This is the fifth and final regular Investigation in the LabLearner CELL Examining Nutrition. In this Investigation, students focused on the importance of dietary proteins. 

______________________________________________

A. Begin the analysis of the Lab by helping students to remember the experiments they conducted.  The following questions may be helpful in prompting student discussion:

1. Ask students: What was the question you investigated during the Lab? Students should indicate that they investigated the amount of protein contained in several different food items.

2. Ask students: How would you summarize the experiments you did in the Lab to answer that question? Students should indicate that they measured the grams of protein contained in two food items using pinto beans to represent protein.

B. Review the experiment and analyze the data contained in the Table in Problem 2a of the Student Data Record to help students understand how the protein content of foods can differ. Use the following instructions and ask students the questions that follow to aid in initiating student discussion.  Students may wish to refer to their Student Data Record.

1. Ask students: What did the pinto beans you measured in the Lab represent? The pinto beans used in the Lab experiment represented the mass of the protein contained in the food items.

2. Ask students: Did you predict that your food item had more or less protein than it actually contained? Student answers will vary.

______________________________________________

3. Ask students: How does the protein content of the two items you investigated compare to the other groups’ items?

a. Instruct students to locate the Table in Problem 2a of their Student Data Record. Students should notice that they have the information for two of the five items, but are missing information for the other three food items.

b. Explain that each group will share the information about the two food items they investigated in Lab.  Instruct student groups to share their drawings of the plastic cups by drawing them on the board.

c. Instruct students to place the information they recorded in Lab about serving size, amount of protein, %DV, and food group or category beneath the appropriate drawing.

d. After students have completed this task, they should record the data shown on the board into their Table in Problem 2a of their Student Data Record.

e. Direct students to observe the drawings on the board and their table.  

Ask Students:  How does the protein content of the five foods compare? Students should indicate that, by looking at the table and drawings, they can deduce that tuna has the most protein – 14 g.  Both broccoli and chocolate have the least amount of protein – 2 g.  The milk with 8 g of protein has slightly more protein than the penne pasta with 7 g of protein.  The penne pasta and milk have less protein than the tuna but more protein than the chocolate and broccoli.

4. Ask students:  Which food items had a %DV listed on the nutrition label?  Why do you think the %DV is not listed for most of the food items? The tuna had a %DV of 27% and milk had a %DV of 16%.  Protein is not one of the nutrients that in the past people either consumed too little of or in excess.  Therefore the Food and Drug Administration does not currently require a Percent Daily Value on nutrition labels for protein.

5. Explain to students that exceptions include foods that have greater than 15% DV and those that claim to be high in protein.  Because tuna and milk had a %DV higher than 15%, the %DV was listed on its nutrition label.

______________________________________________

C. Ask students:  How could you represent the data you collected in Lab so that the differences in the amount of protein in a serving of the food items are easier to see? Student answers may vary.

1. Tell students that a Bar Graph would make the differences easier to see. Explain that students will create a Bar Graph that shows this information. Organize students into the same five groups as in Lab.  Ask them to locate Problem 4 of their Student Data Record.

2. Encourage students to work in their group, using the grid in Problem 4 to create their Bar Graph.  Tell them they may refer to Creation and Completion of a Bar Graph in their Procedural Toolbox to assist in the development of their graph.

3. Announce to students that the only requirements for the graph are to show both the name of the food item and the food group or category for each item and to think of a title for their graph.

4. After students have completed this task, use the following questions to discuss their completed graphs.

Note to Teacher:  The answers and data that follow come from the nutrition labels from the Investigation Five supplement pages. Students’ answers may differ slightly if other foods were used during the Lab.  

