Teacher's Guide for ODYSSEY^TM Eat Smart!

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"Designer Foods,", pg. 6

• Clipping a gene from one plant and splicing it into another, scientists can create crops that resist disease, pests, or drought. A sidebar (pg. 8) explores the life and work of Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics. (Please see correction to sidebar at the end of this guide.) Another (pg. 9) explains how organisms are genetically modified.
• Technological Applications, Science in Society

• While skeptics charge that genetically engineered foods are dangerous, supporters laud biotechnology as a remedy for world hunger and disease. A sidebar (pg. 12) tells how genetically modified corn may harm monarch butterflies.
• Critical Thinking, Cause / Effect

• Flavor is a complex, sensory experience involving the senses of taste, touch, and smell. The intensity of such snack foods as Mega Warheads and Ice Breakers appeals to young consumers.
• Vocabulary, Applications

• What tastes good in one culture is rejected in another. Insects, dried seaweed, and the saliva of sparrows are delicacies to some. Sound gross? Where do you think honey comes from?
• Vocabulary, Cultural Diversity

• Although microorganisms have a bad reputation, beneficial microbes far outnumber harmful ones. Bacteria that thrive in the digestive system promote human health. A sidebar (pg. 20) looks at probiotic products.
• Vocabulary, Interdependence of Living Things

• To get her pizza, a girl must step her way through a slippery maze.
• Following Directions, Prediction

• Learn how to read nutrition labels and how to use the USDA's food pyramid. Then follow directions to see how your diet measures up.
• Critical Thinking, Comparison / Contrast

• Can foods change moods? Examples reveal how foods affect neurotransmitters and mental performance. Sidebars feature an interview with a neuroscientist (pg. 27) and a look at why scientists never say "never" (pg. 28).
• Inductive Reasoning, Application

• Susan Harville, author of Sundays at Moosewood, explains why she became a vegetarian and advises ODYSSEY^TM readers on how to achieve a healthy diet of vegetables, fruits, and grains.
• Decision-Making, Evaluation

• The Bariani family of northern California produces olive oil the traditional way. At harvest, their schedule for picking, washing, crushing, pressing, and bottling is grueling. A sidebar (pg. 33) defines and compares different kinds of fats.
• Vocabulary, Process / Application

• Simple physics explains the marvel of baked Alaska, a classic American dessert.
• Applications, Following Directions

• Sugar, fat, and protein substitutes are used in many manufactured foods. Production techniques, taste, and texture matter, and safety is an important concern. Replacement ingredients may be a boon to those who must control their diets.
• Applications, Critical Thinking

• The annual Product Development Student Competition challenges college teams to create a new kind of food. A microwavable apple filled with ice cream and coated with caramel and oat flakes ranked among the 1999 finalists. A sidebar (pg. 39) explores careers in food science and technology.
• Process / Application, Creative Thinking

• The summer, winter, and fall constellations appear in October. The planet Mars rises in the morning, while Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn glimmer in the evening sky. Watch the Orionid meteor shower on and around the 21st.
• Following Directions, Observation

1. What does a healthy diet mean to you? How can you choose foods that promote good health but are still fun and taste good? Create a list of "Good Food Guidelines" based on what you know or have heard. Revise your guidelines as you read and discuss this issue.
2. How might food and eating be different 100 years from now? What foods might be popular? Will people have changed the way they eat? Think creatively, but be ready to defend your predictions with logic.

Pg. 6 - "Designer Foods"

• Talk It Over:
  1. In what ways do plant breeders and food scientists genetically alter foods? Are some methods safer than others, in your opinion? What benefits are expected?
  2. Why do some people worry about "designer foods"? Do you think their fears are justified? Read "Taking Sides In a 'Food Fight'" (pg. 10) and continue the discussion.
• Connections:
  1. Language Arts: Do some research on Mendel's experiments and his life in the monastery. Then write an entry for his diary as you think he might have written it.
  2. Graphic Arts: Design a poster-size advertisement for a genetically altered food that is currently available to consumers. Promote its introduction at your local grocery store, making your ad accurate, informative, and persuasive.
  3. Critical Thinking: Work in teams to brainstorm the consequences of genetic modification of a food. Assume scientists develop strawberry plants that yield twice as many berries. How might this new crop affect framers, distributors, grocers, and consumers? Try to predict economic outcomes, as well as effects on land, the labor force, and health. What if the new strain produced the same number of berries as plants do now, but each berry were twice as big? Would the outcomes be the same or different?
• Student Assessment:
  1. Describe the procedure used for splicing genes. Name the enzymes used in the process and explain how they work.
  2. Deliver a speech on the past, present, and future of a crop of your choice. Tell how selective breeding produced today's strains. Predict how genetic technologies might change the crop and its associated industry in the future.

