I am a special education teacher in a self-contained classroom for grades 6th - 8th. We currently study the human body in Life Science. I will introduce this unit during our studies of the digestive system.
It has been acknowledged that disease caused by food born illness causes thousands of deaths and millions of diarrhea illnesses. The Department of Health and Human Services has responded to these events by implementing new expanded performance - based requirements and standards for sanitation and microbial testing in the food industries. It has also created and implemented programs to educate the public. Everyone involved in the system, from the producer to the consumer, must assume responsibility for ensuring that their food is as clean as possible and that it is handled safely.
With my class I plan to examine illnesses that are nutritionally related, their specific causes and how we can avoid them. We will evaluate studies and come up with topics that we can investigate for a science fair project. My goal is that at the end of this unit we will become healthier because of educated decisions we make toward nutritional value and nutritional safety of the food we eat and prepare.
(Developed for Science and Life Science, grades 6-8; recommended for Science, Life Science, and Home Economics, grades 6-8)