The following completed Bar Graph is not in the Student Portal.

a. Ask students: Which food item contained the most protein?  To which food group or category does it belong? The tuna contained the most protein.  Tuna belongs in the protein group.

b. Ask students: Which food item contained the least protein?  To which food group or category does it belong? The chocolate and broccoli contained the least amount of protein, 2 grams.  Chocolate belongs in the limited foods category and broccoli belongs in the vegetables group.

c. Ask students: Can you observe a trend, based on the data you collected, in the amount of protein food groups and categories may contain?  What could you do to be sure that the trend you observe is accurate? Students should indicate that from the data they collected in the lab, they can observe that food items from the limited foods category and vegetables groups had a lower amount of protein than foods from the other food groups. The food item in the protein group contained the highest amount of protein. Students should suggest that, in order to be sure of the trend, they could investigate a variety of items from each food group and determine whether the trend holds true.

d. Explain to students that through research, scientists have found that generally protein is found in higher amounts in foods in the protein, dairy, and grains groups as compared to the fruits, vegetables, and the oils groups and limited foods categories. Proteins can also be found in relatively high amounts in dried beans, such as kidney beans and pinto beans.  Dry beans are listed in both the protein group and the vegetable group due to their high protein content and because they are vegetables. Canned beans, such as green beans, are listed in the vegetable group.  However, all of the food groups and categories have food items that contain protein.

e. Ask students: Did your graph make it easier or harder to observe this trend than using the data table? It is likely that students will indicate that the Bar Graph made it easier for students to see the differences in the amount of protein per serving of food than just reading the numbers in the Table.

f. Ask students: Is there a way in which you could arrange the food items in your graph to make it easier to observe this trend? Students should indicate that if they arranged their food items from least to greatest or from greatest to least protein content, then they could more easily observe this trend in the food groups and categories.

g. Ask students: Did anything else about the graph help you to observe the trend in food groups and categories? Students should indicate that listing the food group or category for each food item on the heading helped them observe the trend.

h. Ask students: Which food groups or categories were not represented in the graph? The food group for fruits and the category for oils were not represented.

i. Ask students: If you wanted to get 14 grams of protein during lunch but the cafeteria ran out of tuna sandwiches, how else might you get the same amount of protein from the other four items you investigated in Lab? Students should indicate that they could drink one serving of milk to obtain 8 g of protein and eat one serving of pasta to obtain 7 g of protein.  This would give them a total of 15 grams of protein (8 g + 7 g = 15 g).

______________________________________________

D. Ask students to think about the questions from the brainstorming session of the PreLab about protein.

1. Ask students:  Were there questions that weren’t answered? Student answers will depend on whether students thought of questions the play did not answer.

2. If there are unanswered questions, write them from your list onto the board.

3. Ask students:  Can these questions be answered using the knowledge you have learned about nutrition so far? Student answers will vary depending upon the questions.

4. If possible, discuss answerable questions with the class.  If the questions cannot be answered using their previous knowledge, perhaps you might encourage students to conduct a class research project in order to answer their questions.

______________________________________________

E. Remind students that after they learn something new, they should think about how they can organize the new information.  This will help them to remember what they have learned in the future.

1. Tell students they will work in their Lab group to accomplish this activity.  Direct student groups to begin by looking through their Student Data Records from this CELL. Encourage students to place a star (*) next to any information they think would be important to include on their flyer.

2. After students have completed this task, 

Ask students:  What information did you find to include in your flyer?  Allow several students to share their ideas with the class, accepting all answers as correct.

3. Ask students:  Why would this information be helpful to the public? Allow several students to share their ideas with the class.  Student answers may vary.

4. Ask students:  What can you do to make people want to read this information? Student answers may vary.  Students may indicate that using bright colors and pictures will grab people’s attention and increase the chance that they read the information.

5. Ask students:  How could you get this information to your family and friends? Student answers may vary.  Students may indicate that they could take flyers home and review the information with their families.  Other students may suggest posting the flyers in the hallways at school or in the gym locker room.  Other suggestions may include taking the flyers to a health fair.

6. Distribute a sheet of unlined paper and crayons, markers, or pencils to the students and ask them to create their health information flyer.

7. After student groups have completed their flyers, make copies for each student so that they can take their flyers home and share this important information with their families.

______________________________________________

F. Conclude this portion of the CELL with the following questions:

1. Ask students: Why is it important to balance the nutrients in the foods you eat? Students should indicate that their bodies need a certain amount of each nutrient every day so their bodies can function properly.

2. Ask students: What can you do every day to maintain your health? Students should indicate that they should use MyPlate to know the recommended daily amounts from each food group they need to eat.  They should also read nutrition labels to balance the amount of nutrients contained in the foods they eat and to try to eat 100% DV of the six types of nutrients needed for a healthy body.