Enlightened Concessions

Through project-based learning, students conduct surveys with their peers at school about healthy food products they think will be marketable for school concessions. Based on surveys and research, they choose an in-demand product to test in class and then present to a guest panel as a healthy choice.

Grades: 6 – 8
Estimated Time: Eleven 45-minute class periods
Updated: October 30, 2024
Tags: Project-Based Learning

Tray of school lunch with healthy foods — Image: Getty Images

Background

Materials Needed

Milestone 1: Entry Event

Disposable eating supplies (plates, cups, spoons, napkins, etc.) to sample food
Variety of food products prepared and displayed attractively for students to sample
Snacks for Adults article
New Food Label PowerPoint
Food Label activity sheet
Kids Health website
Healthy Children website

Milestone 2: Research

Computer, laptop, or tablet, Internet access, and/or recipe books and magazines
Access to Google Forms
List of available ingredients (teacher created)
Calculators
Online grocery website

Milestone 3: Product Testing

Lab Job Duties and Assignments
Revised group recipes
Food supplies for each group's recipe
Food preparation area (full kitchen area preferred)
Device to take a picture
Plates, napkins, spoons, cups, etc. for sampling food (disposable if needed to save time on the lab)
Poster paper
Sticky notes

Milestone 4: Final Product Presentation

Computer and Internet access
Pictures of food from lab
Survey data
Revised recipe
Presentation Rubric
Pencils or pens for guests

Vocabulary

6 essential nutrients: water, vitamins, minerals, fats/oils, carbohydrates, protein
added sugars: sugars such as sucrose (table sugar), corn syrups, and artificial sweeteners that are added to food to increase sweetness
budget: a written financial spending plan that has specific limits and amounts
demand: a consumer's willingness and ability to buy a product
fiber (dietary): isolated, non-digestible carbohydrates that have beneficial physiological effects in humans
food groups: categories of food that build a healthy diet: dairy, protein, vegetables, fruits, grains
protein: an essential nutrient responsible for building tissue, cells, and muscle
supply: how much of a good or service is available
time constraints: a specific amount of time in which to do something/work
unit cost: how much it will cost for an individual product (or specific unit of measurement)
whole grain: contains all three edible parts (the endosperm, bran, and germ) in the same proportions as the harvested grain seed before it is processed

Background Agricultural Connections

Enlightened Concessions is a Project-Based Learning (PBL) plan. PBL is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.¹

Essential Elements of PBL

A quality PBL experience requires seven essential elements.

Challenging Problem or Question: The project is framed by a meaningful problem to be solved or a question to answer, at the appropriate level of challenge.
Sustained Inquiry: Students engage in a rigorous, extended process of posing questions, finding resources, and applying information.
Authenticity: The project involves real-world context, tasks and tools, quality standards, or impact, or the project speaks to personal concerns, interests, and issues in the students' lives.
Voice and Choice: Students make some decisions about the project, including how they work and what they create.
Reflection: Students and teachers reflect on the learning, the effectiveness of their inquiry and project activities, the quality of student work, and obstacles that arise and strategies for overcoming them.
Critique and Revision: Students give, receive, and apply feedback to improve their process and products.
Public Product: Students make their project work public by explaining, displaying, and/or presenting it to audiences beyond the classroom.²

Healthy Snacks

What makes a snack healthy may vary based on an individual's lifestyle and dietary needs, but general guidelines include:

low in added sugars
high in vitamins and minerals (10% daily value or higher in any specific one)
high fiber (10% or more daily value)
whole grains (at least half of all grains consumed in a day should be whole)
high in protein (5g or more)
includes more than one food group
low in fat (<10% daily value)
low calories (generally <200)

For this project, students require basic competency with common cooking abbreviations, terms, equivalents, nutrition, measuring techniques, basic math, safety, and sanitation. These concepts are typically easier to understand when students can see or experience them in action. Resources to teach measuring include:

How to Measure Wet and Dry Ingredients
How to Cut In Butter
How to Knead Dough
How to Fold Ingredients
A Day in the Life of a Chef Student

Career Highlights

This PBL plan introduces students to the following career opportunities: food scientist and technologist, dietitian and nutritionist, baker, food batchmaker, marketing specialist, graphic designer, general and operations manager, retail salesperson, customer service representative, advertising and promotions manager, advertising sales agent, chefs and head cooks, food service manager. Explore the career profiles to discover job outlooks, education requirements, and average salaries.

