Part 1 of this lesson asks students to work as a class to create a complete representation of their local food system. This is an ideal time to utilize whatever technology may be available to your class in order to create a more dynamic representation of the system. Suggested resources include:
Voicethread: Allows for verbal annotation of different documents or media pieces
Prezi: Visual presentation tool
You will have already seen students’ data collections plans, so you will have a sense of how each group’s data will fit together. You can structure Part 1 of this lesson based on this knowledge, as well as the needs of your students. Some classes may be able to work independently while others will need more structure. You can pre-assign roles as needed.
The problems that students identify as well, as the actions they recommend, will depend on what data the students have collected. Not all problems are easily remedied, and students should be encouraged to focus on actions that they can actually take. It is important that they do not see smaller actions as less important than large-scale actions, and you should stress that there will always be trade-offs within complex systems. You can also place limits on the action in terms of length of implementation and materials needed. The project might be something that students revisit for short amounts of time over the course of several months; you can assign it as an ongoing homework assignment, or you might opt for an intensive implementation of a project over a short time span.
Sample problems and actions of different scales include:
- Problem: Providing students greater access to food during school breaks
- Solution: A plan for providing easier access to free lunches over summer breaks. This could include identifying and obtaining approval for more convenient locations, disseminating information about the existence of these programs, and identifying different transportation options.
- Problem: Providing access to food to impoverished or disadvantaged people
- Solution: An initiative to help local restaurants create “pay-what-you-will” items on their menus by considering which items to offer, plans to advertise this program, and identifying possible benefits to the local business.
- Problem: Helping people make wiser food choices
- Solution: An informational photo campaign to help combat attractive advertising and packaging of unhealthy foods
- Problem: Helping people make wiser food choices
- Solution: A trade-off guide for their neighborhood that scores different locations based on factors such as price, ease of access (i.e. public transportation, condition of sidewalks, availability of parking), selection of items, and environmental impact
If the data did not support students’ idea that a problem existed, they should think about why they had the perception of a problem, and how they can use the data to keep others from having a similar perception. For example, if they had the idea that fresh produce was not available near them, but then found that there were actually several small fruit stands in their area, they could think about why they were unaware of their existence, and then perhaps how to draw attention to these fruit stands in a way that would help other people know where they were located.
The lesson is most impactful if you help steer students to actions that can be implemented. Depending upon the actions students wish to take in Part 2, you should plan ahead to ensure that the actions can be carried out or shared. For example, if students want to create a guide that helps people find the quickest and safest transportation routes to local grocery stores, you may wish to speak to a local elected official to see if the guide could be posted on their website to share with the community.
You can provide students with time and computer access to research how the data they found might relate to the data collected by their classmates. For example, students may research how the information they found about how far food travels relates to the data collected about food packaging.