pg. 24 - "Can Milk Make You Happy? Can Fish Make You Smart?"

• Talk It Over:
  1. List and discuss several possible connections between food and mood ""- either some you have heard about or some that are mentioned in the article. Does your personal experience suggest that some of these associations may be true? Does any solid scientific evidence support them?
  2. How might future scientific discoveries affect our knowledge of food and emotion? How might people use such knowledge, either today or in the future?
• Connections:
  1. Graphic Arts: Create a poster to show how food affects brain chemistry and mood. Use the appropriate terms with clear labels and definitions.
  2. Performance / Debate: Reread the sidebar on pg. 27 and do some library or Internet research on the alleged food / mood connection. (Sorry, no dot-com sources allowed.) Break the class into two teams, the "Moody Blues" who argue that food changes mood and the "Ready Reds" who question the evidence for the Blues' allegations. Ask an independent panel of judges (teachers, parents, or fellow students) to assess the strategies and styles of each team.
  3. Consumer Research: Bring in the ingredients labels from food products found at home, or copy information from packages at the grocery store. Based on their contents and the associations mentioned in the article, predict how these foods might affect mood.
• Student Assessment:
  1. In two or three paragraphs, describe how food may affect mood. Explain the role of neurotransmitters and use specific examples to make your point.
  2. Prepare a speech to the director of food services for your school district. Recommend ways to change the school's lunch menu to improve students' attitudes and performance at school.

"Doctor Proctor"

Community Connection: Ask students working in pairs to select a medical specialty such as pediatrics or internal medicine. Let each pair contact a specialist in the chosen field and ask for advice on how food and nutrition relate to the specialty. Illustrate the examples with pictures, words, and diagrams for a class or school bulletin board.

"Menu Venue"

Collaborative Class Project: Create a menu for the "perfect restaurant," where every food is prepared and offered for a purpose. For example, some selections may claim to improve moods while others promise weight loss or increased energy. Make sure your menu includes appetizers, entrees, beverages, and desserts. Select an item from the menu and prepare it for the class.

"Smart Chart"

Individual and Whole-Class Project: Revise and expand the class list of 'Good Food Guidelines' from the "Think Tank" discussion. Draw or cut from magazines pictures of foods that match your guidelines. Attach the pictures to the left column of a large, two-column wall chart. After students record the names and amounts of all the foods they eat on a designated day, draw or cut out pictures that illustrate students' food choice. Glue them to the right-hand column of the wall chart. How closely do the two columns match? What might students do to improve the match?

"Eats Feats"

Small Group Project: Ask students to work in teams of two or three to predict a food item for the future, perhaps one developed through genetic technology. Invite them to present posters and oral reports detailing how the food would be produced, what benefits it would offer, and what risks it would entail.

Mendel pollinated plants himself (before the insects could do so randomly), over and over, until offspring exactly resembled parents. Then he crossed plants with different traits ""- AA (smooth seeds) and aa (wrinkled seeds), for example. To his surprise, the first-generation plants looked like only one of the parents (smooth seeds ""- taking one trait from each parent, you get the combination Aa, which mysteriously, looked like AA). Crossing these with each other (Aa x Aa) produces a mixture: 75 percent that looked like AA (smooth seeds ""- 25 percent AA, 50 percent Aa) and 25 percent that looked like the lost parent, having wrinkled seeds (aa). Scientists of Mendel's day expected the first generation (Aa) to look like a blend of the two traits, instead of resembling just one parent.

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Updated: 7/20/08 06:47 pm
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