How Does Our School Food System Create Greenhouse Gas Emissions? | CEEE

How Does Our School Food System Create Greenhouse Gas Emissions? In this design challenge lesson, students examine their school food system and develop an investigation about food waste in order to know what should change.   Context for Use This is the second lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit. These design challenges are meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units and to have students come up with real world solutions. Photo Source: USDA Resource Type Lesson Design Challenge Action Project Topics Colorado-Based Climate Change Community Resilience & Climate Action Climate and Weather Atmospheric Science Energy Balance Earth's Systems Community-focused Middle School High School Instructional Time 120 minutes NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea(s) ESS3C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems ETS1B: Developing Possible Solutions ETS1C: Optimizing the Design Solution Published Date April 7, 2018 Goals Header What Students Will Do Students will learn about greenhouse gas emissions resulting from waste in our school food system. Teaching Materials Climate Resiliency DC2 -Teacher Guide File Climate Resiliency DC2 -Teacher Guide.pdf Climate Resiliency DC2 -Teacher Guide Climate Resiliency DC2 - Student Activity Sheet File Climate Resiliency DC2 - Student Activity Sheet.pdf Climate Resiliency DC2 - Student Activity Sheet Climate Resiliency DC2 – Student Activity Sheet Key File Climate Resiliency DC2 – Student Activity Sheet Key.pdf Climate Resiliency DC2 – Student Activity Sheet Key Climate Resiliency DC2 - Slides File Climate Resiliency DC2 - Slides.pptx Climate Resiliency DC2 - Slides Climate Resiliency DC2 - Actual Estimates of Food Waste File Climate Resiliency DC2 - Actual Estimates of Food Waste.pdf Climate Resiliency DC2 - Actual Estimates of Food Waste Climate Resiliency DC2 - Food Waste Article File Climate Resiliency DC2 - Food Waste Article.pdf Climate Resiliency DC2 - Food Waste Article Description (5 minutes) Reorient students to the storyline.  (10 minutes) Sharing Initial Ideas Discussion: Identify the interacting pieces to develop model of the food system. (20 minutes) Using Models: Draw a model of the food system. Compare and contrast the different parts. (30 minutes) Text: Read the Food Waste article and discuss to build understanding. (10 minutes) Discussion: Use the models to identify what they should study. (10 minutes) Sharing Initial Ideas Discussion: Generate ideas on next steps. (15 minutes) Analyzing Data: Estimate how much food is wasted at the school on any given day. (10 minutes) Brainstorm: Generate ideas for next steps in the investigations. Similar Resources How Can We Decrease Our Impact on the Earth's Climate at our School? Design Challenge 1