Holly Keeper

Content Area: Science

Teaching Model: Cooperative Learning
A collaborative study of various diets and lifestyles

I Description of Method
1. Instructional Method: In cooperative learning, students work with other students to further
their learning as the teacher acts as a guide and a resource on the side. Students develop a
sense of interdependence between community members as they work together toward a
common goal. Each student brings individual views and skills to the group, allowing for all
students to gain new insight as each group produces a unique product or result.
2. Topic & Rational: This lesson involves analyzing the ways in which food humans consume is
transformed into the energy we use to function. Because this is an extensive subject and at the
same time is something each individual depends on every day, working with peers to study the
topic will help bring multiple view points and factors to light as the students work.
3. Features & Purpose: Cooperative learning serves to create a lesson as a social learning
experience. In this way, students develop their ability to work well with others, and realize the
value of having all voices in a community heard. This technique also develops the twenty first
century skill of collaboration.
4. Pros & Cons: The benefits of cooperative learning methods include the development of
collaboration skills. It also helps to assure that all voices in the classroom are heard because
within their small groups, each student has a chance to speak and provide input. Cons may be
that students are not completely comfortable with indirect instruction from the teacher and
there may also be some students who prefer not to work in groups.
II Lesson Plan
1. Learning Objectives
a. Content Objective: State science standard 2.1. - Students will be able to explain and
illustrate with examples how matter tends to be cycled within an ecosystem, while
energy is transformed and eventually exits an ecosystem by completing the group
activity in which students collaborate and utilize resources. In a cooperative learning
lesson, students will work in groups of two or three first to create a visual
representation of how the different types of macromolecules are used by the body. In
their groups, students will then analyze hypothetical examples of people and their
lifestyles including diets. Students will then determine whether each person should
make any changes to their diet or lifestyle and what those changes could be. Students
will use resources such as the books provided in the classroom and their computers. I
will provide them with a list of useful websites such as accessdata.fda.gov, and
ndb.nal.usda.gov.

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b. Literacy Objective: Twenty-first century literacy standard 1.1.3 Students will be able to
use logic and rhetoric to analyze and critique ideas by working in a group to complete
the nutrition activity.
c. Democracy Objective: Twenty-first century democracy standard - 2.8.1 Students will be
able to analyze and discuss ideas about the nutrition activity by reading, writing,
listening and speaking effectively to each other to formulate descriptions and solutions
to the hypothetical examples. Additionally, students will each complete a ticket out the
door in which they write two to three sentences about something they learned and
found interesting about nutrition throughout the lesson.
Materials used
a. A handout about how each type of macromolecule is found in food and how our bodies
transform that food into energy will be provided to each student.
b. Several hypothetical examples of people including their diet and lifestyle will be printed
and provided to each group of two or three.
c. Books on nutrition, exercise, specialized diets, and medical conditions will be in the
room, available for student use.
d. Students will be required to bring their school-issued computers to class. If they do not
have these, I will allow each group to have a set amount of time at my computer to do
some research.
e. A printed list of several useful websites will be provided to the students although they
are expected to find their own resources in addition to these.
Model chosen & why
a. The cooperative learning model was chosen to allow students to gain multiple insights
on lifestyle, diet, and access to resources as they work to create solutions to situations
which are faced on a daily basis. The topics of nutrition, diet, and lifestyle are things we
must constantly be aware of and it is highly important that individuals are able to
analyze and discuss them with others.
Key terms
a. Diet, nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, metabolism, anabolism, catabolism, carbohydrates,
proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, trans fats, saturated fats, unsaturated fats,
Assessment:
a. Students will be required as a group to turn in a visual representation of how the
different macromolecules are used in the body, and a visual representation (graphs,
drawings, reports) of the results they came up with for each of the hypothetical
examples. Individually, each student will hand in their ticket out the door involving a
free response of two or three written sentences about something they learned and
found interesting about nutrition.