Lesson Activities

Engage

At the beginning of the project, students are introduced to key content using a compelling situation that provides context and serves as a catalyst for an authentic problem or challenge. In Project-Based Learning (PBL), this authentic problem/challenge is referred to as an "Entry Event." Students use the Entry Event to initiate inquiry by reflecting on their prior knowledge of the key content, generating questions that they need to know the answers to in order to successfully complete the project or process that will solve the problem, and identifying what their next steps might be to answer their questions. These questions are used in an ongoing way throughout the project to track learning and guide inquiry.³ While students may have several questions, one driving question needs to be agreed upon that, when answered, should address the initial solution. Refer to Milestone 1 for Entry Event procedures.

Explore and Explain

In PBL, projects are organized into milestones. Each milestone represents a significant stage of the project. Click on each milestone below to access instructional procedures.

Milestone 1: Entry Event (approximately 2 days)
Milestone 2: Research (approximately 3 days)
Milestone 3: Product Testing (approximately 3 days)
Milestone 4: Final Product Presentation (approximately 3 days)

Evaluate

As a final wrap-up, review and summarize the following key points:

Food served in schools must follow federal dietary guidelines.
General guidelines for healthy snacks include foods that: are low in added sugars, are high in vitamins and minerals, are high in fiber, contain whole grains, are high in protein, include more than one food group, are low in fat, and are low in calories.
Food labels show nutrient content per serving and identify ingredients.

Recommended Companion Resources

Movie/Video • How to Read Food Labels, From Free-range to Fair Trade
Teacher Reference • Nutrition Research Articles
Activity • Processed Food Breakdown

Credits

Author

Ruth Bitter | CCA PBL Team

Sources

https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl
https://www.pblworks.org/what-is-pbl/gold-standard-project-design
https://my.pblworks.org/resource/ntks

Standards

National Content Area Standards

Career & Technical Education
- AFNR (Grades 6-8): Career Ready Practices
  - CRP.10.1: Identify career opportunities within a career cluster that match personal interests, talents, goals and preferences.
- AFNR (Grades 6-8): Food Products and Processing Systems Career Pathway
  - FPP.02.01: Apply principles of nutrition and biology to develop food products that provide a safe, wholesome and nutritious food supply for local and global food systems.
  - FPP.02.03: Apply principles of human behavior to develop food products to provide a safe, wholesome and nutritious food supply for local and global food systems.

Agricultural Literacy Outcomes

Culture, Society, Economy & Geography
- Distinguish between careers in production (farmers and ranchers) with those that directly involve consumers (business and nutrition) (T5.6-8.b)
Food, Health, and Lifestyle
- Explain how factors, such as culture, convenience, access, and marketing affect food choices locally, regionally and globally (T3.6-8.d)
- Identify the careers in food production, processing, and nutrition that are essential for a healthy food supply (T3.6-8.j)
- Identify agricultural products (foods) that provide valuable nutrients for a balanced diet (T3.6-8.g)
- Evaluate food labels to determine food sources that meet nutritional needs (T3.6-8.b)
- Evaluate serving size related to nutritional needs (T3.6-8.c)

Common Core Standards

Anchor Standards – Speaking and Listening
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.1: Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.5: Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
Anchor Standards – Writing
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Practice Standards – Mathematics
- CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP4: Model with mathematics. Students can apply the mathematics they know to solve problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace. Students who can apply what they know are comfortable making assumptions and approximations to simplify a complicated situation, realizing that these may need revision later. They are able to identify important quantities in a practical situation and map their relationships using such tools as diagrams, two-way tables, graphs, flowcharts and formulas. They can analyze those relationships mathematically to draw conclusions.

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