The Science and Technology of Food: The Food Unit
Beverly Stern
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World Food Situation
1, Make a bar graph illustrating the comparison data between developed and developing countries.
2. Write a paragraph describing what you learned from the graph in #1.
3. What is malnutrition? List five causes of malnutrition.
4. Discussion question: Why did some countries develop before others?
Food Production, Storage & Transportation
5. Describe how a plant grows.
6. Make a circle graph showing the percentage composition of good growing soil.
7. Briefly describe each of the following in words and then sketch each cycle: water cycle, nitrogen cycle, and carbon cycle.
8. What percent of U.S. cropland was irrigated in 1984? Make a circle graph illustrating this.
9. Energy does not cycle it flows to earth and out to space. Describe on thing that could happen to energy stored in a plant before it flows away from earth in the form of heat.
10. Activity. Look at the root, leaf, stem, and flower parts of a plant under a microscope. Sketch what you see. 11. You went to the supermarket and bought a loaf of bread. List six energy consuming processes that went into getting that loaf on the shelf for you to pick up.
12. Make a circle graph illustrating the use of energy to produce and deliver a 1 kg loaf of bread in the United Kingdom.
13. What is organic farming?
l4. Describe a “km3”. How many gallons in one?
15. Activity. Put seeds in two pots with the same soil. Water and fertilize one and add only water to the other. Compare growth over a three week period.
16. Discussion question: Should we use chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides?
17. If cropland erosion takes place at the rate of 12 tons per acre per year and new soil is made at the rate of 1.5 tons per acre per year, how many inches loss is that per year? If left without help, how long would it take a field with a 12 inch deep topsoil base to erode completely away?
18. Why do we need to store food?
19. Activity. Choose 4 foods. Cut very thin slices from each. Look at each under the microscope and sketch the structure you see. Label each food.
20. What are the common ways of preserving food? 21. Make a line plot showing the percentage distribution of the main producers of wheat. Label significant data. Repeat for rice. Repeat for corn.
22. What is the main mode of transportation for domestic foods?
23. What is a “mmt”?
24. Discussion question: Should we have international or national and local control of food reserves?
Better Food Consumers
25. For one week keep a record of everything you eat or drink and the time of day you do it.
26. Compare the typical teenager diet to the preferred ratio of protein, carbohydrates and fat according to the data Ballentine gives.
27. Evaluate your diet with regard to protein, carbohydrate and fat proportions.
28. Evaluate your diet with regard to the 7 guidelines given by the USDA.
29. Two jars of strawberry preserves, of the same make, are available at the price of $1.39 for a jar containing 12 ounces and $1.89 for a jar containing 18 ounces. What is the price per ounce for each jar?
30. Discussion Question. How can you get the freshest possible food for yourself and your family?
31. If you decided you wanted to improve your diet, what is the first step Ballentine suggests? the second? the third?
32. Discussion Question. Do you think the new trash bill in Connecticut requiring residents to separate their trash into three kinds is a good idea? Give reasons for your answer. What problems do you foresee?
33. Compare the nutritional, environmental, and political aspects of drinking fresh fruit juice compared to canned soda.
34. What are some foods that can be produced and consumed without harming you or the earth’s ecological system?
35. What are some foods that cannot be produced and consumed without harming you or the earth’s ecological system?