Agricultural Issues

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives:

Learning Objective:

The goal of this activity is to develop a student’s ability to research and present both sides of an issue, in this case controversial advanced food technologies, while practicing the skills necessary to become proficient in the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in Technical Subjects. Teachers can use this activity to develop an understanding of food science trends and controversial issues in food technology to meet Standard 15 in the course. Discussions in class, reading, researching, and writing exercises are coordinated in class to help students construct a technical meaning of their research in a way that “sticks.”

Essential and guiding questions:

Guiding Questions:

Do you think the corn that we eat or the corn we use for animal feed has always been pest and drought resistant out in the fields? How did it become more pest and drought resistant over the years to result in increased production?
Does canola oil come from the canola plant? Since it comes from the rapeseed plant, why don’t we call it rapeseed oil? What are the issues surrounding human consumption of rapeseed oil and how has this been addressed to result in canola oil, one of the most popular and healthiest oils on the market?
How can the microorganism count on fresh foods be decreased while increasing their shelf life without changing the wholesomeness of these foods?

Unit Variations

Blooms taxonomy level:

Understanding

Differentiation suggestions:

Scaffolding and support for special education students, English language learners, and struggling readers:

Consider pre-teaching synonyms of difficult vocabulary words. Lower-level readers and ELL students can still be challenged without being overloaded with difficulty. This strategy can also be used to differentiate for stronger readers by introducing new, and more challenging, vocabulary. Struggling readers would also benefit from visual aids to illustrate many of the ideas presented. A few pre-selected references, pictures, diagrams, and charts alongside the text will go far to aid students as they dissect these resources provided by the teacher.

Helpful Hints

Note:

Social, ethnic, racial, religious, and gender bias is best determined at the local level where educators have in-depth knowledge of the culture and values of the community in which students live. TDOE asks local districts to review these materials for social, ethnic, racial, religious, and gender bias before use in local schools.

Originator:

Tennessee Department of Education