Methods of Lesson (Lesson Plan)

ENGAGEMENT:  Present students with a number of packages containing nutrition labels (or have students bring in containers of their favorite foods).  Have students identify key vocabulary words from the label that have to do with heat.

-          Open with the question:  Have you ever wondered how much energy is in your favorite food?

-          Record all vocabulary words up on the board

-          Discuss what the words on the nutrition label mean in respect to chemistry.

o   Cal vs. cal (how the food company tricks us!)

-          Why do we need food?  What does our body do with food?

o   Use your biological instincts and knowledge form previous courses to understand what the body does with food.

o   Discuss the breaking and making of bonds

      Release of energy when bonds are broken (what is this release of energy called?  Moment to provide students with a vocabulary word:  Exothermic)

-          Propose the question “How much energy is in each packet of food?”

-          How do people find out how much energy is in a food item?

Methods (Content of Lesson)

1.       Introduction of methods used as food plants to measure the heat contained in food.

o   Students break up into groups to develop a way to measure the heat contained in food.

o   Give students approximately ten minutes to develop an experimental container that will most efficiently measure the heat in an atom:  Students will draw their model on a piece of large sticky note paper and present the info to the rest of the class.  Experiment must be based in technology that was availible to scientists of Medieval Times (fire, boiling water, iron casts)... NO MODERN TECHNOLOGY!!!!

2.       How to measure the heat of a system

q = mCpΔT

o   To measure the amount of heat produced or used by a system, one needs to know the mass, the specific heat and the change of temperature of a system. 

3.       Exploration of Medieval Times

o   Comparing the foods we eat today to the foods of medieval times.

o   Students will bring in (for next class, or look up on provided internet) types of food consumed by people in medieval time. 

o   Students will calculate the amount of calories needed on a daily basis based on age, body dimensions and activity level

-   http://www.dinewise.com/calorie_calculator

-      Students will assume that serfs are more active than kings (therefore need more Calories)