  In this personal health instructional activity, students write a recipe for a healthy meal including one item from each section of the four food groups....

Explore various ecosystems from around the world as your class discovers the interdependence of all living things. Using the provided sets of ecosystem cards, young scientists work in small groups building food webs to demonstrate the...

Students participate in activities that help to educate them on oral health and nutrition.  In this investigative activity students will identify foods that promote good oral health and hygiene.

Fourth graders use this lesson to focus on their health, nutrition and the state of the environment. In groups, they examine the various types of land, water and air pollutants and compare and contrast a food chain with and without a...

Students investigate the characteristics and nature of yeast and molds help to explain how these microorganisms affect food production. They experiment with yeast in sourdough in preparing sourdough pancakes.

Get things cooking with the first lesson in this series on the science of food. Working in small groups, young scientists make and record observations about different mystery foods. These descriptions are then shared with the class and...

On day one of the "Organic Mechanic Part I" lesson, learners try to remove the waxy coating of an apple and consider pesticides that may be represented by this addition to our food. On day two, they research pesticides online and...

Students examine how the school food program compares to the food pyramid recommendations. In this food pyramid instructional activity, students compile data regarding the food choices available in the school through the lunch program...

Students examine the guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture places on food. In groups, they create a list of the foods they consume and discuss the political and environmental implications of purchasing the food. They...

Students examine the different ways heat can be felt.  In this radiation and conduction lesson, students recognize that the sun radiates heat. Students conduct three experiments to find how the sun warms the Earth and how that heat...