Rationale
I teach regular, honors, and International Baccalaureate (IB) biology at Hubbard High School, a neighborhood (non-magnet) school on the south side of Chicago. The school is about eighty percent Hispanic, twelve percent African-American, and the remaining eight percent white and Asian. Ninety two percent of the school's approximately 1,600 students are defined as being low-income. My students face issues of violence, gangs, and substance abuse on a frequent basis. Many of them live in unusual and often unsupportive household situations, and a fair number of them work to support their families. If you ask them, my students will tell you that they want to go to college, but they often lack the academic skills, motivation, or understanding of what it takes to get to and succeed in college. Because this unit is designed primarily for the IB classes, one of its goals is to provide knowledge and experiences that will help them overcome these challenges and prepare them for college.
Everyone must eat. Knowledge of food is therefore essential to survival, and, as we have learned through decades of research, a key factor in the quality of our health and longevity. Students therefore should be able to gain an understanding of how their food choices affect the way their body works at present, as well as how it will function in the future.
Additionally, my students are primarily of Hispanic or African American ethnic backgrounds, two groups that are at a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. They should therefore be given the opportunity to learn specific concepts about how variations in different nutrients lead to these results. From my experience in general biology, students usually have a poor understanding of food's role in the body and the causes of various nutrition-related disorders. They have a further skewed vision of what energy is, having been confused by the various "energy drinks" and other products that are so heavily advertised today.
Many of my students claim that their parents do not offer them healthy choices, likely due to a combination of factors. The majority of my students' parents lack a solid education and work multiple jobs, leading to the increasingly common solution of fast-food or take-out for one or more meals a day. Therefore, an important part of this unit is to also provide education to the parents through the students so that the entire household can make healthier choices together. My students are also quick to speak up about the lack of choices they have in the school cafeteria. My observations have revealed that most students consume something along the lines of pizza, a fried chicken patty sandwich or burger, fries or tater tots, and (often chocolate) milk. They frequently supplement their meals with items from the so-called "new and improved" vending machines, such as Rice Krispy Treats, PopTarts, or Otis Spunkmeyer muffins, topped off with a can of Snapple or a Powerade. These meals are highly processed, contain few vitamins, minerals, or fiber, and are high in kilocalories, sugar, sodium, and fat. The students complain that there is no fresh fruit, that vegetables are generally overcooked and unappealing, and that salads are less than appetizing. There are some things that cannot be changed, or will be slow to change in my students' diets. However, I want to empower them and help them make better choices even when their options are few. They need to be able to construct an eating plan that is both healthy and realistic.
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