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A Calorie Counter: Fast Food Restaurants and Nutrition Facts Compared
Details
Activity Description
Preparation
- Either print copies of the comparison chart (see Example Document 1 above) or place a copy of this document on each computer in a computer lab. Students can use the computer to enter the data they glean from the Web site.
- Pre-teach needed grammar: comparatives and superlatives and comparing words (more, less, etc). Teach necessary food label vocabulary (healthy, fat,sodium, cholesterol, carbohydrates, calories, protein, etc.).
- Make sure that the site is not blocked at your school and practice using the site yourself to anticipate challenges and difficulties.
- Create comparison questions for students to answer verbally after completing their comparison charts.
How-To
- Have students visit the site (above), scroll down the page to see the comparison charts.
- Have students select two fast food menu items to scrutinize and have them choose 3 different restaurants to compare. They can copy the stats from the site onto their paper or electronic comparison chart.
- Explain that they need to be ready to answer comparison questions such as "Which food item has the highest calorie count?"
Teacher Tips
- Model how to compare the nutrition facts before having students work on answering questions.
- The tables are sortable. Selecting a category (calories, fat, trans fat, etc.) will sort the data in that column from lowest to highest. Selecting it again will sort it from highest to lowest.
- Any questions you may have about anything you see in this fast food comparison is most likely answered at the bottom of the page or in the "Notes" of each comparison. Be sure to check it out for clarifications on anything that may seem unclear.
- The site has advertisements. Explain to students where they should not click their mouse, because it will take them to other sites.
- Here is another site with a list of restaurants you can use to find nutritional facts. Students can use the various filters to refine a search.
More Ways
- Other ways to do this project is to have groups make presentations in front of the class instead of working on it individually and reporting as a whole class.
- They could use PowerPoint to do a class presentation using charts & graphs.
- If students know how to use Excel, you could also do this activity using that software instead of Word.
Program Areas
- ESL: English as a Second Language
- ABE: Adult Basic Education
- ASE: High School Diploma
- AwD: Adults with Disabilities
Levels
- Beginning High
- Intermediate Low
- Intermediate High
- Advanced
- All Levels
Lesson Plan
Activity: Begin with a class discussion about fast food. Start with discussion between student pairs and then share with the entire class.
Ask questions like:
- What are some of your favorite fast food restaurants?
- Do you pay attention to the nutritional information of the food you eat?
- Why is it important to know about the nutrition facts of fast food?
Activity: Introduce the lesson objective and explain the importance of understanding nutrition facts. Provide an overview of the activity.
Objective: Set the context and purpose of the lesson, and introduce the fast food nutrition facts website.
Activity: Demonstrate how to navigate the fast food nutrition facts website.
- Show how to search for different menu items and compare their nutrition facts.
- Explain the comparison chart and how to fill it out.
Interactive Demo: Model the process of selecting two fast food items from three different restaurants and comparing their nutritional facts using the comparison chart.
Have students suggest their favorite foods and demonstrate how to use the chart with their favorites.
Activity:Have students work in pairs or small groups to visit the website and select two fast food items from three different restaurants.
- Students will fill out the comparison chart with the nutritional information they find.
- Interactive Collaboration: Encourage students to discuss their findings within their groups and help each other with any challenges they encounter.
Objective: Allow students to practice navigating the website, collecting data, and using comparative language in a collaborative setting.
Activity: Groups will present their findings to the class, using their comparison charts.
- Ask each group to answer questions such as:
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- Which food item has the highest calorie count?
- Which restaurant offers the healthiest option based on your comparison?
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Activity: Have students individually reflect on their own fast food choices based on what they have learned.
Ask them to write a short paragraph about how they might change their eating habits and why. (Alternatively, groups could create posters or infographics summarizing their comparisons and reflections.)
Documents
- fast-food-restaurant-nutrition-chart_FINAL.docx - Fast Food Comparison Chart
Subjects
- Consumer Economics
- Use information to identify and purchase goods and services
- Learning and Thinking Skills
- Demonstrate ability to use critical thinking skills
- Math
- Compute using whole numbers
- Math
- Whole Number Skills
Standards
- Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- 1.OA.2 - Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction.
- 1.OA.7-8 - Work with addition and subtraction.
- Measurement and Data
- 3.MD.3-4 - Represent and interpret data.
- 5.MD.2 - Represent and interpret data.