The Food I Eat

Subject Area

This activity was designed for Grade 12 Environmental Science as a follow-up to Applied Genetics, or part of one of the following units: Soils: An Essential Resource; Pests and Pest Control; Plants, People and Environmental Modification.

Learning Outcomes

Teaching, learning and evaluation will focus on the student's ability to:

• Identify and describe issues related to the production of food (including Food Safety, Biotechnology, Environmental Degradation, Animal Welfare and Urbanization);
• Work cooperatively with group members to determine the opposing viewpoints of the various issues;
• Evaluate and determine where the student, as an individual, stands on each issue.

Classroom Development

The following activities allow the class to brainstorm about food related issues, explore the various viewpoints of the issues in groups, and finally clarify their own point of view and develop action plans.

Materials

• Twenty small pieces of scrap paper per student
• Ten small pieces of coloured paper per group
• One copy of the group's issue, cut in strips (ie. one idea per strip, and one issue per group)

Teaching Strategy

1. Brainstorm by completing the following steps:
   
   a) Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students, making sure that the group size and the number of groups are as equal as possible (for example, 3 groups of 3 students, or 5 groups of 5);
   b) Provide each person with at least 20 small slips of paper;
   c) Instruct the students that they are to write ideas, one per piece of paper, which relate to issues of food production;
   d) Each group member writes one idea on a piece of paper, reads it quietly to the rest of the group, and places the paper in the centre of the table;
   e) Get as many ideas as possible (it is acceptable for students to generate similar or off topic ideas);
   f) When enough ideas have been generated, stop the brainstorming, and have each group review and categorize their ideas;
   g) Hand out slips of paper in a second colour, directing students to write a title for each category on the coloured slip of paper;
   h) Ask the groups to describe to the class the headings they have produced which the teacher will record on the board or overhead;
   i) Circle those topics which you or the class wish to explore further.
   
   
2. Expert Groups
   
   a) Keeping the students in the same groups, assign topics to be researched (See Issues Bibliography-Information sources) or provide the students with the slips of paper outlined within this activity. The five headings include: Food Safety, Biotechnology, Environmental Degradation, Animal Welfare, and Urbanization.
   The goal of the research is to be able to state as a group:
   b) Issues And The Food I Eat
   > Some People Believe... (what people in one camp say this about an issue)
   < Others Believe... (people in the other camp say this about the issue)
   0 Common Ground... (both camps agree on these points)
   ? The Jury Is Still Out... (there is not enough information available for your group to have an opinion on this)
   ! I Didn't Know That... (something we as a group learned about this issue)
   
   
3. Jigsaw
   
   a) Rearrange the groups so that there is one expert on each of the food issues in each group;
   b) Instruct "the experts" to explain to one another the aspects of "their issue," ensuring that the students take notes on the issues they are not experts on.
   
   
4. Clarify And Express One's Own Point Of View
   
   Instruct each student to determine where they stand on each issue (it is best to use a continuum approach for this) and make notes to that effect.
   
   
5. Develop Action Plans
   
   Instruct students to formulate an action plan for themselves which will have some discernible impact on the issue of their choice. Students may work individually or in groups.

Background Information

One of the challenges facing teachers wishing to explore sensitive issues with a class is ensuring that there is up-to-date information representing various viewpoints. The resources listed on the following pages are a sample of what is relatively easily found in a good public library. High school libraries may now have new technologies to help students find information. Some of the options include:

• Canadian Almanac and Directory which lists organizations;
• Canadian News Index of articles in major Canadian daily newspapers;
• Canadian Magazine Index of articles in major Canadian magazines. Both indexes may be available on microfilm, microfiche, or CD-ROM.
• AGinfo. A Gopher site organized by the university of Delaware. Connect through your local Freenet and the University of Minnesota Gopher. See "Gophers" in the appendix on Computer Mediated Communication.

Students should be encouraged or assigned to collect information relating to an issue from the variety of media that may be found in their homes. Making sure that all of the students are aware of all of the issues for the class will bring in lots of information quickly.

