The True Cost of Eggs: Commercial vs. Local

This is an original activity by Caira Bongers, Bryn Athyn College, Pennsylvania.

Initial Publication Date: September 17, 2013

Summary

In this lab activity, students compare nutrient data and the cost of locally produced eggs and commercially produced eggs. They will use Excel for data entry, rudimentary formula writing, and the creation of tables.

Soils, Soils and Agriculture, Health Sciences, Mathematics | College Lower (13-14)

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Learning Goals

Key Lesson: The costs of nutrient-dense eggs are lower per nutrient, even if they are more expensive per egg.

Goals include:

Health promotion

Promoting creative visioning around sustainable futures

Improving skills in data analysis

Context for Use

This lab is appropriate for developmental math courses on quantitative reasoning. It should be able to be completed in a 1-hour class. Access to Excel is necessary, but no prior knowledge of Excel is required. While it was written specifically for students at Bryn Athyn College, it would be easy to edit this to make appropriate to other institutions. "Bryn Athyn Bounty" is the farmers' market which sells produce grown at the Bryn Athyn gardens.

Description and Teaching Materials

Data is presented for a variety of nutrients for different types of eggs.

Students will put these data into an Excel file, use those data to compare with the cost (formula writing), and organize the data in a consistent form (indices). They will first make a table without using indices, and find that that table doesn't represent the data very effectively. They will then see the motivation behind using indices, or relative values, and see that table using modified data is much more effective. Cost of Eggs Worksheet (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 149kB Jul25 13)