Nutrition


by

Jason Askegreen

Introduction

Nutrition on a daily basis is important for any person. It becomes more important when engaging in exercise, and even more so during a strenuous task like venturing to the poles.

The Task

In this week-long lesson you will learn more about your own nutritional needs and be able to compare it to an explorers diet by preparing a diet that would sustain you during an expedition. The finished products will be:

Resources

The primary resource for calculating your diet analysis is a nutrition software program. For your second task, you will be using the Internet to find information on the explorer's diets.

The Process

  1. Activity One: Class discussion- What are carbohydrates? What are proteins? What is fat? Groups of three- Discuss what foods you eat and put them into these three categories or a combination of them.
  2. Activity Two: Class discussion- How to perform a web quest. Groups of three- Find information on the types of food taken on an expedition and make a list of the food you would take. Look at these links to get some hints.
  3. Activity Three: For three days during the week, you will be performing a diet analysis (assigned as homework). Write down everything you eat including the amount. At the end of the week you will be imputing the information into a software program which will calculate the percentages of carbohydrates, protein and fat.
  4. Activity Four: One day will be set aside as a fitness day. You will be running to the North Pole with your team! Every lap around the track will equal 5 miles. Your team will calculate and keep the total milage.

Evaluation

For the class discussion at the beginning of this unit, students will be evaluated simply on their participation and cooperation.

For the second day, evaluation will be based on the accuracy and depth of your answers to the nutritional questions. Make sure you answer each question completely. Your web quests are a group project, but each student is responsible for a portion of it, and may not necessarily receive the same grade. Divide the work evenly and write on the back of the finished product each student's name and the portions they worked on. Also, include what grade you and your peers would give each other considering the amout of work each put into it.

The third day, the diet analysis, will be evaluated on thoroughness and accuracy.

The evaluation of the fourth day (which will be performed once each week of the unit) will be based on participation. Each member of the team will record how many laps they ran and the total team mileage.

Conclusion

Upon completion of this lesson, you will have a greater understanding of the nutritional needs of your body during normal activity and strenuous activity. You also will have successfully used the Internet to find information.




Back to Physical Education