Timing

Allow one and a half hours for this activity if the provided information is used, more if the students do their own research.

Resources

Norman, Myers. GAIA An Atlas of Planet Management. New York: Doubleday, 1984.

Herscovici, Alan. Food for Thought. Ontario Farm Animal Council, 7195 Millcreek Drive, Mississauga, Ont., L5N 4H1.

Cross-disciplinary Links

In dealing with sensitive issues of the food production system, this activity deals with science, geography, and family and consumer studies. It could, therefore, be used in Biology, Physical Geography, Food and Nutrition, and, if expanded slightly, in World Issues and Science and Society curriculums.

Student's Worksheet

Issues and the Food I Eat.

Our Sensitive issue is...

> Some People Believe..

< Others Believe...

0 Common Ground..

? The Jury is Still Out...

! I Didn't Know That...

Student Activities

Issues Bibliography

Food Safety

Pesticides

• "There's No Good Reason To Use Them," Robert Harrington, Cognition Vol. 12, No. 4., October 1988.
  
• Poisoned by Pesticides. Waterloo Public Interest Research Group, 1989.
  
• "Control of Pesticide Residues in Food," Health and Welfare Canada Dispatch No. 51, 1989.
  
• Pesticides: Discussing Alternatives. Crop Protection Institute of Canada, no date.
  
• Martin, Hugh. Organic Farming in Ontario. OMAF, 1992.
  
• Pesticide Registration and Regulation. Fresh Fact Finder. Fresh for Flavour Foundation, 1989.
  
• New Age Farming-Integrated Pest Management. Fresh for Flavour Foundation,1990.
  
• You Were Asking About... Agriculture and Food Safety. Ontario Farm Animal Council, 1992.
  
• Surgeoner, G.A. We Drown in Information but Thirst for Knowledge. University of Guelph, 1991.

Urbanization

Biotechnology/Genetics

• O'Brien, Laird. "Chiperzak's Ark," Harrowsmith Vol. 80. No Date.
  
• Boyd, Roger. "Genetics and Biotechnology in Food Production," Interactions: The Ontario Journal of Environmental Education. Vol. 4, No. 4 (March) 1993.
  
• Sadler, M. "Quorn: Man's First New Food," New Biotech: Canada's Biotechnology Magazine. Vol. 15 No. 4, (December). Guard, Barbara and Robin Guard. "Genetic Engineering in Agriculture: The Ethical Issues," Cognition, Vol. 14, No.3.
  
• Henkes, Rollie. "Tomorrow's Seeds: Patent Pending," The Furrow, Sept/Oct. 1992.
  
• Camp, Nancy. "B.T. Gene Makes Potatoes Insecticidal," AgriScience. No Date.
  
• Aylsworth, Jean D. "A Boom in Bioengineering," American Vegetable Growers, Vol. 40, No. 8. No Date.
  
• Cross, Sir Barry. "Look at it this way," Outlook on Agriculture, Volume 20 No. 2. No Date.
  
• Baker, Kenneth M. "Biotechnology-a strategic opportunity for agriculture," Outlook on Agriculture, Volume 20 No. 2. No Date.
  
• Straughan, Roger. "Social and Ethical Issues Surrounding Biotechnological Advance," Outlook on Agriculture, Volume 20 No. 2. No Date.

Animal Welfare

Farming and The Environment

• You were asking about... Agriculture and the Environment. Ontario Farm Animal Council, 1992.
  
• Just Facts. The Canadian Cattlemen's Association, 1993.
  
• The Canadian Green Consumer Guide. Pollution Probe, 1989.
  
• Myers, Dr. Norman. GAIA: an atlas of Planet Management. New York: Doubleday, 1984.
  
• Smit, Dr. Barry. "The Greenhouse Effect: Impacts and Responses," Interactions The Ontario Journal of Environmental Education, Sept. 1992.
  
• Stone, Judith. Light Elements, Essays on Science from Gravity to Levity,1991.